The Festival Opening Event takes place at 7pm on Friday 1 November 2024 in Ballycroy Visitor Centre. This event will include a drinks reception, followed by a short performance by renowned fiddle player Julie Langan, with a special dance performance by Martin Hughes. We will conclude the evening with some stargazing and a guided dark sky walk (weather permitting). Due to limited capacity at the venue, entry will be by pre-booked ticket only, price €5

WEATHER PERMITTING (!), join Derek Dempsey and members of Newport Astronomy Club for some stargazing at one of Mayo's premier stargazing sites.

Come along for a laser-pointer tour of the early November sky. The sign-post stars in the Summer Triangle and the Big Dipper will be used to show you how to easily navigate around the night sky. At the same
time, you can view the beautiful double star Albireo, and the planet Saturn and its rings, through a 9.25" SCT telescope. Suitable for all ages and levels of expertise.

Stargazing sessions will take place from 8pm to 9pm on both Friday AND Saturday, 1 & 2 November.

Free event, no booking required

Stunning night-time photographs by Josh Matthews and Aisling McGuire will be on display in Ballycroy Visitor Centre throughout the festival weekend. Entry is free and no booking is required. Josh and Aisling will also be giving an astrophotography workshop at 12 noon on Saturday 5 November - places are strictly limited and must be booked in advance

Understanding of the occurrence and environmental impacts of artificial light at night is growing very rapidly. This talk will highlight how artificial light has become an increasingly pervasive impact on the natural world, how it needs to be considered in those terms rather than as simply having localised effects on some particular kinds of plants or animals, and how we need to respond accordingly.

STS-41-D was the 12th flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program, and the first mission of Space Shuttle Discovery. It was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on August 30, 1984, and landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on September 5, 1984. Three commercial communications satellites were deployed into orbit during the six-day mission, and a number of scientific experiments were conducted, including a prototype extendable solar array that would eventually form the basis of the main solar arrays on the International Space Station (ISS).

The mission was delayed by more than two months from its original planned launch date, having experienced the Space Shuttle program's first launch abort at T-6 seconds on June 26, 1984

Derek's talk will take a look back at Nasa's space shuttle programme, which lasted 30 years, launched hundreds of astronauts into space, and built the International Space Station - but at what cost?

This practical workshop will aim to convey how light pollution is caused by poor illumination. It will explore the important qualities of light along with key design considerations which lead to successful dark sky applications.

Advances in our ability to manipulate the fundamentals of the biology of life gives us the potential to construct whole new lifeforms which can be tailored to survive or even thrive in extreme environments. At the same time, steps towards propulsion systems which can, at least in principle, accelerate small payloads to significant fractions of the speed of light, offer the possibility of accessing thousands of worlds within a human lifetime. For the first time in the history of our species the conversation is on the verge of moving from "could we" to "should we".

Author Anna Levin brings her new book 'Dark Skies' to Ireland for a talk and writing workshop on sharing our dark sky stories. 'Dark Skies' explores the importance of the night sky and the stars in an over-lit world. Anna invites you to share your own experiences of dark skies through gentle and accessible writing exercises. All materials will be provided but feel free to bring a notepad and favourite pen!

Eoin will bring us on a journey of wonder through some of the natural worlds that he has experienced while making Irish wildlife documentaries. From mid-winter nights on uninhabited offshore islands to free diving in the underwater world off our coasts.

Talk details to follow

Rowing 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean in 80 days, meant 80 variable night skies and night rowing conditions. It is these memorable night skies that will be the main focus of this presentation

Experience how a piece of silk and 5 wooden balls come to life. The WORKSHOP lasts approx one hour and costs 10 euros per child. Places are strictly limited to 10 children, and all children must be accompanied by an adult (but don't worry, accompanying adults go free!)
Afterwards children can dance their own puppet on the stage at the PUPPET SHOW, along with the Miracle Puppets cast of characters, including Hans, Ann Caithlin, Little Hans, Hugo and Reinhard.

