Why is there no Planetarium in Dublin

Hello all,
In the past months, I have fallen in love with Astronomy and I am astounded by the new discoveries, whether it has been digesting all the new books I have recently bought or viewing the rings of Saturn for the first time.

At the age of 29, I am a little disappointed in myself that I did not get involved in the noble hobby a long time ago. I began to think back at my time in school and came to the conclusion that there were very little opportunities out there when I was in school, the time when the young mind is crying out for new and exciting horizons.
That was in the early 90’s when the country could be forgiven for not directing funds into science and astronomy. But, since the tiger has come, had its feed, and is long dead, I ask the question, are things better for students who want to get into astronomy in so-called modern Ireland?

I recently went through a web site of a European Planetarium network and only found two locations in Ireland. The first one was in Greencastle (Donegal) and the other in Schull (Cork). The location in Donegal looked little more than a large classroom and the Schull Planetarium was only open during the summer. The rest of Europe’s capitals ALL have a large size Planetarium without exception.


Is this the best this country has to offer? Is there any hope for the people of Dublin, as the rest of Europe’s capital dwellers take it for granted?


End of Rant! Thank you

and obviously if you consider the entire island, then you include the planetarium in Armagh, but your question is one I have wondered aswell, I had always thought that Dunsink would be a good location for one.

I have always thought it shameful that not enough money was injected to anything 'off the beaten track' in schools. When Transition Year was introduced, that was as exciting as it got in my view. There should be a planetarium open as much as possible. I would have thought Dublin the obvious choice, if not in the Midlands simply because the motorway network makes it easier to travel almost anywhere (except to Donegal, unfortunately!).

There are a handful of companies that offer a mobile service, bringing the planetarium to schools, but that only works for small groups of c. 20-25 people. You're right though John, it seems almost tragic in 'modern' Ireland that this piece is missing from the science puzzle. (Having just said that, Ireland doesn't have a dedicated science centre either.)

Seanie.

Dunsink would be a great spot if funds could be got to build a new building and throw in car parking spaces etc.

But fundamentally, in my opinion, it is really surprising that ROI does not have a planetarium in any of the main cities.

Seanie - not sure what you mean by a "science center" but there is the Science Gallery in Dublin...

Welcome to the boards John!

You are right that it is shameful we've no planetarium in the capital city but there is lots in progress with science exploration centres set up (such as the Science Gallery at Trinity.)

However, the Stellarium software web site at www.stellarium.org/ has a link to the site local.wasp.uwa.edu.au/~pbourke/miscellaneous/domemirror/ where the author describes how a spherical mirror and a Data Projector connected to a laptop can be used to project an image on to a hemispherical dome. It is a relatively simple idea and I believe at least one school in Dublin has built such a system (can't remember which one off-hand). The page links to some examples of where this is done and he also describes how he has software to warp movies in real time. Stellarium has a warping feature that is geared towards the Paul Bourke's technique of planetarium projection.

John

probably in the past and in the present our government has been more interested in gaelic studies and that is where most of the money has gone. Science it would appear not being "irish" enough falls off the radar. when you look at what mary coughlan said about einstien's theory of evolution you know their priority is not science. so much for our knowledge economy. it is a real pity because we have done well in the past in science, but look on the bright side we have spent a fortune on doing up the slum that is dail eireann.