North County Dublin Astronomy Group

squonk

Hi, I'm trying to get a group of people interested in astronomy in the North County Dublin area going at the moment. For a large area there doesn't seem to be any club or orgnisation there already.

Where I see this going at first is getting a group together for observing evenings. I'm mainly thinking that it would be good to have a group along because, for most of us, heading along unaccompanied to a dark remote site with expensive equipment isn't really the soundest idea, but if you have a few people there, it's not a problem then.

Beyond that for now there isn't a plan but it has to start somewhere and even if it just remains an observing group, fair enough, but we can see how things pan out over time. All ideas welcome and please let me know if you are interested in this.

My email is: nmcarroll@gmail.com or you can reply to this this post as well obviously

Slow Motion

Considering the thread about that other astronomy group I think this is a great idea and would be interested in joining if it takes off and if I do go along anyone who likes can look through my scope for free!

robk24

i've already been talking to squonk about this via email and think its a great idea...

count me in for sure.... and nice thought slow motion, any interest we can drum up the better....

look forward to seeing how this goes....

cheers

robk

squonk

Great to see some interest on here alright! Good idea slow motion, I did neglect to say that this is open to anyone getting into astronomy as well. I have no problem letting people look through mys cope for free, and I know myself that when you're ontly getting into an area it's good to get a bit of hands on experience with a few different types of equipment so tht you can make up your own mind. So, I gues what I'm saying is don't let a lack of equipment put you off.

dbran

Hi Squonk

I sent you an email re the above.

Hope to meet up soon.


DB

quickbeam

Good idea. Definitely count me in.

conchubhar1

great idea
count me in

whereabouts are you planning on having it?
would there be a cost (premises for eg)

squonk

conchubhar1 wrote: »

great idea
count me in

whereabouts are you planning on having it?
would there be a cost (premises for eg)

I was hoping to get something going for a start in or around Skerries. Its out in the country so there isn't a lot of light pollution. I'm also in a position at the moment that I don't have transport so cant' venture too far afield.

As for cost, I don't see anything for now that would cost money. It'd be nice to get some cooperation from one of the local farmers to use an area in on eof their fields and I couldn't see that costing anything. Right now it's informal and free.

The Hill Billy

squonk - Great idea. Feel free to post a link to this thread in the Dublin County North forum too.

A couple of suggestions for observing sites:
Milverton Estate - It is close to town, but away from street lighting, etc.
You could contact Headland Property Holdings to see if they'd let a group in from time to time.

Ardgillan Demesne - for similar reasons to Milverton.
The Parks Dept in Fingal Co Co would be a good place to start to get out of hours access.

If you get stuck for an observing site - let me know & I'll see what I can do.

squonk

Hill Billy wrote: »

squonk - Great idea. Feel free to post a link to this thread in the Dublin County North forum too.

A couple of suggestions for observing sites:
Milverton Estate - It is close to town, but away from street lighting, etc.
You could contact Headland Property Holdings to see if they'd let a group in from time to time.

Ardgillan Demesne - for similar reasons to Milverton.
The Parks Dept in Fingal Co Co would be a good place to start to get out of hours access.

If you get stuck for an observing site - let me know & I'll see what I can do.

Thanks a million for those suggestions Hill Billy! I'll chase those up this week and see what happens. It'd be great to get into Ardgillan out of hours. It's perfect, and we'd have a nice view to admire while we're stting up as well

Slow Motion

Any chance we can have this thread stickied for a while so that those who might be interested but don't come in here too often will get a chance to see it?

Linguo

Sounds very interesting, could be able to get a pic of the event in the local paper for you to drum up more interest as well

TaxiManMartin

Id love to go. Been meaning to get a telescope for years but never did.
im sure Ardgillan would let you in.

squonk

I got caught up with work last week but hopefuly this week I'll get a chance to get in touch with the County Council and also the people in charge of Milverton Demesne. Hopefuly one fo the approaches will get us some results!

Linguo, thanks for the offer of getting the a pic for the paper! The more advertising the better, especially if we can get some people who aren't on Boards! Cheers!

squonk

Hi Everyone! Just an update on what's happening at the moment. I've been in touch with Fingal CoCo and they, initially at least, sound pretty receptive to the idea of allowing after hours access to the park in Ardgillan. The lady I was talking to is going to talk to the manager to find out some more information from him about whether an arangement could be possible.

What she did say, and here is where I could do with some help from any of you who know about this sort of thing, is that the council require a formal group to have public liability insurance to a value of 6.5M. Now I have no idea of the cost of something like that which might put an oar in the works for this plan. I'm guessing the cost of this type of insurance could be fairly high - but does anyone have any ball park figures to hand? Now what she did say was that you can ask insurance companies to cover you for the day, which is also acceptable to the council, but for what we're doing I think that could be awkward. As you all know, sometimes observing sessions can be organised on short notice when the weather permits.

As an alternative, I would be interested in hearing from anyone with a field or ground they could let us use. I think that'll be the plan B! The advantage is that we wouldn't need insurance in that case.

It's always the red tape that gets you once you start getting into these things but we'll get there in the end!

Slow Motion

Hi Squonk (great name by the way)

Re insurance I would imagine anyone with a private field would have the same requirements, however and this brings me back to the Co Council, what is their definition of a formal group? What if we say we are just a bunch of mates who share the same interest? Would their own insurance not cover in that case? After all we are not a formal group just a some guys (and girls maybe) talking on the interweb!

squonk

Thanks Slow... Yeah, I was wondering myself just now what the position of an informal group would be. The lady is due to ring me back at some point so I will get around to discussing that with her.

dbran

Hi Squonk

If as a club we become an affiliate member of the Irish Federation of Astroniomcal Societies (IFAS) we can then avail of their own special group insurance policy.

