Upcoming Events

The next Midlands Astronomy Club (MAC) public lecture takes place in the Presbyterian Hall, High Street, Tullamore, as follows:

Date & Time: Tuesday November 5th @ 8pm.
Speaker/Topic: Mr. Dave Connolly, MAC
Title: 'Photographing The Winter Night Sky'
Admission: €2.00, all are welcome.

The latest club magazine (Réalta) and November's SkyMaps will also be available on the night (both FREE). See www.midlandsastronomy.com for more details.

Clear Skies,

Seanie Morris.

As part of Science Week, Midlands Astronomy Club will be hosting a Stargazing in Stradbally event in, well, Stradbally in County Laois this Saturday night, November 16th from 8pm. It will take place in Stradbally Library, and will see MAC members host a series of short talks and demonstrations. If the weather is good, we'll ditch the talks and head outside with the telescopes!

Fun for all the family, FREE event, and open to all.

Facebook Event for some more info:
www.facebook.com/events/245927425564244/

IFAS Forum info here.

For more details email midlandsastronomy@gmail.com

Clear Skies,

Seanie Morris,
MAC Secretary.

Hello All,

Just a reminder that our Monthly sidewalk astronomy event will be held at 8PM this Friday 13th December at the car-park by the Martell tower in sandymount.
We will be viewing the 10.5 day old Moon along with Jupiter.

If you have a telescope, please bring it along - the more the merrier.

The event is free and all are welcome.

More details here.

Michael.

Hello All,

The monthly meeting of the IAS for January will take place on Monday 27th in Ely House at 8PM.Our speaker is Dr. David Malone from NUIM. The topic is 'How to tell the time'.
More details are here.


All are welcome and admission of free.

Not quite sure if this is an event,


Juts a head's up that the new look Sky at Night returns to BBC next week.


This month's episode looks at Jupiter.


Broadcast times are:


Sun 9th Feb @ 22:00 BBC4
Thu 13th Feb @ 19:30 BBC4
Fri 14th Feb @ 00:30 BBC4

Hello All,

The IAS' monthly Sidewalk Astronomy session will be held on the 7th AND 8th March at the Martello tower car-park in Sandymount from 8 to 10PM.
We will be observing the Moon and the planet Jupiter.

This is a free event and all are welcome.

As this event is weather dependant remember to check our website www.irishastrosoc.org on the day to see if we are going ahead.

Regards,

Michael.

Hi All,

April 4th to 6th sees the annual COSMOS Star Party take place, this year at the 4 star Shamrock Lodge Hotel in Athlone. Hosted by Midlands Astronomy Club since 1992, this is now Ireland's biggest weekend star party and boasts an impressive line up of guest speakers, exhibits, air-powered rocket launches, Cosmic Dinner, Observing and much more.

This year has seen kind sponsorship by Ktec Telescopes (www.ktectelescopes.ie or just click on their banner in this forum)

Programme for Cosmos 2014
(Times are subject to slight variations)

Friday April 4th
19:30 - Registration Opens
20:00 - Awards Presentation to the pupils with the Westmeath Examiner (Details will follow)
20:30 - Declan Molloy, Strange Universe


Saturday April 5th
9:30 - Registration Opens
10:15 - Opening Address by MAC Chairperson, Mr. Jason Fallon
10:30 - Mr. John McKeon, Planetary Astrophotography - Tips and Tricks
11:30 - Refreshments
12:00 - Dr. Xavier Pellicer, Eskers in the Irish Midlands: Analogs for Ridge-like Features on Mars
13:00 - Lunch, includes Solar Observing
Lunch is provided onsite at extra cost, please inquiry at the Registrations Desk with our Treasurer, Paul Fitzgerald
13:45pm - Air-powered Rocket Launches
14:45 - Ms. Mary Mulvihill, The Ingenious Irish: The Great Irish Ideas and Inventions that Changed the World
15:45 - Refreshments
16:15 - Mr. Will Gater, Alien Worlds: The Extraordinary Inhabitants of the Milky Way

17:30 - Break / IFAS Annual General Meeting, for IFAS Club Reps only.

19:30 - Cosmic Dinner, extra cost. Please inquiry at the Registrations Desk with our Treasurer, Paul Fitzgerald (limited places)
21:00 - Table Quiz over Tea/Coffee/Drinks
22:15 - Observing (weather permitting)


Sunday April 6th
9:30 - Registration Opens
10:00 - Mr. William Bean, Astronomy: Beyond the Backyard
11:00 - Refreshments
11:30 - Prof. Eamon O'Gorman, The Biggest and Baddest Stars at Radio Wavelengths

12:30 - Lunch, includes Solar Observing
Lunch is provided onsite at extra cost, please inquiry at the Registrations Desk with our Treasurer, Paul Fitzgerald

14:00 - Mr. Gearoid O'Brien, Midlands Astronomers of Note
15:00 - Refeshments
15:30 - Mr. Michael O'Connell, The Antikythera Mechanism
16:30 - Raffle
17:00 - Farewell Address and Close

More information can be found by clicking on www.midlandsastronomy.com or checking out the forum on www.irishastronomy.org for additional talk on the event.


