To Celebrate Irish Astronomy Week March 20 – 26th

Join us for a free Venus and Moon Watch at AI Headquarters in Blanchardstown at 7PM on Friday March 24th.

This event will go ahead regardless of weather so do come along. There is a great night in store!

At this event our targets will be the Moon and Venus, which are two great night sky objects. Join us for a night of fun!!

Register your interest at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/548736996127

Astronomy Ireland is running this event to celebrate Irish Astronomy Week which is running all over Ireland from March 20th to March 26th. Join us at our HQ in Blanchardstown for a night to remember!!

MOON FACTS

The Moon is roughly 3,500 km across (2,160 miles) wide and roughly 400,000 km (240,000 miles) from Earth.
It is thought the Moon was made when another planet half the size of Earth crashed into the Earth and a huge cloud of molten rock was flung out into space around the Earth and formed the Moon. This happened shortly after the Earth was formed 4,500 million years ago.Since then rocks in space have smashed into the Moon leaving the countless ‘craters’ that can be seen peppering its surface with a telescope.

The Moon goes around the Earth roughly once every “moonth” – this is where the word “month” came from i.e. we used to base our calendar on the 12 Full Moons we get each year. Neil Armstrong was Irish. He told our Editor David Moore at a private meeting in Dublin in 2003 when Armstrong said he had just researched his family history.

VENUS FACTS

It’s the hottest planet in our solar system, even though Mercury is closer to the Sun. Surface temperatures on Venus are about 900 degrees Fahrenheit (475 degrees Celsius) – hot enough to melt lead. The surface is a rusty color and it’s peppered with intensely crunched mountains and thousands of large volcanoes.

There are lots more Irish Astronomy Week events all over Ireland at https://www.irishastronomyweek.ie/