Family festival celebrating Mayo's Dark Skies

THE towns and villages bordering Ireland’s first Dark Sky Park have teamed up once again for the eighth Mayo Dark Sky Festival, which takes place from November 1 to 3.

The festival was established in 2016, to celebrate all facets of Mayo’s natural dark skies. Organised by the Friends of Mayo Dark Skies when Wild Nephin National Park became the first gold tier Dark Sky Park in Ireland, it proved so popular that it is now an annual event, funded by Fáilte Ireland.

The festival takes place in the villages around the Dark Sky Park - Newport, Mulranny and Ballycroy.

“Over 60% of Europeans (and 80% of North Americans) cannot see the Milky Way,” according to festival director Fiona Hopkins. “Something we all took for granted in our childhoods is fast disappearing from our lives, and the west coast of Ireland is one of the few places left where you can experience the magic of a natural dark sky.

“Here in Mayo, we celebrate all facets of our dark sky story with an annual festival that offers talks, workshops, walks (and of course some stargazing), in a friendly atmosphere.

“There are many excellent astronomy festivals in Ireland, but the Mayo Dark Sky Festival is unique in that it has much broader themes of biodiversity, culture and wellbeing, in addition to science and astronomy, and attracts couples and families as well as keen amateur astronomers.”

2024 highlights include a fun, thought-provoking talk about the science of Star Trek and an interview with Jonathan Shackleton about his cousin Ernest Shackleton's legacy.

Fusion engineer Leah Morgan will bring the latest exciting news about the remarkable world of fusion energy engineering, where scientists are revolutionising our global energy landscape by trying to build a star in a doughnut.

Adventurer and social media phenomenon Joshua Nueva will reveal how he captured a very special photograph of 2024’s spectacular aurora display at 2.30 a.m. from the cave at Downpatrick Head, which can only be accessed under specific tide conditions. All of this, plus planetarium shows, a seashore safari and Lego and rocket workshops for children.

The festival weekend will end with the wonderful Avoca String Quartet who will perform a space themed candle-lit finale concert with music by Holst, Beethoven, Pink Floyd and David Bowie.

A magical weekend, and, as always, children go free.

A full programme of events and everything needed to plan your trip are on the festival website at https://www.mayodarkskyfestival.ie/.