Possible proposals for Dunsink

He could move the shop from Artane to Dunsink. Put all the demo Celestrons in the dome, and charge people €10 a go to look through the Grubb.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

[edit] hmmm.... on second thoughts it would surprise me if he hasn't thought about doing that already... [/edit]

I agree David, SOme one has to do it.
How abouut yourself and David Bell?
I gladly volunteer some time if I can be of assitance.

Regards

Jouke

Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I do think
that someone in or near Dublin ought to champion this,
since Dunsink is in Dublin, it would be much more feasible,
and I dont have the contacts.
Sorry I cant put my money where my mouth is.

Hi,

I find myself agreeing with Shane a lot here. Playing happy families with A&S Ltd. may sound great, but in reality they would act on their own, and probably sabotage the work of any committee or group for their own ends. We have seen this already with their "statement" about the closure when a more official statement was being prepared. A&S are not capable of running an inclusive organisation that everyone can feel part of and indeed take part in so they should be given a say in the running of the national observatory.

Moving on. I do not think that IFAS can realistically take on all aspects of Dunsink. This would need to be discussed with DIAS, but I would liketo see DIAS or the state taking on responsibility for the maintainence and security of this listed building given its status as the national observatory.

Assuming the security was taken care of the running of the observatory could me taken on my amateurs. The IAS have for years helped out in the running of the public nights, and I have no doubt that members of the IAS and SDAS would have no problem in committing time to this if it meant the observatory would stay open. Carry on as normal basically. One possible problem is insurance, which I understand is why a member of the DIAS staff needed to be on the site for any public activities.

Provided such public nights proved positive, as they have allways been, this would give the business case to DIAS/fingal county council to possibly fund someone to look after the scope for shool outings and handling the administrative tasks. The admin work can be handled by amateurs for the moment.

I would suggest that IFAS team up with interested colleges (Maynooth, Galway) for assistance as well as with Robert Hill (or someone from Armagh) who has experience in running such a public astronomical program.

Although I cannot head a crusade like this I'm happy to devote time to it.

Cheers,
~Al

Whoah! I wish I'd read this before posting my reply to Albert in the topic 'with regret'....

So, there's a lot of history here - split? Anyone fill me in? Perhaps not necessary or productive.

I'm getting really bad vibes about AI but as I said in my post to Albert - they have a ton of members and obviously have some measure of success. That doesn't make any of this 'right' by the way.

Oh dear - I feel like I just walked into a room where my sister and her husband are having a major tiff. What do I do?

That said - I'd help in whatever way possible but methinks some kind of champion is needed here.....

Dave

ps - shane - there is no 'I' in TEAM, but if you look closely, there is a ME.... (David Brent - 2002)

Whoah! I wish I'd read this before posting my reply to Albert in the topic 'with regret'....

So, there's a lot of history here - split? Anyone fill me in? Perhaps not necessary or productive.

I'm getting really bad vibes about AI but as I said in my post to Albert - they have a ton of members and obviously have some measure of success. That doesn't make any of this 'right' by the way.

Oh dear - I feel like I just walked into a room where my sister and her husband are having a major tiff. What do I do?

That said - I'd help in whatever way possible but methinks some kind of champion is needed here.....

Dave

ps - shane - there is no 'I' in TEAM, but if you look closely, there is a ME.... (David Brent - 2002)

I've been in Astronomy for quite a few years now and even I have only the very vaguest of ideas of what the "split" was all about. As far as I know David Moore was once on the committee of the IAS (Irish Astronomicla Society) and they did not want to go his commercial route and he left them and set up AI in direct competition with the IAS.

To be blunt abpout it this pissed many peope off no end and when you see the revisionist propaganda Mr. Moore spouts out then you can see why. I honestly believed there was no other national astronomy organisation in this country for YEARS untill Terry Mosley invited Astro2 (the Astronomy & Physics Society of NUI Maynooth) to join IFAS. Why did I think there was only AI? Because DM told me and the rest of the country so with repeated comments in editorials and on TV.

TBH it is a subject that still cannot be talked about in the open because some people are still exceptionally bitter about it. If you don't believe me just mention the two letters 'A' and 'I' at any non-AI event and watch the faces of people all around you contort.

I have asked around a bit about the split and all I ever get are little bits and pieces of information, never the full story. It is still too recent and current and people are still to hurt to talk about it openly. As someone who was new to Astronomy the depth of emotion people fel on tihs issue really took me by surprise.

Bart B.