Tag Archives: Ireland

Galwegians reach for the stars in astrophotography competition

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Three Galway astro-photographers have been chosen for the next stage of the prestigious ‘Reach for the Stars’ astrophotography competition.

David Mackie, from Athenry, Galway has been shortlisted in the ‘Out of this World’ category for two of his images ‘Galaxies through the Dust’ and ‘The Spaghetti Nebula’. Enda O’Loughlin, from Loughrea, Galway, has been shortlisted in the ‘Back on Earth’ category for his image ‘Poulnabrone Arching Milkyway’, and Joe Silke, from Kilcolgan, Galway has been shortlisted in the ‘Back on Earth’ category for his image ‘Leaning into Polaris’.

Run by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, the competition aims to find the best astro-photographs taken in Ireland over the past year.

While a high-profile judging panel will select the overall winning entries in the coming weeks, an online vote has been for members of the public to have their say. Votes for the Public Choice Award are restricted to one vote per person, and voting will close at midday on Monday June 36.

All shortlisted images can be viewed on the ‘Reach for the Stars’ website, www.reachforthestars.ie, and members of the public can cast their vote for their favourite image.

There are two categories in the competition: ‘Out of this World’ and ‘Back on Earth’. The ‘Out of this World’ category features images depicting elements of astronomical interest. The ‘Back on Earth’ category features astro-landscape images that depict an element of astronomical interest and elements such as nature, cityscapes, land or water.

The winning images selected by the judging panel and the public vote will be announced in July, and an outdoor exhibition will be staged by DIAS in August to showcase the best images.

Alongside the Public Choice Award for the winner of the online public vote, the overall winners and runners-up will be chosen by the judging panel for ‘Reach for the Stars’, which includes: Professor Peter Gallagher, Head of Astrophysics at DIAS; Brenda Fitzsimons, former photographer at the Galway Advertiser and now picture editor of The Irish Times; John Flannery, vice-president of the Irish Astronomical Society; and Niamh Breathnach, director of Alice Public Relations.

Professor Peter Gallagher of DIAS is “hoping the people of Galway will get involved again this year and cast their vote for their favourite image”.

Visit https://reachforthestars.ie/exhibition/.



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Popular astronomy festival returns to Galway next week

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AstroFest, Galway Astronomy Club’s annual festival of all things astronomy, will return next week after a three year hiatus.

The festival will take place in the Menlo Park Hotel on Saturday January 28, and promises a packed programme of talks, along with trade displays, photographic displays, and a lunchtime workshop with Tom O’Donoghue, one of Ireland’s best known astrophotographers.

Registration will open at 9.15am on the January 28, and will run all day.

On January 27, the evening before AstroFest, Galway Astronomy Club will host a special screening of Contact, the 1997 film starring Jodie Foster as Dr Ellie Arroway, who after years of searching finds conclusive radio proof of extraterrestrial intelligence, which has been sending plans for a mysterious machine. The screening will take place in the Pálás Cinema at 9pm, and is a rare opportunity to see this classic film on the big screen.

The day-long festival on the Saturday will include talks on a wide variety of topics; these include ‘Cutting Edge Radio Astronomy in Ireland’ with Jeremy Rigney, ‘Is there Anybody Out There’ with Brian MacGabhann, ‘Ancient Irish Rock Art and Astronomy’ with Aoibheann Lambe, and ‘Detecting Exo-Earths with Future Telescopes’ with Nicholas Devaney.

Tuam native Tom O’Donoghue is well-known in the Irish astronomy community. One of Ireland’s leading astrophotographers, his work has won several awards. He has been featured in the BBC’s The Sky At Night, and in magazines such as Astronomy and Space, Astronomy Now, the French Astronomie Magazine, and Practical Astronomer. Those familiar with our AstroFest will have seen O’Donoghue’s images bring colour and the ‘wow’ factor to previous festivals. For more information see www.astrophotography.ie

The highlight of the day will be the Patrick Moore Memorial Lecture, ‘Artemis and Beyond: Where Past Meets Our Future’ with Shehnaz Soni, an aerospace engineer at NASA who will be speaking live from the US on the Artemis Project, an ambitious plan to return humans to the Moon and, ultimately, Mars. The festival dinner on Saturday evening will give attendees the opportunity to meet and chat informally.

The talks are geared toward a general audience, and will appeal to both scientists and laypeople. Children aged over 11 years who are interested in all things science and space are also welcome to attend.

Tickets for the festival are €30 for guests, and €20 for club members and students. Entry is free for children under 16. The festival dinner is €40, and can be booked online or on the door. The festival screening tickets are available from the Pálás Cinema, www.palas.ie/films

For full details visit www.galwayastronomyclub.ie/astrofest-2023 or find Galway Astronomy Club



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