International Astronomy Day - Call for Participants

Irish Astronomical Association meeting at Canfunnock on 21 April 2006


The Irish Astronomical Association (IAA) held a public star party at Carnfunnock on 21 April to celebrate International Astronomy day. The plan was to observe Saturn, which is well positioned in Leo at the moment. Unfortunately it was clouded out, so two of our members Derek Heatly (the “Ulsternaut”) and Dr Andy McCrea gave public lectures. Derek described his experiences of weightless flights at the Russian Space centre and his plans to be the first Ulster space tourist (hence the term “Ulsternaut”!). Andy did a talk on the wonders of the April night sky plus a mini tour of the solar system planets. Money raised by book/video sales etc. at the meeting will be donated to a Leukaemia research charity.



IAA organising members (from left to right is Pat O’Neill (President), Derek Heatly, Andy McCrea and Philip Baxter -Vice President).




Derek Heatly and one of the young public attendees Jeni Jorden (holding a Russian astronaut’s glove).

Many thanks to the IAA for joining in Astronomy Day

Deirdre Kelleghan
Irish Astronomical Society

Saturday April 21st
This is Ireland and there was of course 100,000,000 clouds in the sky above Sandymount in Dublin. Most of these were laden with tons of water so there were few people out strolling for the good of their health that evening.

Once again we arrived and set up some of our telescopes in the hope of a break in the weather. As I said in Friday’s report, people are fascinated with telescopes, they attract people and that’s basically the way the evening unfolded. John Murphy, Patricia Carroll, Elizabeth Caird, Myself and also Michael Murphy from SDAS were on hand to answer people’s questions.

Conor and Ben Murphy manned the UNICEF buckets and did a great job collecting for children supported by UNICEF. They gave out our information and Global Parent leaflets also.

“What’s going on”? “How far can you see with that”? “How much does something like that cost “? “Is it heavy”? “Can you really see Saturn”? “I used to be into astronomy how do I get involved”? “Great idea to do this for UNICEF” “Will you be here again and when”? “I came last year for Chernobyl and saw Jupiter; I was hoping to see Saturn and Venus” “I just love stars, what is that really bright one in the sky at the moment”?

These were some of the comments made by people who stopped by for a chat about astronomy and to give to UNICEF.

We talked Astronomy, Venus, Moon, Saturn and Telescopes for the evening.
People wanted to look through the telescopes so (and not for the first time) I demonstrated the magnification of my scope by landing peoples eyes on the decks of ferries coming out of Dublin Port.

The rust on the Poolbeg towers was another target, also signs on building several miles away gave people some idea of what telescopes can do. We also explained how they worked and why objects are upside down in them.
So there was a little edutainment going on in Sandymount for a few hours.

Duncan Stewart from TV came down for a chat and a look; he was very interested in my telescope. We had a very long talk about astronomy in Ireland, light pollution, telescopes, astronomical sketching, UNICEF and the concept of Astronomy Day.

We had no Moon, no Venus, no Saturn to share with people, but we shared our enthusiasm for astronomy. We shared our knowledge and we talked and talked and talked astronomy from 8:30pm till 10:00pm to around 35 people who came down to listen.
We wound up early as it looked like rain, finished up with a little French coffee to warm us against the chilly breeze coming off the sea.

Now if you have been entertained, amused, intrigued, or inspired by this thread then you can jump in and give a donation to UNICEF Ireland at www.unicef.ie/donate.html
this page and if you are doing this, write Look Up for UNICEF in the comment box at the end so UNICEF will know it came from this effort.

Thanks
Deirdre Kelleghan
Irish Astronomical Society



Ben and Conor Murphy "Young Astronomers" helping out on Astronomy Day



Busy for UNICEF



Talking telescopes



Supporting UNICEF on Astronomy Day - Michael Murphy SDAS,Duncan Stewart RTE,John Murphy,Deirdre Kelleghan, Elizabeth Caird, Patricia Carroll - Photo by Alan Stewart



End of evening debriefing with French coffee of course

An amateur astronomer ,Pouria Nazemi, who I have been dealing with in Iran sent me these images from their Astronomy Day adventures

Here are some photos of Astronomy Day 2007 in Iran , More than 10 000 people joined the program only in Mellat Park in central Tehran, and more than 80 centers in 50 cities celebrated this day.
Pouria












Amazing amount of people and interest in astronomy out there

Deirdre Kelleghan
Irish Astronomical Society

www.astroleague.org/al/astroday/world_astronomy_day_2007.html
Tammy Plotner sent me this link to the Astronomy Day page on the Astronomical Leagues website.

Tammy is gathering images and words from events all over the world and she has included some of the Irish images in the photo sequence on this page. Sorry some of my babblings are there again:-)

Deirdre Kelleghan
Irish Astronomical Society