Can Astronomy Ireland really be considered an 'Astronomy club' anymore?

rccaulfield

dbran wrote: »

Actually you are not allowed bring your own scope to any AI events unless it is one that is sold by Astronomy Ireland Shop. This applies even if you are a member of the so-called club.

That just can't be right? Are u serious??? I was in there last week buying some half price discontinued eyepieces they were selling and i found them polite and reasnable tbh. I also watch their youtube channel, yep DM is constantly plugging a txting subscription service for ISS etc etc and its a bit sickening but good info given in General and relevant to Ireland. He's on tv3 every month and some obscure irish channel aswell!

dbran

rccaulfield wrote: »

That just can't be right? Are u serious??? I was in there last week buying some half price discontinued eyepieces they were selling and i found them polite and reasnable tbh. I also watch their youtube channel, yep DM is constantly plugging a txting subscription service for ISS etc etc and its a bit sickening but good info given in General and relevant to Ireland. He's on tv3 every month and some obscure irish channel aswell!

I am sorry but that is a FACT. I was told it personally by DM himself.

Basically the telescope nights, starbeque etc are all "sponsored" by the Astronomy Shop in Artaine. A condition of the sponsorship is that only scopes that are sold by the shop can be displayed. So if you aren't bringing a Celestron you wont be allowed to bring your scope and will be politely told to bog off.


Kind Regards

dbran

Novaman

I am sorry but that is a FACT

Agreed.

Basically the telescope nights, starbeque etc are all "sponsored" by the Astronomy Shop in Artaine. A condition of the sponsorship is that only scopes that are sold by the shop can be displayed. So if you aren't bringing a Celestron you wont be allowed to bring your scope and will be politely told to bog off.

When you think of it, it's not a very good way to run a 'club' now is it?Imagine people turning up and being told to 'go away' !! if they have another brand of telescope or binoculars, even if they were unaware that this was the 'policy'. If any other business in this country carried on like this, they would'nt last too long. Imagine if you bring your car to be serviced at any garage, and being told to go away.......what would you think?

If anybody wants to go to a club meeting/observing or just want to have a chat or post a question:

www.iriahastronomy.org is the place to go

Sincerely,

NM

Flukey

During several of his media pieces about the Geminids I found it a bit strange that one David Moore was speaking about the bright "star" beside the moon, which he then said was Jupiter. Surely he should have said "object" first. If his idea is to clear up the confusion that people may have thought it was a star, then he should not have referred to it in that way. He should no better. Of course it was a bit better than the RTE reporter at one point talking about the "asteroid" shower. If we had one of them we'd all be where the dinosaurs are now.:)

SnipSnop

Should also be noted that the prices are completely bunkers.

Got an email with "BIGGEST EVER SALE"

CGE PRO 1400 HD for €13500

Have a look anywhere on the net and you'll find it for $6299.

Convert to euro and add import tax + vat and you'll end up around 6k euro..
Sale indeed.

Calibos

When doing our outreach events which are all free and unrestricted, I was often asked by passersby, "Ah Cool, Is this an Astronomy Ireland thing?!"

In my head, I launch into a John Cleesesque Peoples Front of Judea type rant from the life of Brian. Instead, I say, "No this is not an Astronomy Ireland event, if it was, I'd be asking you to pop an oul euro in a jar beside the scope before I let you look in the eyepiece!"



BTW, this is nothing to do with the AI volunteers. The money is to support the AI's organisation science education efforts don't ya know. To pay speakers to give talks etc

.....funny that even small regional non AI clubs can do the same without asking for money but a National 'Club' with hundreds of thousands of members(according to DM) have to put a begging bowl beside each scope.

emo72

i was an AI member 20 years ago. i left when it became DMs private company. Are things still pretty much the same?

Kersh

Does the telescope sales actually turn over much?

It seems very cloudy as to which is a business and which portion accept donations. The site is a business, yet there is a donate button off to the side.
Thats a mad thing going on altogether!

Thargor

Fecks sake do we really need 2 emails from AI every day now?

quad_red

Novaman wrote: »

I am sorry but that is a FACT

Agreed.

Basically the telescope nights, starbeque etc are all "sponsored" by the Astronomy Shop in Artaine. A condition of the sponsorship is that only scopes that are sold by the shop can be displayed. So if you aren't bringing a Celestron you wont be allowed to bring your scope and will be politely told to bog off.

When you think of it, it's not a very good way to run a 'club' now is it?Imagine people turning up and being told to 'go away' !! if they have another brand of telescope or binoculars, even if they were unaware that this was the 'policy'. If any other business in this country carried on like this, they would'nt last too long. Imagine if you bring your car to be serviced at any garage, and being told to go away.......what would you think?

