Irish Astronomy Week at Westmeath Libraries

The second ever Irish Astronomy Week took place from the 9th - 16th March 2024. Westmeath Libraries were delighted to be able to take part this year, and hosted events in Athlone and Mullingar Libraries.

Mullingar Library hosted Ivan Merrick, the current Chairperson of the Midlands Astronomy Club, on the 12th March for his talk titled 'In a Galaxy far far away'. Ivan gave a fascinating talk on the story behind twelve different galaxies found in our Universe. Having witnessed the Apollo Missions in the 1960s to 1970s Ivan's interest in space and space exploration has continued. After studying Natural Sciences at University, he spent his career as an engineer, his current astronomy interest is the New Solar Model, based on Liquid Metallic Hydrogen which is found in the centre of gaseous planets like Jupiter and Saturn. There was a great attendance at the talk which was enjoyed by all.

The Aidan Heavey Library Athlone hosted Anthony Demion, member of Athlone Photography Club, on the 14th March for a talk titled 'Discovering the Night Sky'. In his talk Anthony spoke about the subject of astrophotography, including the skills and techniques he uses to capture his fantastic images of the night sky from various locations in the Midlands. Participants were able to see wonderful examples of Anthony's work.

We extend a big thank you to Ivan, Anthony and to Ronan Newman, national coordinator of Irish Astronomy Week, without whose support this talk would not have been possible.

If you are interested in learning more about astronomy, Westmeath Libraries can get you started. You can visit our online library catalogue to search for astronomy related titles straight away!