IFAS, roads, national astronomy... was Sligo Astronomy Group

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Admin message:
Hi,

These posts are the ones that I felt were going off topic and taking away from the original thread about people setting up an Astronomy group in Sligo. So I've created a separate thread to continue this conversation.

Since I can't see how to add a post to the top of the thread I'm sticking this at the top of the first post.

Cheers,
~Al
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@Aubery.
Yea. We were down by the playing field with John O Neill and his partner. In fact we just missed you.
Are you saying that that location is one of the best?
I'm assuming you mean the cosmos talks and dinner etc. (which was brilliant).
But the location?
No offence to anyone but in terms of observing it's not exactly top drawer.

Look, before this turns into a mess of a post I want to be clear again on what I said above.
I'm talking about OBSERVING.
Actual out under the stars. And to that end, finding the best places possible to do that.
For me, I couldn't care less about the talks.
I missed Skelligs but it sounds great.
Ronans event in Sligo sounds cool also.
For me along with obviously next weekend in the Burren. That's my year sorted in terms of getting my dark sky fix along with other like minded folks.

You can have conventions and talks till the cows come home ( we ran WSP for years until - A: the arse fell out of the economy and couldn't get any funding or support from Ross / The Hotel / etc - but that's another days storey.
And B- the light pollution from the town of Birr was atrocious.
Hence the move to the Burren and a few years after the dropping of the talks.
Last year we got a huge crowd - all were there for one thing. Observing. It was awesome.

Don't get me wrong.
I love the talks.
Seanie. Ronan. The Skelligs 5 and all the others that put them on are legends and I'm happy to go (when I can) but again for me it's the being outside is the ticket.
If an event like Skelligs / Ronans Sligo one tick both observing and talks boxes then that's the golden ticket and would be my first choice.
end of the day. Be a Starparty a talks focused one in a mediocre observing area or one with talks in an excellent area or just a plain old Starparty with no talks then the more we have in this country the better!

Its great to see all this new activity but like many things in Ireland, we are so dependant on the weather. After having spent a year now in North Mayo, I can count the number of clear nights I have seen on one hand. Without some talks to make it worthwhile and staying overnight, it would be a bit risky as a purely observing event- like any star party. It is very dark though and I for one would go.
What would be nice to see is an IFAS location that people can go to on any new moon weekend, meet up, have some fun, share knowledge and do some observing if it is clear (and stay overnight if required). Preferably somewhere central (1-2 hours away from major centres) and purely informal.

Frank Ryan wrote: Ronans event in Sligo sounds cool also.
!

Ballycroy is in Mayo Frank as you seem to be unaware of, not Sligo.

I think being reasonable, inviting people from all over Ireland just for an observing event to in an isolated place like Ballyvaughan on a very poor and twisty road, most people dont have to drive that far just to get a dark sky least not on a road like that, and if its cloudy then what, the pub? You can do that in your local too.

Frank Ryan wrote: @Aubery.
Yea. We were down by the playing field with John O Neill and his partner. In fact we just missed you.
Are you saying that that location is one of the best?
I'm assuming you mean the cosmos talks and dinner etc. (which was brilliant).
But the location?
No offence to anyone but in terms of observing it's not exactly top drawer.

Look, before this turns into a mess of a post I want to be clear again on what I said above.
I'm talking about OBSERVING.
Actual out under the stars. And to that end, finding the best places possible to do that.
For me, I couldn't care less about the talks.
I missed Skelligs but it sounds great.
Ronans event in Sligo sounds cool also.
For me along with obviously next weekend in the Burren. That's my year sorted in terms of getting my dark sky fix along with other like minded folks.

You can have conventions and talks till the cows come home ( we ran WSP for years until - A: the arse fell out of the economy and couldn't get any funding or support from Ross / The Hotel / etc - but that's another days storey.
And B- the light pollution from the town of Birr was atrocious.
Hence the move to the Burren and a few years after the dropping of the talks.
Last year we got a huge crowd - all were there for one thing. Observing. It was awesome.

Don't get me wrong.
I love the talks.
Seanie. Ronan. The Skelligs 5 and all the others that put them on are legends and I'm happy to go (when I can) but again for me it's the being outside is the ticket.
If an event like Skelligs / Ronans Sligo one tick both observing and talks boxes then that's the golden ticket and would be my first choice.
end of the day. Be a Starparty a talks focused one in a mediocre observing area or one with talks in an excellent area or just a plain old Starparty with no talks then the more we have in this country the better!

Yes, I agree with everything you are saying, Frank.

Aubrey.

R Newman wrote:

Frank Ryan wrote: Ronans event in Sligo sounds cool also.
!

Ballycroy is in Mayo Frank as you seem to be unaware of, not Sligo.

I think being reasonable, inviting people from all over Ireland just for an observing event to in an isolated place like Ballyvaughan on a very poor and twisty road, most people dont have to drive that far just to get a dark sky least not on a road like that, and if its cloudy then what, the pub? You can do that in your local too.

Ronan is right, you cant bank on observing in this country, but it needs to be the centre of a star party. You need a dark sky reserve to do it justice. I hope more of them become a reality in Ireland.

Going to Johns point about an IFAS location. SSP was set up out of pure frustration with the way IFAS is run. All talk no agreement and zero action. To anyone running an event I know how hard it is to do it. But its very rewarding. I would and have suggested changes at club and federation level, but that falls on deaf ears. There is too much agenda and not enough astronomy.

I welcome more star party events, Derek, Steve and Ronan will get some work done. Of that I have zero doubt. And ill be there when they do get it off the ground.

But what I wont get involved in, (again to be fair) is the pitting of Clubs against each other that seems to be the legacy of IFAS. As PR for SSP I wont allow that kind of BS to scupper ours or any other event. As a group the SSP 5 are happy to help out anyone who wants to do something for the benefit of Irish Astronomy. The future of Irish Astronomy is with the people actually doing something, not sitting in closed door meetings, making motions for grand titles.

Seriously Ronan?
Are you going this route with me?
What are you on about?

'Seem to be unaware of'?
Are you joking.
I hope you are.
It was a mistake.
I get that sometimes intent gets misread in text but lol.
The rest?
Are you actually taking the piss?
"Inviting people from all over Ireland"
"Twisty road"
"The pub"
Most people can drive a few hours to get to a dark site


Ronan. Seriously.
Please. Please. Please. Tell me you trying to rise me.

Did I hit a nerve with you or something?
I don't get it.
I mean what's your point?
Are you trying to say a "Starparty" HAS to have talks?
Well dude. THEY DONT.
the people who will go are people that want to.
There's nobody FORCING anyone to go. Lol
There's people on these forums who go to starparties and NRVER go to the observing AND THATS TOTALLY FINE!
each to their own!
This post was started by someone that wanted to get a few people together to go observing and make it a regular event. If your post above is in jest then let's talk. If not and your for real then you can sod off and I'm not even going to reply to any more crap like it. The reason why I left these forums for years was because of posts like that. We're supposed to be a bunch of hobbyists enjoying a shared interest. If you can't get that then good luck to you.
I have Zero interest in clubs positioning each other in some kind of "we have the best event" bull or ego massaging.
All I care about is people helping each other and supporting each other.