AstronOMy Club

Join us for our monthly astronomy Club at OM, open to all abilities and interests.

This is a sociable evening session with our resident astronomer discussing what is currently visible in the night sky.

May Astronomy Club

With the long days coming to a peak and the nights super short, what can you see this time of year? This month’s Astronomy Club will talk you through the summer night sky – when we get a glimpse of the best Milky Way views and rare summer stars and constellations. The night sky might appear less during this time of the year, but it’s a fantastic time to start learning with warm summer evenings and less clouds in the way.

June Astronomy Club

With the Summer Solstice reached in mid-June, we’ll be using this month’s AstronOMy Club to talk all things alignments. How are ancient sites like Stonehenge and Beaghmore “aligned” to objects in the sky, why was this done and how did ancient cultures navigate time? We’ll be talking about this as well as what’s coming up in the sky over the summer months and showing how you can make your own solstice alignments at home!  

July Astronomy Club

With both a partial solar and lunar eclipse visible for us next month, our July AstronOMy Club is dedicated to eclipses. The oldest recording of a solar eclipse in the world is found here in Ireland at Loughcrew in County Meath, dated 3340BC. We’ll explain how best to view these celestial events and how they marked by ancient cultures. What are they, why do they happen and why do they matter?

August Astronomy Club

August’s AstronOMy Club will be celebrating Bogs and how important they are for both dark skies and neolithic monuments. We’ll be discussing how bog protected the many stone monuments found in the Sperrin Mountains, as well as the benefits they have shared with the Dark Sky Movement.

September Astronomy Club

As longer nights return, September’s AstronOMy Club is all about Irish Constellations. We’ll help you to identify the major ones and explain which ones to look out for at different times of the year as seasonal markers. We’ll also chat about the folklore and mythology behind some of the major ones. If skies are clear we’ll be able to get you started with some stargazing, in the dusk twilight.

Observing is weather dependent and naked eye only.