This month Astronomy Ireland are celebrating Mars by devoting the entire month of March to the Red Planet.  See below for a list of the fantastic Mars themed celebrations which we have lined up:

 

On Monday, March 8, Irish Space author Kevin Nolan will give a talk - 'Behold Mars' - in which he will discuss the evidence of life on Mars, its remarkable similarities to Earth, and the ancient waterways and oceans that once covered the planet. He will also discuss the challenges facing a manned mission to Mars and the opportunities that such a mission would present. There will also be a book signing for Kevin's book, 'Mars: A Cosmic Stepping Stone', which will be on sale on the night. The lecture takes place in the Fitzgerald (Physics) Building, Trinity College Dublin, on March 8 at 8pm. For more information click HERE. Tickets cost 7euro (5euro members rate) and there is a DVD available for anyone who cannot make it to the talk on the night.

 

 

On Thursday, March 25, we will be holding a Mars and Saturn Watch at various key locations around the country. Make sure to come along and see the planets Mars and Saturn through some of Ireland's most powerful telescopes. For more information and to find your nearest Watch click HERE. A SKY DIARY for the night of the Watch is available to download HERE.

 

To celebrate the prominence of Mars in the sky this month we have free FACTSHEETS, DESKTOP BACKGROUNDS and even a 3-D SCREENSAVER for you to download on our website. Visit our Mars Month webpage HERE and start downloading! For more fun facts about Mars and to watch a short video from the Discovery Channel click HERE.

 

On Wednesday, March 3, ESA’s Mars Express will skim the surface of Mars’ largest moon Phobos in its closest fly-by yet. Passing by at an altitude of 67km, precise radio tracking will allow researchers to peer inside the mysterious moon. The event is very important, as it will allow astronomers to collect a wealth of completely new data on the Martian moon, which is not very large, but poses a number of very interesting questions - experts are still unsure as to whether it was produced around the Red Planet, or whether it was a space rock wandering through space, which got caught up by the planet's gravitational pull. For more information and to see an animated simulation of the fly-by click HERE.

 

 

Astronomy Ireland are currently working on making our website www.astronomy.ie bigger, better and more informative. If you log on to the website you will see that there is more content, and the pages are more detailed, with lots of downloads and factsheets for you to enjoy. Keeping a website current takes a lot of time, work and resources but we are committed to continuously updating the website so you can enjoy it's content and come back regularly to see what is happening in the world of astronomy. Why not have a look for yourself HERE.

 

There are lots more changes still to happen, this is simply the beginning. We hope to have the Junior section fully updated shortly and we will have an interactive section where young astronomers can download information and learn about the night sky with updates regularly. Also, you will be able to keep a close eye on events happening in the future with our new 'Coming Soon...' section which features at the bottom of the homepage, this way you can pencil the dates of your favourite events into your diary and will never miss a thing!

 

Please bear with us as we make these changes and ensure www.astronomy.ie becomes a more user-friendly, enjoyable and educational site for you to use. Don't forget to 'Bookmark' the website or 'Add it to your favourites'.