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Skies cleared for Star-B-Q 2008
(see photos below)
Click HERE to
go to pre-event desciption page
Saturday August 30th - Hundreds of people
flocked to Roundwood for Astronomy Ireland's annual barbecue under
the stars - Star-B-Q. Skies cleared, our NASA speaker was
excellent, and we gave away 2,000 euro worth of prizes.
After thick clouds and the threat of rain on
the evening, skies eventually cleared and everyone had the
opportunity to look through some of the telescopes we had set up.
They observed such delights as M31 - The Andromeda galaxy, M57 -
The Ring Nebula, M13 & M92 - Globular Clusters in Hercules, A
double cluster in Perseus, the Milky Way galaxy, meteors,
satellites and so much more. A lucky few even managed to observe
Jupiter as the majestic planet peeped out from behind cloud for a
brief time.
To guarantee everyone gets to see the wonders of
the universe, further telescope nights are being organised for
ticket holders as promised.
The "naked eye tour to the night sky" was
a great success with lots of people amazed by the laser (with a
whopping 40 mile beam) pointing out the most common constellations
and, of course, a guide on finding your way around the night sky
by star hopping. The Milky Way was on view also and some people
were amazed by it, one gentleman who was retired, said in all his
years he had never seen it at all and was upset that he had missed
this beautiful spectacle for all those years.
People started to arrive as early as 6.30pm and
were teased by the delicious smell of the barbecue as it was
getting under way.
The evening kicked off with an introduction by
David Moore, he then brought his fantastic talk
"The Universe" to the crowd of eager listeners.
As the first talk finished, the barbecue was in
full flight, dishing up delicious hot burgers, sausages and all
the trimmings.
We were then treated to a great talk by NASA
scientist Dr. James McAteer on the Sun, his presentation was
superb, he really captivated the audience with his wonderful use
of props and the children he got to help demonstrate them were
delighted to be a part of it, squirting water pistols across the
hall to demonstrate solar explosions.
Our fire juggler really impressed the crowd and
many a gasp was heard as his routine enthralled spectators.
The telescope and binocular classes were very
successful, lots of people have telescopes and don't know how to
use them properly, we hope we helped!
Our competition had all ticket holders on the
edge of their seats as our guest speaker Dr. James McAteer
pulled the winning tickets out in reverse order. On the left
is the winner of our SkyScout, a young man from Co. Offaly and
on the right is the winner of the main prize, a Celestron
NexStar 8SE, worth almost 1,500 euro, Sandra Dempsey from
Dundrum.
Click on images below to enlarge (Photos were
taken by Ita Dardis, John Hacket and Hugh Collins)
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Our fire juggler
wowed the crowd with his daredevil "spitting fire"
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| Dr. James McAteer
talks about his work on the NASA SOHO and STEREO missions.
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| Chairman David
Moore presents first place prize, a Celestron
NexStar 8SE
to Sandra Dempsey from Dundrum.
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| Star-B-Qers
enjoying the barbecue
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| Skies
cleared just in time for the binocular masterclass.
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| Sonya
Farrell and volunteer Jean Guy at the Astronomy
Ireland stand.
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| Carl
O'Beirnes from our Shop with Gary Byrne and one of
our magnificent Celestron C14 telescopes.
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Telescope masterclass.
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| Emlyn
Jones tells us "what we should know about
astronomy and stretching our minds"
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| Some
of the younger star gazers
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| We
brought a selection of some of the items we sell
in our Shop, Carl O'Beirnes assists Star-B-Qers
on their choice of books.
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| Astronomy Ireland
Director Ben Emmett, chats to people at our membership stand.
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| NASA scientist, Dr.
James McAteer, his wife and baby Leonardo pose for a family
picture.
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| This lucky young man
from Co. Offaly won a Celestron SkyScout, second place in our
competition.
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| John Courlander lends a
helping hand, as always.
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| Enjoying a hot cup of
tea.
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| The barbecue was a
busy spot all evening.
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| Florin Cracut and Ita
Dardis man the Shop stand as it gets busy between the talks.
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| David Grennan who
writes the Sky Diary for the magazine and David Moore, Chairman
of Astronomy Ireland.
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| Chairman, David Moore
treats the crowd to his visually stunning presentation "The
Universe"
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| Volunteers Vincent
Hall and Alan Costello grab a bite to eat during a talk when the
barbecue is quiet.
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