Limerick Astronomy Club

Sunrise on the 6th for us.
Will the club be planning anything for it?

yip, we discussed this in the meeting during the week.
one of 3 things is gong to happen.
1, it'll be blanket cloud over the entire country and we'll miss it
2, it'll be clear here in Limerick and we'll decide to stay here and go to a local mountain to see it
3, if its clear up north, we'll head up there the evening before.

a club text will be sent on the Tuesday saying what we're doing, afer discussing on the boards and after seeing weather prospects.

So there you have it, basically we'll decide on Tuesday what to do.

Yay!
I've the time booked off work for it.
Been checking out some of the timings.
Xavier fellamelad wot does the eclipse animations has a page up;
http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/Ve ... lator.html

Local mountain.
Any ideas?
Must take a gander at Google Earth...

Why the North in particular?
Just coz of the weather?

if we stay local, then Im thinking Tountinna mountain near ballina/killaloe, Simon, you are probabily familar with this site as it has some big masts up on it.
It can be windy up there, but the buildings do give some wind shade.
Anyway, its altitude is 450 meters, the sun clears the horizon at 5.17 in Limerick, the mountain height gives us an extra minute.

I ran a simulation in starrynight for Derry and the sun rises a full 19 minutes earlier there then it does here.
If the weather is looking good up there, then it's worth travelling for it.
my 2 cents.

or on top of keeper hill, we get an extra 2 minutes more than Limerick, or is that a crazy idea, anyone got any local knowledge of the place ??

Wow. 19 min. That's a lot. Worth thinking about for sure.

Dave Lillis wrote:if we stay local, then Im thinking Tountinna mountain near ballina/killaloe, Simon, you are probabily familar with this site as it has some big masts up on it.

Yeah, it would be a good place if we have to stay local, with shelter offered by the buildings and enough parking space. After Ballina the route is to Tountinna is not very obvious, so an idea would be to meet at the school in Ballina and then travel in convoy. It's about 20 miles (32 kms) from Limerick City.

Simon

Is there a google earth place mark?

Frank Ryan wrote:Is there a google earth place mark?

The best I can do for now Frank is:

Lat 52°50'50.78"N (52.84744027370948)
Long 8°23'31.09"W (-8.391969108894898)

Simon

That's Perfect Simon. Thanks.

Just had a look at Dun Laoghaire on
Starry Night for the transit and we gain at least
9 mins compared to Limerick...

Its less hassel than driving the whole way
to the North, I believe this should be our
plan A, North plan B and Ballina plan C..
Thats my 2cents..

Cheers Roy

I agree with you Roy. If the best place to view it is East then yip. But like solar eclipse chasing. If your going to go you may as well go the whole hog and drive to wherever the clear skies are. If that's the North so be it.

I agree with you Roy. If the best place to view it is East then yip. But like solar eclipse chasing. If your going to go you may as well go the whole hog and drive to wherever the clear skies are. If that's the North so be it. It's hard to be choosy in this cloud ridden isle.

Hi Guys,

Whats the latest on the transit, are we sticking to plan A, heading to the north? If so what time are we looking to leave Limerick at and are we going in transit? (excuse the pun)

Hey Conan...

Its looking more likely that the North
is out, But there might be a glimmer of
hope down South...

Don't know what the full story is but I'm
willing to go weather chasing, and its looking
more likely that SW will be our best shot at
the times we need...

Cheers Roy