Mayo Dark Sky Festival

Blog Header Image
Festivals

October 2016

The first Mayo Dark Sky Festival will take place from Friday 28th October to Sunday 30th October at various locations around Newport. All astronomy lovers will enjoy this unique weekend.

On Friday evening the Festival will be opened by Leo Enright at Hotel Newport at 7pm. Two talks will follow, the first about the preservation of Mayo Dark Skies by Georgia MacMillan, Project Leader of the Mayo Dark Sky Park and the second about Ancient Astronomical Alignments by Martin Byrne.

The evening will end with observation sessions (weather permitting).

On Saturday there will be talks about Space Science and Amateur Astronomy including ‘One Thousand Years of Great Comets and Great Disappointments’ by Nick James, ‘Ireland: Our Place in Space’ by Dr Norah Patten, ‘Extra Solar Planets and the Potential for Life’ by Tony O’Hanlon, ‘A High Ecliptic Survey of the Outer Solar System’ by astronomy researcher Eamonn Ansbro and ‘Europe at Mars: Red Hot News from the Red Planet’ by Leo Enright.

After the delicious Mayo Dark Sky Festival dinner John O’Mahony, an Irish/Autralian amateur astronomer, will give an interesting lecture: “Astronomy Down Under – A Personal Voyage”. Observation sessions will take place.

On Sunday there will be interesting talks such as ‘Observing the Moon: then and now’ by Nick James, ‘High Resolution Planetary Imaging’ by John McKeon and ‘Building and Operating a Robotic Observatory’ by Dave Grennan. Tony O’Hanlon will discuss observing from a Dark Sky site and how to get the most from your equipment and Lorraine Hanlon, Professor of University College Dublin , will give a talk on ‘From Atoms to Astrophysics – How we know what we know about the Universe’

On Sunday afternoon advanced practical workshops will take place. Family friendly events are scheduled from 11pm to 4.30pm in Newport National School. The programme includes: a public lecture: “Atoms to Astrophysics – How we know what we know about the Universe” by Professor Lorraine Hanlon of University College Dublin, Astronomy story telling, Planetarium shows by Big Bear Planetariums, children’s activities in the Discovery Lab, Exhibits, Raffle, information tables, displays of amateur astronomy projects and activities, discussions, face painting and drawing. For children from 9 to 16 years old there will be a rocket-building workshop with Eric Stenzel of the Irish Rocketry Society.

On the first clear night, observing sessions will take place at Brogan Carroll Boothy, an old stone hut located at the trail head of the Bangor Trail in Letterkeen Forest. These sessions cater for astronomers only. On the same night a public event will take place at the Burrishoole Abbey car park, where there will be some large telescopes and laser-guided night sky tours.  

Visitors will appreciate Mayo’s pristine night-time skies.

Posted on Wed, 11 May 2016 10:51:54

Other Things You Might Like