Public and club observing nights are central to our club activities. These usually take place from September to April when the sky is dark enough. Public events like “MoonFests” are normally held on the “Prom” in Salthill and is an excellent place with wide views over Galway Bay looking south. These are open to anyone, member or not, with no charge. They are informal observing sessions where members use their telescopes and chat about astronomy. Non-members are welcome to look through our telescopes, to ask about them, or just to chat about astronomy.
Please ensure that all children are supervised closely by a responsible adult and that they don’t leave their group. Please dress warmly, which usually includes hat, gloves and outdoor shoes. A small red torch is useful. Galway Astronomy Club are responsible for accidents. Please turn car headlights off as soon as possible after parking. Please try not to handle telescopes when looking through them and don’t allow any glass surfaces to be touched.
HELP WITH OBSERVING SESSIONS
The club is also looking for members of the public to help with Outreach sessions for young people’s groups around the city or county, if you have an hour or two to spare in an evening we would like to hear from you. Requirements:
1) You will need to own a telescope, as sessions will involve practical stargazing.
2) A reasonable knowledge of the night sky in order to explain what’s up there! A session will usually be carried out with another member of Galway Astronomy Club.
3) One or two free evenings and a flexible approach to practical astronomy.
If you think you can help please contact a member of the committee below in- Contacts
SPECIAL EVENTS
They are also held around the time major astronomical events that are well publicised in the media such as Lunar Eclipses, Conjunctions Of Planets, Comets, Mars and the 2015 celebration of International Year of Light.
Some other gatherings have included the rare Partial Solar Eclipse of March 2015 as pictured below when over 300 people showed up on a very busy and hands-on public outeach day for the club.
VIDEO
You can watch two excellent short you tube movies chronicling the build up and excitiment of this rare Celestial alignment visible on a beautiful clear day at Salthill, see them HERE & HERE
For further information please contact us at galwayastronomyclub@gmail.com
We Look forward to hearing from You
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