Dunsink Observatory

ngcxt6

Just found out about Dunsink observatory in Dublin, and according to their site they have open nights on the 1st and 3rd wednesday of each month, weather permitting.
It contains a "Grubb Telescope".

Anybody ever been there? What's it like? Is there any decent meetups happening on the Wednesdays, seems like it has a nice yard to set up your scope outside.

I'd say light pollution is fairy bad there.

Kersh

Highly recommended to go take a tour there. Its a great place.

Here's a few pics from last year, its a 12" refractor, in a nice big dome

There does be a few good events on during the year, Solarfest in Mid-Summer being a very good one.

shedweller

Went to the culture night there about a year ago. Lovely place and there were a few lectures given too which my kids actually sat through!

ankaragucu

Am I right in thinking you can only access it from the Blanchardstown side?Google maps seems to show that the road from the Finglas side seems to just run out, very close to Dunsink Obs.Always wondered why this is??

murphyme2010

ankaragucu wrote: »

Am I right in thinking you can only access it from the Blanchardstown side?Google maps seems to show that the road from the Finglas side seems to just run out, very close to Dunsink Obs.Always wondered why this is??

That's right. Dunsink Lane is blocked on the Finglas side of Dunsink.
It was due to anti-social behaviour by some of the locals.

ngcxt6

What's the light pollution like?

jfSDAS

Hi everyone,

As the comments above mention, the Observatory hosts public open nights on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month from October to March.

That said, there are many other evenings when people can arrange to visit as part of a group. The Observatory hosts evenings for scout troops, schools, local historical societies, meetup.com groups, astronomy clubs, Culture Night, and much more throughout the year. Solarfest is held on the Saturday closest to the summer solstice and Science Week in November sees school visits daily and public lectures each evening.

You can contact the Observatory via the page at http://www.dias.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=128&Itemid=178&lang=en if anyone is interested in organising a group visit.

Some pictures of Solarfest 2014 at https://picasaweb.google.com/117656205360694095909/Solarfest2014?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCNPXz5bDq9XnIQ&feat=directlink

Members of the Irish Astronomical Society assist at public open nights and I sometimes give the public lecture whenever asked by the staff at the Observatory. On average, I give two talks a month at Dunsink with Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies staff covering other events. Other invited speakers include people like astronomer-artist Deirdre Kelleghan who does a lot of schools outreach.

The City has grown around the Observatory over the years though the old Dunsink dump is directly across the road so that limits expansion there! The sky conditions are about the same for any Dublin suburb. I'd estimate a limiting magnitude of 3.5 to 3.75 on a good night with it occasionally going half a magnitude deeper should the seeing be exceptional. If there is any haze at all then the lights of Blanchardstown washes out the sky towards the west. Looking south isn't as badly affected despite that direction being over the City. The eastern sky can get quite murky too as can low in the north.

The Grubb refractor (erected in 1868) was built in Rathmines with an 11.75 inch lens made by Cauchoix. There's an article about the telescope at http://www.irishastrosoc.org/orbit/articles/grubb.htm and another at http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1968IrAJ....8..274W&db_key=AST&link_type=ABSTRACT&high=54d9fc2e1308682 about the origin of the telescope lens (the episode of “The Telescope Wars” has also been written about by Michael Hoskins in the Journal for the History of Astronomy, available on the ADS site too).

Observational research is no longer carried out at Dunsink Observatory itself with the Grubb telescope. It is purely used for public outreach.

John

Pat Dunne

ngcxt6 wrote: »

Just found out about Dunsink observatory in Dublin, and according to their site they have open nights on the 1st and 3rd wednesday of each month, weather permitting.
It contains a "Grubb Telescope".

Anybody ever been there? What's it like? Is there any decent meetups happening on the Wednesdays, seems like it has a nice yard to set up your scope outside.

I'd say light pollution is fairy bad there.

I couldn't recommend Dunsink Observatory highly enough. Even on a cloudy night the enthusiasm and knowledge shown by the staff and the speakers makes up for the dissapointment of not been able to view through the Grubb.

I was brought there over 40 years ago by my parents and it ignited a life long interested in astronomy and science.

I still recall my first sighting through the Grubb, which was that of Saturn, truly memorable.