Louisburgh Astronomy Club was founded in January 2019. It ran in person until the pandemic forced it to close. Now we are reborn and ready for action. Our aim is to make astronomy accessible to everyone, regardless of age or level of understanding. A club for the community.
Being interested in astronomy and space has been lodged deep in my soul since the Apollo moon landing in 1969. I am pleased at this time in my life to be still involved in bringing the wonders of the night sky to people. Several locals are helping me, and together we will pull something good out of the year ahead.
On March 23rd (our second meeting), we had a great turnout at the Louisburgh Town Hall.
Our club was delighted to be part of Irish Astronomy Week 2026. This was one of many events across the island of Ireland bringing Astronomy to everyone in an accessible way.
Drawing to Learn
Lovely warm responses from the attendees. In my section, I showed easy-to-see constellations using my own drawings from over the years. I call it eyeball astronomy because the action of looking up and identifying objects is a great start in astronomy. Everyone drew Cassiopeia in pencil on paper, showing how some of the stars point to the Andromeda Galaxy. At our first meeting in February, everyone drew the first-quarter moon with captions, since it was the first-quarter moon night. Drawing helps people capture more than just the object they are putting on paper. Drawing engages visual and motor skills, thereby strengthening learning and memory.
SeeStar
David, one of our committee members, brought his SeeStar telescope along and showed some images taken with it. Our audience was very impressed by what it can do. Several spiral galaxies, as well as the Orion Nebula, and other wonders. All taken locally here under the dark skies of Mayo.
US visitors
We were joined by a keen group of students and their professor from The College of St. Scholastica, Duluth, Minnesota, USA. I shared views of the solar disc with these US students via my PST a few days earlier. They seemed to be both amazed and proud that this solar telescope is an American product. We had some lovely proms that afternoon and an enormous Active Region moving across the disc. Also, for those students, it was the first time they had looked at the sun, and that made it extra special. I shared my drawing of those same proms with everyone at the meeting.
Prom on the right 11:00 – 11:15
Prom on the left 13:00 – 13: 17
Had to mention Artemis
Our meeting ended with a video about Artemis and its crew, which was scheduled to launch on a journey around the moon on April 1st. The first set of missions around and to the moon in 54 years. Ultimately, creating a permanent moon base on the south pole of the moon. Several people attending had never heard of the Artemis mission; it was new news. In fact, the new news phenomenon had happened several times before in other situations. Currently, Artemis is compulsive viewing for me, and I wish them the very best on their historic journey around the moon.
Our next gathering is scheduled for April 27th at the Town Hall, upstairs.
