The IAS held a public observing session in Sandymount on Friday 23^rd April as part of Global Asttonomy month.



Three IAS members, Val, Robin and Michael turned out with their telescopes and binoculars to show the public the moon. Two friends Aubrey and another Michael also turned up with their scopes to help out. The weather forecast was not great with 100% cloud cover forecast but we decided to go anyway. When we arrived, there was a nice gap in the clouds with the Moon in the middle. It was still bright when we started but that did not effect the reaction from the crowd including “Oh Wow, There are mountains the Moon. Dad, can I have a telescope”. As it got darker the clouds cleared further and we were able to show passers by Saturn and Mars. This brought further gasps of amazement which were enhanced when we said that the rings of Saturn were close to edge on at the moment and it normally looks more spectacular. One person arrived with a newly acquired telescope and we helped them set it up (after a tense moment where part of an eyepiece which had been left in the holder fell onto the primary with a ding and, thankfully, not with a crash). Once setup we pointed the scope at the Moon and the owner was blown away and left with promises of practicing more with the scope. We finished up at 10.30 and about 40 people had looked through our scopes.

Michael Murphy
President Irish Astronomical Society


Aubrey sets up to share the moon in Sandymount


Robin and Val