Even if we just meet in a field it is always advantageous to have a public liability insurance as if you bring friends etc. and they trip over your scope and break their leg they are insured. Just the worst case senario.

DB

squonk

I'll look into maybe getting affiliated with IFAS. I know one of the lads who does the IFAS website so he'll be a good start for getting some info! Thanks for all the help so far everyone!

Slow Motion

squonk wrote: »

I'll look into maybe getting affiliated with IFAS. I know one of the lads who does the IFAS website so he'll be a good start for getting some info! Thanks for all the help so far everyone!

You do realise you're screwed now, don't you!

squonk

Well I've had no dealings with IFAS in the past but I've popped a mail off to them to get some information anyway. From what I gather they expect affiliate societies to have a committee, so if by screwed you mean we have to start acting like a proper society as opposed to a bunch of lads showing up somewhere every so often with scopes, then yeah, I know! The upside is that we get to avail of their public liability insurance and that's good. There will be a joining cost, it may not be that much though but it will mean we have to look for a contribution from members. When I have some more information on what's involved in going the IFAS route I'll post it up and we can discuss it then!

Linguo

Can we not just mean along the coast somewhere with the scopes and avoid liability altogether?:pac:

squonk

We could, and I would suggest somewhere like Red Island in Skerries which I know and is suffieciently dark while also being easilly accessible.

The reason behind Ardgillan is that it is equally accessible, darker and we could get away from lights of passing cars etc.

As it's high summer at the moment it's worth using the time now to get some facts together and get a discussion going. It may be good to have some insurance to cater for a situation where us or a member of the public does get insjured, say for instance falling over a tripod leg or something. We all know that 99% of the time this isn't going to be an issue, but it could well be a problem if something did happen.

It's open for discussion now anyway. I really don't have a problem with organising a few meetings to get up and running. I think we may need to go down this more formalised route in the longer term though.

Dr Pepper

I'm interested, thanks. Good idea.

I'd be inclined to go the more casual route of meeting up on a beach or public park and sharing out the equipment/experience. These societies can really get bogged down with politics and red tape and I am not fond of the way fat cat insurance companies are sneaking into and charging us for every activity of our lives. /rant over, phew :pac:

Saying that, I have no problem paying a few quid towards insurance if that is the way it ends up!

Slow Motion

Dr Pepper wrote: »

I'm interested, thanks. Good idea.

I'd be inclined to go the more casual route of meeting up on a beach or public park and sharing out the equipment/experience. These societies can really get bogged down with politics and red tape and I am not fond of the way fat cat insurance companies are sneaking into and charging us for every activity of our lives. /rant over, phew :pac:

Saying that, I have no problem paying a few quid towards insurance if that is the way it ends up!

I was pretty much going to post the same thing! Get out of my head damn you there are enough voices in there as it is!

squonk

Cool! I heard back from Fingal CoCo today and I think getting afterhours access to Ardgillan might ne a non runner anyway. I'm all for the informal approach myself as well. I do have an inkling that if it turns into a larger group down the line we might have to look at things then but as there are only a few of us for now, then a meet up is grand, and there's the advantage of enticing a few passers by into Astronomy!

It's probably worth talking about meet ups now really. It's so bright these nights that I'm not sure it's worth doing anything at the moment. I'm at the stage where I'm still getting into Astronomy myself though so if there is interest ina meetup then we can do that. I haven't been taking the scope out for the past while myself because it's only getting dark when I'm thinking of hitting the bed

Perhaps we might be better waiting til July for a start up? What do you think?

Linguo

Maybe, I know another well known Astronomy group were holding viewings from 10pm last night, not fun for the staff who have to man them! Some weekend evening would be great

squonk

Indeed and it seemed a bit pointless given there was a bright moon out and it wasn't very dark anyway until after 11! If it was a Friday/Saturday night you could understand! Anyway yeah, lets' get something goin in the next while. Maybe July again as it'll be pretty bright til later over the next few weeks.

The Hill Billy

Just a thought, but Barnageera beach may be an option. There's parking nearby. Only thing is that while viewing to the north & east is good, south & west are cut off by the cliffs.

The field near the martello tower between Loughshinny & Rush could also be a runner.

Hauk

I'm in Skerries and would definitely pop along to one of these.

Around Red Island is fantastic when it is very dark. I've got my own scope so it's all good.

I'll keep an eye on this thread.

Edit: Oh yeah. Forgot to mention ^_^ I'm the Chair of the Dublin City University Astronomy Society. We'll be kicking things off formally around September, so we may be able to do stuff together. Let me know.

Hauk

dbran

Hi

There are still cool things to see even though it is high summer.

Saturn is still about and it can be cool to spot how many moons you can see. There is also some bright messier objects which can still look cool. As soon as the moon gets out of the way it can be fun. And there is always pretty doubles to look at also.

Not to mention the fact that we get to meet up and look through each other scopes and compare things. Sometimes you can pick up some nifty tips and tricks form more seasoned pros.

Only thing though is that it dose not get dark these days til quite late so it is important that these places are relatively safe. I mean I dont really want to have to run for my life an leave a couple of K worth of equipment behind me.

PS If you have a scope it is always a good idea to insure it "all risks". Attached to you own house contents policy it means even if you drop it while out in the field its covered for damage.