If anybody wants to go to a club meeting/observing or just want to have a chat or post a question:

www.iriahastronomy.org is the place to go

Sincerely,

NM

That link is wrong. Corrected link: http://www.irishastronomy.org/

Calibos

Ressurecting this thread for Easter Peter?

Ardent

Well, considering this thread has been bumped, I'm going to give my 2 cents worth on the debate -

I feel there's a lot of deliberate misinformation in this thread. I've been to the last two AI meets/watches and I brought my telescope along both times. Not once was I challenged on the type of scope I had.

Also, I think the club is doing a lot of good work with regards to promoting awareness about astronomy. The attendance for last week's Mars Watch in the Phoneix Park was simply stunning - you couldn't get parking anywhere near the Papal Cross car park. No sooner had I set my small scope up than I realised there was a queue of strangers behind me waiting to have a look!!

Long may that kind of thing continue.

Pat Dunne

Ardent wrote: »

Well, considering this thread has been bumped, I'm going to give my 2 cents worth on the debate -

I feel there's a lot of deliberate misinformation in this thread. I've been to the last two AI meets/watches and I brought my telescope along both times. Not once was I challenged on the type of scope I had.

Also, I think the club is doing a lot of good work with regards to promoting awareness about astronomy. The attendance for last week's Mars Watch in the Phoneix Park was simply stunning - you couldn't get parking anywhere near the Papal Cross car park. No sooner had I set my small scope up than I realised there was a queue of strangers behind me waiting to have a look!!

Long may that kind of thing continue.

Yes Ardent, I agree with what you say. I was also at the event in the Phoenix Park (Mar 28th) and had a very enjoyable time, meeting and speaking with people.

I've had a life long interest in astronomy and only recently had the chance to buy a decent scope. So based on that, I couldn't give one jote or for that matter care less about the politics of whatever went on in the past.

dmcdona

Ardent wrote: »

I feel there's a lot of deliberate misinformation in this thread.

Where would that misinformation be?

All I have seen are opinions - which are as equally valid as yours.

dmcdona

Pat Dunne wrote: »

Yes Ardent, I agree with what you say. I was also at the event in the Phoenix Park (Mar 28th) and had a very enjoyable time, meeting and speaking with people.

I've had a life long interest in astronomy and only recently had the chance to buy a decent scope. So based on that, I couldn't give one jote or for that matter care less about the politics of whatever went on in the past.

I think its one thing to go to an enjoyable event, and another to feel ripped off (in some cases by hundreds of euros). I'm fairly sure there are people here who give not one jot about your "enjoyable evening" when they have hada negative experience of AI/A&S.

And of course, it has nothing to do with politics.

That has nothing to do with politics.

RayBird

Hello everyone,

First time poster here and absolute first time astronomer.

We were out for a stroll the other evening and stumbled across the telescope watch in the park. Have to say, I was hugely impressed with what I could see and a great crowd were present. We ended up chatting with several of the staff. All seemed very knowledgeable but I did feel like I was getting the hard sell quite a bit. The big scope set up was really amazing. It was the Celestron 11 inch with the computer finder attached. Well out of my price range but one of the young lads told me I could get a similar view for far less money.

I always do my research before buying something of this price, that’s how I found this thread. It makes for very worrying reading to say the least. Is the general consensus still to buy elsewhere for value? I would prefer to buy Irish but the little research I have done so far is not overly promising.

I have my eye on the Nexstar 102 slt. It has the computer too which will be badly needed because as I said, I’m a total novice. It’s 500 euro on the Astronomy Ireland website but I have found it for 398 on a German site. But from reading this forum, people mentioned that I can’t order from abroad… surely that can’t be right? Is it a good beginner scope and will it rival the 11 inch at all?

Either way, I have definitely caught the astronomy bug and look forward to seeing lots more wonders.

Ray

endacl

RayBird wrote: »

Hello everyone,

First time poster here and absolute first time astronomer.

We were out for a stroll the other evening and stumbled across the telescope watch in the park. Have to say, I was hugely impressed with what I could see and a great crowd were present. We ended up chatting with several of the staff. All seemed very knowledgeable but I did feel like I was getting the hard sell quite a bit. The big scope set up was really amazing. It was the Celestron 11 inch with the computer finder attached. Well out of my price range but one of the young lads told me I could get a similar view for far less money.

I always do my research before buying something of this price, that’s how I found this thread. It makes for very worrying reading to say the least. Is the general consensus still to buy elsewhere for value? I would prefer to buy Irish but the little research I have done so far is not overly promising.

