Undeterred by the clouds, six hundred people descended on Roundwood for Astronomy Ireland's Star-B-Q. The hall was packed solid by astronomy enthusiasts who were looking forward to a fun-filled night.

Chairman of Astronomy Ireland, David Moore, began the proceedings with his talk, The Universe, giving an account of the sheer vastness of space. Trevor Weekes presented himself as the Third Earl of Rosse, and talked about how the Leviathan Telescope at Birr Castle was built in the 1840s. Guests to the Star-B-Q loved his description of how he built the world's largest telescope at the time!

Along with some delicious and warming food from the barbecue, the guests congregated outside to be amazed by the skillful work of the fire performers, dancing to the beat of a drum.

Kevin Sweeney, Astronomy Ireland's Education Officer, then gave an excellent talk aimed towards children and beginners to astronomy.

Robert Hill, Director of the Northern Ireland Space Office at Armagh Planetarium, astounded the audience with his amazing stereoscopic presentations. Guests felt that they could almost touch the surface of planets, the cases of spacecraft, and the insides of cells! This part of the evening was so popular that Robert actually ran the presentation again towards the end of the night.

Emlyn Jones gave a talk on imaging astronomical objects and astrophotography. He also gave a fascinating account of his trip to India in July to see the recent total solar eclipse.

While the sky was too cloudy to set up telescopes, everyone enjoyed the talks, the food, and the craic at this year's Star-B-Q.