Telescope Shop

Astronomy Ireland is running Public Watches where you will get to see through some of Ireland's most powerful telescopes.

The Watches launch our Nationwide Evening Classes for Beginners, which commence on February 8th!

Get your own telescope from the Astronomy Ireland Shop!

On February 1st from 8:00pm Astronomy Ireland will be hosting Jupiter Telescope Watches in various locations all around the country.

There will also be a map and directions available to help you reach your local event.

Watch locations (please keep checking back as this page will be updated continually):

Please note that locations will be confirmed and added on an ongoing basis: Please check back regularly date for an up to date list of confirmed locations.

Jupiter is well placed in the night skies this time of year as are a lot of the Winter Constellations. Astronomy Ireland will be setting up very powerful telescopes on these nights for the public to see through.

What to Expect

  The watches give astronomers and prospective astronomers of all levels (beginners and experts) an opportunity to meet other astronomers, to share their views and knowledge of astronomy with each other and maybe make some new friends.
 
The events are free and open to everyone. We would advise everyone to wrap up warm when coming along to the event as the evenings can get very cool especially under clear skies which is what we always hope for.
 

Facts about Jupiter

• Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet in the Solar System.
  
• Jupiter's volume is equal to 1,321 Earths, yet is only 318 times as massive.
• Jupiter's broad magnetic field is 14 times as strong as the Earth's.
• The average distance between Jupiter and the Sun is 778 million km (about 5.2 times the average distance from the Earth to the Sun)
• It takes 4331.572 (11.86 years) earth days for the Jupiter to come around the Sun.
• One day on Jupiter is equal to 10 hours on Earth..
• Jupiter is named after the ancient King of Roman Gods.
• The best known feature of Jupiter is the Great Red Spot. It is a storm that has been going on for over 300 years. You can fit 100 earths into the Great Red Spot.
• Jupiter has 63 named moons. Almost all of them are less than 10 kilometres in diameter. he four largest moons, known as the "Galilean Moons", are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Ganymede, is the largest moon in the Solar System, measuring 5262 km across.
• Jupiter has a ring just like Saturn and Uranus.

Fun Science Fact: