“From your Garden to the Stars” – Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences in recorded history that attempts to explain everything that we observe in the Universe, from our solar system to distant galaxies to the echoes of the Big Bang.

The stars had great significance in the lives of the Irish neolithic culture in the past. They were governed and influenced by the stars, and the movement of our Earth around the Sun. They were responsible for creating Ireland’s most remarkable monuments that have stood the test of time.

To them, and to us six thousand years later, the night sky is still presented as a huge blanket of tiny specks of various brightness and colour but indistinguishable from one another. Most of us in our busy lives do not pay attention to it, only making the occasional glance, but we really should, and during the upcoming Astronomy Week, we invite you to go out to your garden and start exploring the skies.

Most of us live in urban areas and an urban sky is 5 to 10 times brighter than a rural one, so there are more astronomers affected by light pollution. Irrespective of how much light-polluted a city is, it cannot drown out the likes of brighter stars, planets, deep sky objects, the Moon and of course the International Space Station. We invite you to join us at the many outdoor observing events taking place around the country, weather permitting of course.