This is our first email of 2010 and we would like to wish you all a Happy New Year. As many of you know, this is Astronomy Ireland's 20th Anniversary and we will be celebrating in style over the course of the year with an impressive list of events already lined up. Although our official birthday isn't until August 1, the date the society was founded in 1990, we will be kicking off our celebrations in style with international speakers such as Allan Chapman who will deliver our New Year Lecture on January 25.

In our 20th year we are proud to say that we are expanding, hiring more staff, planning our next set of Evening classes and educating children all around the country with our successful Outreach Programme, as well as a range of other events and activities. Not only this, we are fast approaching our 12,000th member, a big milestone in our growth to date. If you are not yet a member then this is the perfect year to become part of Astronomy Ireland, an ever-growing organisation, and the most popular astronomy club in the world. For more information visit www.astronomy.ie/join.

Last Thursday, December 31, Ireland had the privilege of welcoming the New Year to the sight of an extremely impressive partial Lunar eclipse as the Earth cast a shadow deep into space and onto the Moon. This eclipse, the first to be seen on New Year's Eve since 1656, was at its deepest at 7.22pm when a portion of the Moon became invisible in the Earth's shadow and was seen by millions all over Ireland. This lunar event not only marked the end of a very successful United Nations International Year of Astronomy (IYA) but the beginning of Astronomy Ireland's 20th year. Click HERE to see photographs taken by Astronomy Ireland Chairman, David Moore.

There was a flurry of media interest over the course of the days leading up to the eclipse, including interviews with RTE Radio One's 'Morning Ireland' show, TV3, and many many more. To listen to some of these interviews visit our media archive HERE.

We will be publishing a full report of this eclipse in our magazine, so please email us a report of what you saw along with your name and viewing location to observe@astronomy.ie . Note: If you send photos send only your best one or two photos (and try to keep them below 1MB in size if you can).

This January, why not observe Mars at the closest it will be for 4 years with a new telescope from the fantastic New Year Sale at our Shop. With up to 50% off selected items and 1000euro off the CPC925 w/XLT Coatings, there has never been a better time to buy a powerful telescope and see surface detail on the planet Mars. For these fantastic discounts and to view our entire sale click HERE. For more information call our Shop Staff on (01) 847 0777 or email sales@astronomy.ie.