I have my eye on the Nexstar 102 slt. It has the computer too which will be badly needed because as I said, I’m a total novice. It’s 500 euro on the Astronomy Ireland website but I have found it for 398 on a German site. But from reading this forum, people mentioned that I can’t order from abroad… surely that can’t be right? Is it a good beginner scope and will it rival the 11 inch at all?

Either way, I have definitely caught the astronomy bug and look forward to seeing lots more wonders.

Ray

Hi Ray.

Best suggestion for what its worth would be to start with the old Mk1 eyeball, and a set of reasonable 10x50 binoculars. Plenty to see on the large scale, you'll get to know your way around, and the overall picture will make more sense in the long run if you start big and work your way in. Some telescopes do some things better than others, if that makes sense, and you might like to figure out what you're most interested in (lunar v deep sky etc.) before forking out for an expensive piece of kit that may not give you quite the views the c11 did.

Along with the binos, a copy of Patrick Moore's 'exploring the night sky with binoculars' and Guy Consalmalgo/Dan M Davis' 'turn left at Orion' are highly recommended. This should get you started for under 100 yoyos, and the binos will always be used. You won't 'progress' to a telescope, as such, but will always use the one for what the other can't do so well.

Welcome to the addiction...

endacl

Oh, I'd had my own experiences with the shop/club too, but I'll keep them to myself. If you can't say something nice.... ;-)

dmcdona

Ray - there are a number of people in A&S who have worked hard to get prices down. I think they may even operate a price match system - so if the telscope you have seen is what you want, give them a call and name the site where it is cheaper. They may be able to do something for you. If they don't, take your money elsewhere. There are other channels for buying astro gear here but they are not widely publicised.

Technically you can buy from anywhere you please. However, when it comes to a particular brand, there are usually territory 'rules'. I'm pretty sure Celestron products are sold (or not) in this way. Possibly Meade too. Think along the lines of buying a brand car from a dealer - you can't just go buy it from the cheapest dealer in the EU...

Good advice from Endacle too - especially if you have no experience. It is very easy to drop hundreds of euros on equipment for you to quickly lose interest due to a lack of knowledge. On the other hand, that's good news for us beacasue you'll flog it on-line for half nothing

Seriously though, the advice is good.

One other thing, you can join the IFAS boards where its all about astronomy - boards.ie is great but www.irishastronomy.org would be a better choice for answering detailed questions.

Hope that helps
Dave

dmcdona

endacl wrote: »

Oh, I'd had my own experiences with the shop/club too, but I'll keep them to myself. If you can't say something nice.... ;-)

SPACEJOCKEY

my god im new here it seems astronomy ireland are not very popular
with the astronomy community in ireland are they.:D

peterako

Calibos wrote: »

Ressurecting this thread for Easter Peter?

Not really. Someone had registered as David Moores and Bumped it with some dirdge.

They, or a Mod, has since deleted their post (above mine).

Obviously it was not David....but I was hoping no-one would follow up on 'his' nudge.

Obviously...it's backfired

Clear skies...."live and let live" and all that stuff....

Peter

RayBird

endacl wrote: »

Hi Ray.

Best suggestion for what its worth would be to start with the old Mk1 eyeball, and a set of reasonable 10x50 binoculars.

Welcome to the addiction...

dmcdona wrote: »

One other thing, you can join the IFAS boards where its all about astronomy - boards.ie is great but www.irishastronomy.org would be a better choice for answering detailed questions.

Hope that helps
Dave

Many thanks for the quick replies and warm welcome gents.

Some excellent advice, very much appreciated!

endacl, I had never even considered binoculars but they do sound like a sound place to start. Would something like this suffice or is there special "astronomy" binoculars I should be looking for?

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/5800267/Trail/searchtext%3EBINOCULARS.htm

Dave, thank you for the link, I will definitely register there too.

If I don't end up going with a scope, I would still be very interested in joining a club to get to know more about the hobby.

The Astronomy Ireland club gives you a magazine but apart from that is it just the public watches with membership?

Any other clubs in or around Dublin City?

SPACEJOCKEY

ahahaha F**king hell after reading the post fully you would
think dave moore was the new ted bundy.:D

jfSDAS

hi RayBird (and everyone!),

The Irish Astronomical Society and South Dublin Astronomical Society hold joint meetings monthly in Gonzaga College, Ranelagh, Dublin 6. Admission to meetings is FREE.

Our next talk will be Thursday, April 19th at 8pm when space expert Brian Harvey (author of a number of books for Springer) will speak about the Chinese Space Program.

I run a regular mailing list not just about our club talks, but science and special interest events, sky notes, other club events, and random musings about astronomy Feel free to join the list by sending me a mail to southdublinastronomy AT gmail DOT com (put "Subscribe SDAS" in the list subject).

hope to see some of you along on April 19th and do introduce yourselves if you are at the meeting.

john

John Flannery,
Chair,
South Dublin Astronomical Society

endacl

Would something like this suffice or is there special "astronomy" binoculars I should be looking for?