COMPETITION!
Checkout any of the following newspapers from yesterday's editions (repeated next week too) for your chance to win some great prizes, also kindly donated by Ktec Telescopes:

Westmeath Examiner
Westmeath Independent
Cavan Anglo Celt
Meath Chronicle
Leinster Express


Clear Skies,

Seanie Morris.
www.midlandsastronomy.com
midlandsastronomy@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/pages/Midlands-Astronomy-Club/177773508924371

Hello All,

The IAS' monthly Sidewalk Astronomy session will be held on the 4th April at the Martello tower car-park in Sandymount from 8 to 10PM.
We will be observing the 4 day old Moon and the planet Jupiter.

These are free events and all are welcome.

As these event are weather dependant remember to check our website www.irishastrosoc.org on the day to see if we are going ahead.

The next Midlands Astronomy Club (MAC) public lecture takes place in the Clonamore House, Arden Road, Tullamore, as follows:

Date & Time: Tuesday August 5th @ 8pm.
Speaker/Topic: MAC members and Friends
Title: 'Dedication and Memorial Night'
Admission: Free, all are welcome.



This night is a celebration and dedication to some of our members who were staunch supporters of Midlands Astronomy Club (Tullamore Astronomical Society) since it was founded in 1986. There will be sandwiches and refreshments, slideshows, and a dedication to the late:

- Vincent McDonnell (founder, long-time Treasurer and our first Librarian, died July 2005).
- Carthage Morrissey (long-time member, staunch supporter of our Site clean-up days and maker of 2 observing chairs, died November 2012).
- Ollie Walsh (long-time member and maker of a 10 inch Dobsonian telescope, died December 2013).
- Trevor Rainsberry (former Chairperson, Librarian and the man responsible for allowing MAC (TAS) to purchase our 1/2 acre in Clonminch for the Observatory, the first of its kind of any club in Ireland, died April 2014).

August's SkyMaps will also be available on the night FREE.

We hope you can come along and celebrate with us!


Clear Skies,

Seanie Morris,
MAC Secretary.
midlandsastronomy@gmail.com
www.midlandsastronomy.com

Hello All,

The IAS' monthly Sidewalk Astronomy session will be held on the 5th September at the Martello tower car-park in Sandymount from 8 to 10PM.
We will be observing the 11 day old Moon.

This is a free event and all are welcome.

As the event is weather dependant remember to check our facebook page or our website on the day to see if we are going ahead.

Regards,

Michael.

The IAS will be meeting at the Martello Tower car-park on Sandymount at 8PM to observe the 9 day old Moon.

As the event is weather dependent Please check the website (www.irishastrosoc.org) before attending.

Hope to see you all there.

The next Midlands Astronomy Club (MAC) public lecture takes place in the Clonamore House, Arden Road, Tullamore, as follows:

Date & Time: Tuesday October 7th @ 8pm.
Speaker/Topic: Ms. Maire McKay
Title: 'Galaxies'
Admission: Members are free, non-members €2, all are welcome.

Maire McKay, 3 times former Club Chairperson delivers this next talk. For more information about MAC check out www.midlandsastronomy.com or check us out on Facebook.

October's SkyMaps will also be available on the night FREE.


Clear Skies,

Seanie Morris.

Hello All,

The IAS will be holding it's Christmas party on 5th December at 19:30.

The event is free but booking is required.

Details here.

The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) will host a public lecture in the Alexander Hotel, Dublin 2, as follows:

Date & Time: Thursday, November 6th from 6pm (Event at 6:30pm).
Speaker/Topic: Rory Fitzpatrick (National Space Centre)
Title: 'Ireland's Space Endeavours: An intro to our contributions in Space exploration and communication'
Admission: Free and open to all.

For more information about this event check out The IET site.

Hello All,

The IAS will be meeting at the car-park opposite the Clontarf Yacht and Boat club at 8PM to observe the 1st Quarter Moon.

As the event is weather dependent Please check the website (www.irishastrosoc.org) before attending.

Hope to see you all there.

Hello All,

The IAS February meeting will take place on Monday 23rd February at 8PM in Ely House.


The speaker will be Dr Brian Espey from UCD.


The topic is Light Pollution.


This is a free event and all are welcome.


Full details here.


Hope to see you there

Dunsink Observatory will be holding an event to mark the partial solar eclipse.

