The Life of a Star
The Life of a Star
The Life of a Star by Donnacha O’Driscoll in Gorey Library. Phone: (053) 942 1481
Dr. Donnacha O’Driscoll is a scientist by profession. He worked in the biopharma sector and lectured in pharmaceutical production for 20 years before taking up the position of General Manager of Insight in UCD, Ireland’s leading data analytical research centre and Director of CeADAR, an AI development technology centre. But throughout his childhood, student and professional life he has maintained a constant interest in astronomy with a special interest in the Moon. He is a committee member of the Irish Astronomical Society where he leads the Lunar Observatory Group. He set up the website www.themoon.ie which is a free-to-access educational website that deals with all aspects of the Moon. He lectures regularly to children and adults on Astronomy and the Moon.
Abstract: The Sun makes up 99.99% of all material in the solar system. That means if you combined all the planets, moons, asteroids, comets etc.. into one giant ball it still would only be 1/10,000 th the mass of the Sun. And yet in the family of stars, our Sun is classified as a yellow dwarf star. So what is a star, where do they come from, how do they create so much heat and what happens when they die? This is a story of strange worlds, massive explosions, black holes and one of nature’s greatest displays, Solar eclipses. We may not get to see much of the Sun this time of year in Ireland but at least we can talk about it!
Additional Details
Event County - Wexford