WORKSHOP places are strictly limited, PUPPET SHOW open to all and free

The StarDome, BCO's portable planetarium will be making an appearance once again at our Dark Sky Festival! Shows will run on Saturday and Sunday (11:00, 11:30, 12:00, 12:30, 14:00 and 14:30 each day), and will give you and your family the chance to discover the wonders of the night sky.

​Each show lasts 20 minutes and is FREE. With a limited capacity of 25 people per session, we suggest getting there early. If you do miss a show or it is full, you can always come back for the next one!

There is plenty of free parking at Newport National School.
Unfortunately the Dome is not wheelchair accessible

We'll be talking through the basics of landscape astrophotography. We'll cover what's good to photograph in Ireland, when to photograph it (including forecasting and planning) and basic setup. We'll give practical examples from our own experiences and talk a little bit about camera settings at the end. We'll leave time after the presentation so that if you like, you can bring your own camera and we'll look through the right astrophotography settings together.

Stephen will have an array of telescopes and accessories on display in Hotel Newport, at price points to suit all budgets. He is also happy to answer any of your questions or give advice on the right telescope for your needs
There is not a lot that Stephen doesn't know about telescopes, the best accessories, and camera attachments - so why not drop in and learn from the best!

Michael will be your expert companion on the guided walks around Ballycroy Visitor Centre in Wild Nephone National Park on Saturday and Sunday
Meet at the Visitor Centre at 2pm on Saturday 4th November or Sunday 5th November

As a bonus...
At 12 noon on Saturday 4 November, Michael will give a short talk in the Visitor Centre about the bones discovered (by him!) in the Nephin Beg caves

At 13:00 on Sunday 5 November, Michael will also host an Introduction to stargazing especially aimed at children (a hands-on interactive event)

The Birth of a New Science: Gravitational-Wave Astronomy.

UPDATE 31 OCT - this event cancelled due to family illness

The Photo Nightscape Awards are one of the most important photo awards in the world. This 9th edition saw more than 500 photographs submitted from more than 20 countries. Any photographer can enter in the 5 categories offered: Nightscape, In Town, Black & White, Smartphone and Timelapse. For the first time, the winners are exhibited in Ireland at the Mayo Dark Sky Festival - the festival's official partner.
In 2023, the Chasseurs de Nuits association, which organizes the Photo Nightscape Awards, will celebrate its 10th anniversary, so follow us on our social networks and prepare your cameras, we have a lot of nice surprises in store for you!

An introduction to Ireland's nocturnal biodiversity, how our wildlife can be impacted by light pollution, and the positive steps we can take to protect the darkness.

Éanna will explore how changing light levels are affecting Ireland's marine habitats - full abstract to follow

China's space station circles the Earth, whilst its rovers travel across the plains of Mars and the far side of the Moon. This presentation records how China became a space superpower; describes its current projects; and outlines its future ambitions.

A huge hit at our 2022 and 2023 festivals, Rae Jordan (nee Goddard) will be back in 2024, attending as many of the festival events as she possibly can, and making illustrations that try to capture the essence of Mayo Dark Sky Festival. You could meet her at any of our venues, so pop over and say hi!

After more than three decades of development, construction, integration, and test, the
NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope was launched from French Guiana on Christmas Day 2021 before six months of complex deployment and commissioning in orbit around the Sun-Earth L2 point. In this talk, I'll give an overview of the scientific rationale for this astonishing machine, the technological challenges that had to be overcome in realising it, some insight into the early scientific results, and possible breakthroughs that it promises now that it is in full operation.

In 2023, with the successful launch of EIRSAT-1, Ireland became an internationally recognised space-faring nation. However, the voyage from idea to reality was fraught. Hard work, diplomacy, resilience and dedication was needed over a 6 year period from a core student team of physicists, engineers, mathematicians and computer scientists; all supported by the European Space Agency’s ‘Fly Your Satellite’ programme and UCD staff. In this talk, Prof. Lorraine Hanlon recounts just what it took for Ireland to reach orbit, for the team to put a 2kg CubeSat into orbit, and, importantly, why it all matters!

In this talk I will first ask a fundamental question—what is light? To answer, we will embark on a journey through time, thought and a range of disciplines with examples from art, science and archaeological monuments to illustrate the complexity and wonder of the phenomenon.