8 Weeks Tuesday 6.30pm to 8.30pm
Have you ever ventured outside on a moonless clear night and looked up? It is a wondrous sight the thousands of bright stars scattered in every direction in the night sky. Would you like to know what it is you are looking at? Is it a planet or maybe a star? which instrument is best for observing? Should you use a telescope or binoculars or just your naked eyes. Can you see galaxies and star clusters, how do the planets move through the zodiac, where in the Milky Way galaxy are we located. These questions and others will be answered as we work through the basic skills needed to identify what it is we are looking at when we look up. The night sky changes from month to month and from season to season. Learning about the major constellations and using them as signposts to learn more about the night sky is both fun and enjoyable. Once you learn these basic skills it opens the door to lifelong enjoyment of the night sky.
The International Dark-Sky Association has granted Gold-Tier International Dark Sky Park status to Ballycroy National Park & Wild Nephin.
Some of the topics covered in the Introduction to Astronomy course are
1: Our place in the universe
2: Hubble and the Ultra Deep Field.
3: Naked eye Astronomy
4: Telescopes v Binoculars
5: The Constellations, Galaxies, Star clusters
6: Winter Stars/Summer stars
7: Observing the planets
8: Space based telescopes.
On completion of this course you will be able to identify the major constellations locate galaxies and star clusters and identify planets as they move across the sky from season to season.
October 15th, 22nd
November 5th, 12th, 19th, 26th
December 3rd, 10th
Tuesday 15th October @ 6.30pm