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/5800267/Trail/searchtext%3EBINOCULARS.htm

They look like the very thing. As you may have picked up from the previous posts though, it does pay to shop around. The most 'used' pair I have is a pair of bresser 10x50 that lidl sell from time to time for E20. They live in the boot of the car and often come out on a drive home. Those ones, even if advertised as birdwatching binos, will show you a nice wide field view, and you may he astonished at all the extra points of light you see in an apparently bare patch of sky. All they (or a telescope, for that matter) do is gather way more light than your eye could ever hope to do, and magnify it using an eyepiece. The binos in your link are essentially two side by side refracting telescopes, each with an aperture of 50mm, and a magnifying power of x10. So, ten times bigger, and loads more photons.

Plus, you can use them to check out birds!

As far as clubs go, I must admit to not being much of a joiner. The peace and quiet is one if the things I love about this hobby. I hear good things about a Facebook group that regularly meets at the sugar loaf car park though. Very informal and free from what I've heard. You could try a search for Dublin Stargazers.

jfSDAS

hi all,

Dublin Stargazers meetup group is at http://www.meetup.com/The-Dublin-Stargazers-Group/ -- a number of the members are in the IAS and/or SDAS and, as mentioned earlier, it is a very informal group of people interested in the sky.

10x50mm binoculars are an excellent starter instrument and the quality is ultimately tied to the price -- Fujinon's, Leica, Swarvorski's, etc. are the serious end brands but fine views can be got from the Lidl binos as an earlier poster suggested. Get the essential guides at http://calgary.rasc.ca/downloads/ on what to look for when buying binoculars (and a telescope) for astronomy.

I wrote a booklet a free years ago on observing 110 deep-sky objects in binoculars. It's a free download as part of the observing challenges listed on www.irishastronomy.org -- link should be on the right-hand side of the front page.

john

Pat Dunne

dmcdona wrote: »

I think its one thing to go to an enjoyable event, and another to feel ripped off (in some cases by hundreds of euros). I'm fairly sure there are people here who give not one jot about your "enjoyable evening" when they have hada negative experience of AI/A&S.

And of course, it has nothing to do with politics.

That has nothing to do with politics.

In April 2011 I decided it was time to buy a Celestron CPC 9.25, I contacted all the usual retailers in Northern Ireland, the UK and Germany looking for the best deals. Having received all the various quotations, I went to Astronomy Ireland and said, “OK guys what can you do for me”? Their response was not only to match my best quote but to beat it by a considerable margin.

So dmcdona based on my experience with Astronomy Ireland, which was a positive one. Getting ripped is simply your own fault if you fail to do your research in advance.

dmcdona

Pat - I think you may have missed my point. I was merely saying that going to an event an enjoying it is a rather different kettle of fish to feeling ripped off.

And yes, I agree, caveat emptor. I certainly should have done my research before A&S put a saddle on me and rode around the shop a few times. But at that time, I was a newbie and knew no better.

And perhaps, when a mum/dad takes little Billy or Susie down to the shop, do not do their research and fail to be as astute as yourself and fail to ask "what can you do for me" and they get ripped off, I'm sure your advise would be hollow.

After all, and think about this carefully, no-one has a problem with anyone trying to make a living out of Astronomy, particularly if they are above board and honest. Those horror stories put people off astronomy and are bad for the hobby as a whole. I would be delighted to send a stream of people to A&S and AI if I could be sure all their dealings were fair. And we'd have an even stronger amateur community out there.

But, even recent posts here show that whilst there have been improvements, there still seems to be some questionable activities going on.

If you are happy with that state of affairs, fine, fill your boots. And if/when it all goes pear shaped on you and that relationship sours, sure, come on here, vent your spleen and join a rather large group of people who have equally had a sour experience. And I promise I won't say "I told you so"...

RichieC

Calibos wrote: »

Agree 100%.

Heres my Story. In my innocence I thought that the AI Roundwood StarBQ was a free public Starparty. Found out it was actually 40 euro..Em OK, I suppose the caterers and lecturers need to be paid. Right so, I'll bring my 12" Dobsonian Telescope, pay my 40 euro entry fee and provide my time and scope free to the public. I knew some guys bringing their scopes already. I get a phone call from one of the lads telling my not to bring my scope. Why? Because its an Orion and only Celestrons and Homemade scopes are allowed at the StarBQ. Why? Because the AI shop sells Celestrons and they don't want any other brands or types of scope there. Not even when I am paying 40 euro in, giving my time for free and letting the public look for free through my large scope???
Eh No....

FFS!!

That is poor...