International Sidewalk Astronomy Night at Sans Souci Wood Bray March 20th

Saturday March 20th was International Sidewalk Astronomy Night , a global effort by astronomers to share
the night sky with the general public.

Deirdre Kelleghan and Michael Murphy from The Irish Astronomical Society were joined by Paul Byrne and Keith Deveney from South Dublin Astronomy Society on the night to show our moon and the planets Saturn and Mars to local people who came by.

Considering we were competing with the Six Nations Rugby final and the St Patrick's festival fun fair on the seafront I was delighted with the turn out of local families ( 50 approx) The weather forecast was not good , but luckily we had several hours of clear skies and happy Bray people. The fun fair had the skies of Bray dizzy with dazzling lights but when they were turned off at about 21:30 Paul managed to show M13 lurking in the towns light pollution over the sea.

It was great to show the wonderful planet Saturn rising above Bray Head ,it made everyone smile from ear to ear . Our moons craters were the subject of many impromptu conversations while several of the constellations many light years above Bray were shown to our attendees. M45 looked terrific close to the moon, an image to remember.
Saturn moon cards , stickers and bookmarks were given away to children at the event.

The next IAS and friends sidewalk astronomy evenings will be on April 23rd at the Martello Tower Car Park in Sandymount and April 24th on the promenade near The Boat House Coffee shop in Bray. All welcome, weather Permitting contact Deirdre Kelleghan 0872893828. Events in April will be part of Global Astronomy Month 2010



International Sidewalk Astronomy Night in Bray with Paul Byrne's new scope



Owen Brady thinks the moon is Deadly



Michael Murphy , Deirdre Kelleghan , Paul Byrne, and Keith Deveney showing
our moon , Saturn , Mars, M45, M43, M13 and constellations above Bray.



Even Teddy Bears come along to see Saturn in Bray.



Michael Timmons checks out Saturn in Bray

Deirdre Kelleghan
Vice Char IFAS - Outreach IFAS
National Coordinator Astronomers Without Borders Ireland
www.deirdrekelleghan.com/
twitter.com/skysketcher

It was good fun Deirdre, look forward to the next one.

The best comment I heard that night was when the man and his son came back later in the night when everyone had gone, with his wife I believe, the father commented that his son had stated that the moon was the best thing that he had ever seen.

A convert methinks.

There were many remarks of "wow" and "cool" bandied about and that made it worthwhile.

Paul

Great stuff Deirdre, looks like ye had a ball, unfortunately ive not been out with my scope for ages
Thanks for sharing the pics