Full details are here.

Hello All,

The IAS will be meeting by the Martello Tower in Sandymount at 8PM on Friday 24th April.

We will also be meeting opposite the Clontarf Boat and Yacht club at 8PM on Saturday 25th April.

Both events are weather depentent, please check our website after 6PM on the day.

Our April monthly meeting will take place at 8PM on Monday 27th in Ely house.
The speaker is Dr. Frank Mulligan, Maynooth University and his talk is on
Phenomena from Earth's Middle Atmosphere.

Full details are on our website www.irishastrosoc.org.

There is an observing night/bbq in Charleville Castle, Tullamore tonight.



Name of Club: Republic of Astronomy
Type of Event: Observing & BBQ
Date: 05/09/2015
Purpose of Event: i.e. Observing Mars
Location and Directions: Charleville Castle, Tullamore, Co Offaly
Admission Fee: €5
Brief synopsis: A night of observing with Republic of Astronomy, with telescope how-to guides, and night sky tours. Also a BBQ
Website Link if available: https://www.facebook.com/events/672889276180258/permalink/679193188883200/



Ill be bringing along the following scopes for public viewing, and of course, you can bring your own -




Skywatcher 300P 12" Flextube Goto Dobsonian-


Celestron Evolution 9.25" Wifi Telscope -


Celestron Nexstar 4SE -


Skywatcher 200PDS 8" HEQ5 Pro -


Skywatcher Startravel 120 AZ3 Refractor -


Maybe we will see you there

Midlands Astronomy Club presents The Moon and Stars from Athlone Castle on Saturday 24th October.



From 7.30pm until 11pm, there will be high powered telescopes set up in the courtyard and Midlands Astronomy Club will be giving a guided tour of the night sky. This free event is open to everyone who has an interest in the astronomy, or even just to use the occasion as an excuse to look up at the night sky!

Ktec Telescopes will also be with us on the night, offering their wares for sale and on hand to offer advice on telescopes, cameras, equipment and more.

Hosted in conjunction (no pun intended) with Athlone Arts & Tourism: www.athloneartsandtourism.ie/whats-on/midlands-astronomy-club-presents-the-moon-and-stars-from-athlone-castle

See you there!

Seanie Morris,
MAC Secretary.

Hi all,

Apologies for the very short notice of this FREE event. All welcome to come along for the full day or part of it. Food options if there for the whole day are bring-your-own or dinner in the Travelodge or Half-Way House (the latter has kindly offered us a discount for the event attendees). However, there will be refreshments available in Dunsink throughout the day.

Hope to see you there!

John (Flannery)

Here's the final programme for the event....

Saturday, February 13th: IAA/IFAS event at Dunsink Observatory

· (13.00 Gates/Doors open and solar observing if clear).

· 14.00 Welcome & opening remarks: DIAS / IAA / IAS / IFAS

· 14.15 - 15.00: “A History of Dunsink Observatory”, by John Flannery, IAS

· 15:00 – 15:45: “Galileo: Hero or Heretic”, by Emmet Mordaunt, MAC

· 15.45 - 16.15 Tea / coffee

· 16.15 - 16.45: Tours of Observatory - Two groups, one does main building, other does South Dome + Refractor. Then the groups swap around.

· 16.45 - 17.40 – “Observing Highlights of 2016 & Photographing Them”, Paul Evans, IAA

· 17.40 - 18.30 - Break for food. Attendees are welcome to bring their own or there are locations nearby (Travelodge or Halfway House pub) which provide food.

· 18.30 - 19.20: “Solar Observing: A History”, by Samuel Bleyen, Meath Astronomy Club

· 19.20 - 20.10: “The Northern Lights in Irish History – from Superstition to the Digital Age”, by Ronan Newman, GAC.

· 20.10 – 21.00 – “What was it really like on Apollo 11?”, by Seanie Morris, MAC

· 21.00 - Close of formal programme + socialising or observing Jupiter etc.

Looking forward to seeing everyone there, should be a fun day out!

The next meeting of the Irish Astronomical Society is on Monday, 21 March 2016 and will feature Kevin Nolan of the Planetary Society.

The meeting starts at 8pm and will be held in Ely House, 8 Ely Place, Dublin 2 (just off St Stephen's Green). All are welcome and admission is FREE.

Kevin's lecture is titled "An Emerging Cosmic Perspective" and will include a broad look at how the likes of Hubble Space Telescope and the ESO Very Large Telescope are affecting our perspective in the Cosmos. It will be a visually stunning talk including the latest HST and ESO multi-gigapixel images.

Meath astronomy club will be holding a star party to observe the Transit of Mercury at Rathbeggan lakes on the 9th May.

Details on the IFAS site here.