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On June 15th Astronomy Ireland hosted Nationwide Moon Watches in various locations all around the country.

At the Watches people had the opportunity to check out some of the country's most powerful telescopes, and despite some clouds around the country, many of our Branches successfully saw the last total lunar eclipse until 2015.

BRANCH REPORTS

Cork
We had a great turn-out for the evening. A clear sky to the east and a low-enough horizon gave us a glimpse of the rising full moon which was still about 65-75% eclipsed, at about 10:30pm BST. We stared in awe as it cleared the trees, alternating between 15x70 Celestron binoculars, my recently renovated small newtonian (unmarked) and Don's Celestron NexStar-6. Various others had 10x50 binos and everyone had fun taking their own digital photographs through the eyepieces. We numbered about 22 over an hour and a half, also with some revellers from the Marquee dropping by.

We stayed til pretty much darkness, swung over to Saturn and had a tour of the summer sky, noting Arcturus, Spica and Porrima (next to Saturn), and Vega rising high in the east. Some thin cloud ambled in to cover the Moon as it reached full brightness, but this merely enhanced the beauty of the scene. Next we saw noctilucent clouds overhead and these are visible in the portrait photo.

Thanks again AI for publicising the event.
- Denis Walsh

Dublin
Hundreds of people arrived at Phoenix Park on Wednesday for the Dublin Branch Eclipse Watch. We set up telescopes on the grass to give us a good view of the location of where the Moon was going to be.

Clouds hid the Moon for most of the night, but just before the end of the eclipse a break in the clouds gave us a glimpse! Even after the eclipse, people stayed around to watch the sky as the clouds began to break up - we even say a magnitude -7 Iridium flare and the International Space Station!
- Conor Farrell

Louth
Approximately 50 - 60 people turned up to the Louth Lunar Eclipse Watch at Seabank. Unfortunately a large bank of cloud over the Irish Sea prevented any viewing of the eclipse. It did eventually clear at 11.30pm, but at this stage the eclipse was over. There was a nice NLC display to end the night around midnight.
- Derek Watters

Sligo
We had a nice clear night for the lunar eclipse and got to see it from its partial phase on (it still had a red tinge to it this far west!). Around 16 people turned up and used the telescope and binoculars on the tripod to get a good look at the Moon. After a while we focused on Saturn and could easily make out its rings and larger moons. A fun night had by all!
- Derek Davey

Waterford
We had a slight change of location this time round but still a good turnout! We saw the end of the eclipse as the Moon rose above the horizon, which was great. There were a good few new people at the Watch and they were thrilled to look through a telescope for the first time, especially at Jupiter and Saturn. Overall it went very well and we're looking forward to the next Watch!
- Samantha Clooney

Do you own a telescope or pair of binoculars? Why not get together with some friends and family and hold your own Moon Watch? If you are interested in running a Public Moon Watch in your area for Astronomy Ireland, please let us know.

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