Astronomy Irelands so-called 'fundraiser'

CONFUSED

No Dave Grennan, im not confused and im not sure about others here but I am sure they are enlightened and like Dickie "seen the light"


Charles

I saw the light before I even joined.

And syill no reply to my email regarding what 'charity' this fundraiser is for. Surely even if Mr. Moore was on holidays from his shop, he would have some one take care of his emails??

Derek.

Dave G, I know you say 1 club now charges to its observing session, but its the first since AI.

Interesting, this I didnt know.
For the record all SAC observing sessions are free, and thats the way it''ll stay.

Dave is also incorrect stating that the club is charging for its public observing. The IAA, are holding a series of public events in Mount Stewart House, Newtonards. The admission price (£5) is for entry to the house and gardens where the events are being held and will be going to the national trust. Since its on a national trust property, and you are required to book through Mount Stuart and not the IAA I would think it was obvious that the IAA is not getting the £5. The proper admission price is £5.45 so if anything you get to go at a discount because of the IAA!

It is my understanding that all IAA events, both lectures and observing nights will continue to be, as they have been, free and open to all.

Perhaps someone from the IAA might like to chime in here, but for the record here is the announcement, which is where I imagine Dave got his information from

1. A final reminder about the IAA Public Lecture on Wednesday 16 March, by Dr Niall Smyth, of CIT: The title is "Blackrock Castle Robotic Observatory"; Lecture Theatre 5, Stranmillis College, Belfast, 7.30 p.m. Free admission, including light refreshments. All welcome.

2. IAA at MOUNTSTEWART: The first of three public observing events this spring: "JEWELS OF THE SKY AT MOUNT STEWART"

Come and see the 'jewels of the sky' at Mount Stewart House, near Greyabbey, Newtownards, on Friday 18 March, through the IAA's powerful telescopes and binoculars.
If the sky is clear, this is what lies in store: Saturn, the most beautiful sight in the night sky, will be perfectly placed for viewing. See its magnificent Rings, and its largest, puzzling & fascinating moon Titan, recently visited by the Huyghens space craft.
Later, we'll see giant Jupiter, the largest planet in the Solar System, big enough to hold over 1,000 Earths! Also its four largest Moons, discovered by Galileo about 300 years ago.
Among the stellar jewels on display will be the beautiful Pleiades, or Seven Sisters, in Taurus. See how many you can count in high-power binoculars or a telescope - not just seven, but maybe seventy, or more!
Not far away is Orion, the Mighty Hunter, the most magnificent constellation in the entire sky. See the brilliant white star Rigel, which is 50,000 times brighter than our Sun. And giant Red Betelgeuse, a star so big that if placed where our Sun is, it would engulf not just Mercury, and Venus, and Earth, but almost Mars as well! Below the three stars forming Orion's Belt, you can see the Orion Nebula, a gigantic cloud of gas and dust where stars like our Sun are being formed right now!
See the amazing Andromeda Galaxy, the big brother of our own Milky Way galaxy: a vast horde of two hundred thousand million stars, at the incredible distance of about 14 million million million miles!
Much closer to home, we'll have a spectacular First Quarter Moon: an incredible sight in a good telescope, with hundreds of gigantic craters, mountains, valleys, and giant plains.
And if you're there early, at about 7.30 p.m. you can join the very tiny minority of human beings who have seen the innermost planet, Mercury, always difficult to see because it's so close to the Sun.
Closest of all will be the International Space Station, orbiting just over 100 miles above our heads - we should see it cross the sky at an amazing 17,000 mph, looking like a brilliant fast-moving star.
We'll also have superb star shows in a mobile planetarium, telescopes on display, talks about the universe and the night sky, an exhibition of amazing photos of the wonders of the sky, a collection of meteorites from space, and you can meet the Ulsterman who has been weightless, and has already flown almost to the edge of space, and has now booked on the next available commercial flight into space! So there will be plenty to see and do even if it's cloudy.
Remember: wrap up really warm, particularly head, hands & feet!
Refreshments available in Mount Stewart House Bay Restaurant open between 7pm - 8.30pm (this is not included in the admission price).
Admission Adults £5 - Children £3. Book via Mount Stewart.

