Club News: 2013

10th January 2013

Viewing night  (club meeting)

Club held an observing session in the grounds of Mary I college, the main target of the night was the planet Jupiter. We cought the planet with a shadow transit, later on in the night a second moon appeared from behind the planet, making it a great event.

7th February 2013

Club AGM

The club held its annual AGM, where a new committee was elected and a run down of the clubs finances were discussed. Also, the up and coming asteroid flyby (2012DA14) along with the 3 brightest comets of this year were demonstrated in starrynight.
Several club members  brought along their scopes where they were shown how to set them up and use them. 

3rd March 2013

Stand at the Limerick Radio Club Exhibition

The club had a stand at the Limerick Radio Club Rally at the Radisson hotel, Ennis Road, Limerick. 
The event was  pitched as a general Radio, Electronics and Hobbies Exhibition.
See www.limerickradioclub.ie for more details. 

Comet PanStarrs C/2011 L4,  observing session

The club held a public observing session near tescos on the ennis road in Limerick. This location set us up well with its flat horizon for viewing of the comet after sunset. We setup at 6.30pm and by 7.10pm it was dark enough to see the comet through the clubs 25x100 binoculars. Once it had been found, it was easily visible through the telescopes present, everyone got to see it despite it been too faint to be visible with the naked eye. Despite the comet been fainter then expected, its coma like nucleus was obvious as was its tail with optical aid. We also an excellent view of a very thin crescent Moon where earthshine was clearly visible. We finished up ay 8pm when the comet set on the western horizon. 

5th-6th April 2013 

Club Observing Session in the Burren

The club ran an observing session in the Burren carpark site on Friday the 5th and it ran into the early hours of Saturday morning. Numerous galaxies, planets and even comet panstarrs was seen. For a full report have a look at the clubs bulliten boards here.

image by Frank Ryan

16th - 20th April 2013 

Global Astronomy Month (GAM) 2013

The club ran a series of observing nights at O'Callaghans strand in Limerick from Tuesday 16th to Saturday the 20th of April from 8.30 onwards.. This was a global event with clubs and societies from all over the world participating. We in SAC were happy to be doing our bit for it.  Tuesday night was mostly clear and good views of the crescent Moon and Jupiter were got. Friday night was also clear and we also cought Saturn rising over the eastern cityscape. On both nights we had many members of the public at it, most getting their first glimpses of the Moon and 2 planets.

We had  the clubs telescopes and binoculars there, this was a free event. 
For more details of GAM worlwide, click HERE

All images courtesy of Frank Ryan.

6th June 2013 

Club talk by Martin Topinka  ( University College Dublin )

Martin gave a riviting talk about the GLORIA project and how it attempts to catch the visual remnants of GRBs, Many thanks to Martin for coming down from Dublin to give the club members the latest and greatest news on this project.

4th-5th October  2013 

2013 Burren Starparty

The club ran its annual starparty in the Burren over a weekend in October. The location was at the usual place, the Poulnabrone dolman carpark.
We managed to capture a few hours of clear skies where the milkyway was super as were the many deepsky delights there were there to be seen.

 Looking forward to next year already.

12th  October  2013 

IOM (internation Observe the Moon night)

The club a public observing session at O'Callaghans strand in Limerick in support of IOM 2013. Passers by were treated to a great view of the Moon using the clubs 10 and 12 inch telescopes. 

23th  October  2013 

Simon Kenny (club treasurer) on Clare FM

Simon did a great interview on Clare FM where he outlined the clubs activites and what's visible in the sky this season.

7th  November 2013 

Out of town speaker, Ronan Newman (Galway Astronomy Club)

Ronan gave an excellent talk showing what Aurora (Northern Lights) can be captured in Ireland, it went down very well and we look forward to seeing Ronan at Shannonside again in the future.

22nd November 2013 

Club Observing Session

The club ran an observing session at the Burren. We had a fabulously clear sky all night, super views were had by everyone through the members and club scopes that were there. Many deepsky objects including the Orion nebula and galaxies were seen and we saw the crescent Moon rise into the early morning hours.