In the Dark

Here’s an invitation to people interested in astronomy to join staff from the Department of Physics at Maynooth University on Wednesday, August 12th 2026 from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm for a special public celebration of one of the deepest solar eclipses visible from Ireland in decades. The next eclipse with > 90% obscuration of the Sun by the Moon won’t be seen again in Ireland until 2090, by which time I will have retired.

Experience the eclipse safely through:

• eclipse viewing glasses
• solar telescopes
• live astronomy demonstrations

List of Solar Talks during the evening:

• Dr. Emma Whelan – The Story of the Sun
• Dr. Joshuah Heath – The Quantum Sun
• Dr. Marcin Gradziel – (Electric) Power from the Sun. The good, the bad, and the glinty!
• Dr. Michelle McCrystall – The star of the show: How the Sun drives our climate
• Prof. Peter Coles – Einstein and the Eclipse (Who He? Ed.)
• Dr. Patrick Kavanagh – Will our Sun go Supernova?

The evening will also include:

• an immersive* astronomy show in our inflatable planetarium
• hands-on arts and crafts activities for children

*especially if it rains

Maynooth University Staff can reserve a place here until June 14th, after which booking will be opened to the general public – I’ll repost this invitation with a link at that time.

This entry was posted on June 2, 2026 at 2:25 pm and is filed under Maynooth, The Universe and Stuff with tags August 12th 2026, Department of Physics Maynooth University, Eclipse, Maynooth University, Solar Eclipse, Solar Eclipse 2026. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.