Are Dublin students the only ones with an eye to the stars? It would appear so, if Irish entries to a European space-themed competition are anything to go by.
Under the aegis of the European Space Agency and other European organisations, the Life in the Universe Competition is open to teenagers between 14 and 19 across Europe.
In conjunction with the competition, a lecture series on life in the universe has been taking place around the country, supported by Forfβs. Of particular note is the lecture by Prof Chandra Wickramasinghe, director of the Cardiff Centre for Astrobiology, who will be in Cork on October 12th.
In 1974, he proposed the theory that dust in interstellar space and in comets was organic.
Schools all over Ireland have been invited to participate but so far the response, with the exception of those in the Dublin area, has been muted, according to Dr Niall Smith of the department of applied physics and instrumentation at CIT, who is organising the competition in Ireland.
The grand prize is a trip to French Guyana to witness the launch of an Ariane rocket or visit to the European Southern Observatory's VLT (very large telescope) at Cerro Paranal in Chile.
Under the rules of the competition, entries can be of a scientific or artistic nature, giving students full scope to express themselves through the written word, video or website or through painting, music or sculpture on what is a pretty broad subject.
The closing date is October 10th and on October 16th, the Minister for Science, Technology and Commerce, Mr Noel Treacy, will officiate at an awards ceremony at the Royal Dublin Society. The winner from each country will go forward to the main contest near Geneva from November 8th-11th.
Dr Smith is perplexed at the lack of interest from students outside Dublin. "I'd have to say the response has been somewhat disappointing. At present, about 20 groups involving up to 100 students have signed up for the project but unfortunately, the majority of them are from Dublin.
"It would have been nice to have seen a greater spread of interest from schools elsewhere but there is still time for them to get involved even if they have left it late," he said. No project or entry would be considered too small for inclusion.
Dr Smith will be at the British-Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos in the Canary Islands until October 3rd, but he can be contacted at nsmith@cit.ie. Details can be found at www.liu.ie and www.lifeinuniverse.org.