Even if the IAA were charging, its members have the right to see the accounts and elect a new committee. And to the best of my knowledge Terry does not have a nicley profitable company producing Stardust to generate any confusion regarding where the clubs money goes! Slightly different from the AI/A&S situation.

You might want to use names like Dave L or Dave G, as I dont know which you refer to above.
I'm already sorry I got into this thread

You might want to use names like Dave L or Dave G, as I dont know which you refer to above.
I'm already sorry I got into this thread

Sorry about that. I meant Dave Grennan since he brought it up initially. There are just too many Daves! But the bright side you dont have to differentiate between Al (as in Albert) and AI (as in Astronomy Ireland) in evey post on the thread!

Cheers,
~Al

but it doesn't sound like their next starbeque will be enoyed by many. And then charging 2 flippin' yo-yo's to look through a bloody scope

Its the mans PRINCIPAL! You don't charge people amission to the cinema, THEN charge them again to look at the movie! Thats what Moore used to always do, at his Expos, Starbeques, SkyWatches - you name it, its happened there.

Like most of these discussions, remarks are thrown about without any concern about whether there is any truth in them or not and this is one instance of that.

Nobody pays twice at Star-B-Qs, Expos or public Watches. When has anyone been charged separately to look through a telescope at a Star-B-Q after paying the initial booking fee? It is pure malicious to suggest this to others on this forum who have never been to one and may actually believe this nonsense. Nobody looks through any telescopes at the Expos and for public starwatches, again, there is only one small charge. As DG has already said, AI's club observing nights are totally free to any member who wishes to come.

Its stupid what he has done to the hobby in my opinion.

Why do people keep referring to astronomy as a hobby and expect everything associated with it to be free. I'm interested in railway modelling; it's a hobby but I have to pay for everything including magazines and admission charges to exhibitions etc. There are commercial interests and costs associated with all hobbies.

Gordon

As for hot drinks - hmmm. Stumbling around in the dark - what if I walked into a telescope? As a health and safety professional, I can list loads more risks that would do more harm than a cup of tea. Can anyone say 'look at all those cars'?

Dave,
I'm a Risk Management Surveyor and to be quite honest, I would be nervous of serving hot drinks at an event like this. The only way to do it would be to use disposable polystyrene cups and to have people bringing these into the dark telescope area is an uneccessary risk. If it was possible to restrict the hot drinks to the brighter barbeque area and hall, the risk would be substiantially reduced but this would be almost impossible to police. Remember too that many children attend so hot cups held by adults would be at face height of young children.

Of course there are risks associated any outdoor event such as the Star-B-Qs. Risks are everyhere; getting out of bed in the morning is a risk, so is walking down stairs, crossing the road etc. A risk assessment identifies risks and puts control measures in place to deal with them. In the telescope area, the telescopes are manned and well spaced so the liklihood of anyone stumbling into a telescope is reduced to a negligible level. It's never happened to my knowledge. This is not unique to Star-B-Qs. Any club telescope event faces the same risks. You can't run a telescope night without telescopes any more than you can run a motor race event with its associated risks without cars. Courts take the nature of the event and control measures in place when determining negligence, if any exists. I am not aware of any accidents at an AI event. I've nothing to do with safety advice to AI by the way.

I don't understand your remark about cars.

Gordon

You might want to use names like Dave L or Dave G, as I dont know which you refer to above.
I'm already sorry I got into this thread

Sorry about that. I meant Dave Grennan since he brought it up initially. There are just too many Daves! But the bright side you dont have to differentiate between Al (as in Albert) and AI (as in Astronomy Ireland) in evey post on the thread!

Cheers,
~Al

No worries Al (Albert :lol:)
Its just with all the stuff been thrown around on this thread, its good to be careful about whats said.
True or not, some like AI, except for Al, he's not a fan of AI..
:twisted: