
Upcoming Events
03 September 2023
A multi sensory, audio visual experience of Under One Sky for Culture Night... This is a specially designed audio-visual experience, exploring the meanings and values of dark skies through a series of short stories and poems from culturally diverse perspectives. We invite you to adjust your mind as well as your eyes...sit around the hearth.....the ...
03 September 2023
A one day workshop - September 28th, Mulranny Park Hotel This brand new course with expert speakers delivering training for dark sky community and environmental advocates and those wanting to learn more about preserving dark skies in Mayo, equipment needed and information on how to get involved and training on how to engage stakeholders and ta...
21 August 2023
We are delighted to bring you 5 minutes of the Mayo Dark Sky Festival footage taken from our 2022 Festival to give a taste of what to expect this year. Enjoy ASTRONOMY TALKS | NATURE WALKS | STARGAZING | BIODIVERSITY TALKS | ARTS & CULTURE | KIDS GO FREE | AMAZING SCENERY | NEWPORT | MULRANNY | BALLYCROY | WILD NEPHIN NATIONAL...
04 August 2023
Heritage WeekThere's lots happening across the county for dark skies so here's a few highlights: Perseid Meteor Watch 12th August - 10.30pm on Murrivaugh Beach, Mulranny, Mayo Hosted by Mulranny Tourism and Newport Astronomy Club - enjoy this annual meteor watch and make sure you make a wish up on those 'shooting stars'! Booking not required b...
03 July 2023
For Dark Sky Events: The best time to go stargazing in Ireland is in the darker months (i.e. outside of peak summer season!). Our organised events usually take place from late summer until late springtime. Heritage Week 12-20th August. During Heritage week there will be plenty to do at Wild Nephin National Park and after dark, you...
07 May 2023
Biodiversity WeekBat Walk 25th May 9.30pmWe are delighted to introduce yet another NEW local host to the growing list of Dark Sky communities and to welcome Keenagh, a small community just on the edge of Wild Nephin National Park/ Mayo Dark Sky park. As it is Biodiversity Week we have a BAT Walk in Collaboration with Mayo Bat Group and Bat Conserva...
07 May 2023
Women in Dark Skies - Next speaker Yana Yakushina22nd May 2023 7pm (ONLINE only)Yana's talk title is Legal and Policy trends towards Light Pollution Mitigation. This is such an important and current issue. Ireland has no protection for biodiversity or human wellbeing against light pollution. Yana will discuss her work as a lawyer and researcher in ...
31 March 2023
Lots of events for our next Dark Sky Road Show all over Mayo! International Dark Sky Week 2023 International Dark Sky Week, which takes place from 16-22 April is, as its name suggests, a global affair, organised annually by the International Dark Sky Association.On this global stage, Ireland is playing a leading role, particularly in Co...
12 March 2023
Our Weekly Dark Sky Walks continue until 31st March. Dark Sky Walks are gentle and for all abilities on flat terrain (on gravel path & short board walk). We traverse a 2.5km loop to experience the dark skies of Mayo and of course make use of a clear sky for stargazing if conditions allow. Remaining d...
08 March 2023
Mayo Events for Irish Astronomy Week | 20-26th March 2023 This event is jointly hosted by Newport Astronomy Club www.newportastronomyclub.com From the 20th to 26th of March 2023, the inaugural Irish Astronomy Week goes ahead with events taking place indoors and outdoors throughout the thirty-two counties. Also, during that week astronom...
05 March 2023
The Wonders of Mayo's Night Sky Brian Wilson Astrophotographer - 23rd March 8pm Part of Irish Astronomy Week We are delighted to welcome Brian Wilson back to Newport to talk about his amazing work as an Astrophotographer in Mayo for Irish Astronomy Week. Brian will introduce his work and experience of taking photos at night and how to go...
05 March 2023
Dark Sky and the Arts Women in Dark Skies - Teddie Hwang - 21st March 7pm (ONLINE EVENT ONLY) Part of Irish Astronomy Week Teddie is a historical flutist and photographer based in Mainz, Germany. Ever since being introduced to astrophotography in 2020, she has been fascinated and inspired by the night sky. In this presentation, she will demonstrate...
30 January 2023
We have a really exciting programme organised for the 2023 Dark Sky Champion training course for our tourism and hospitality businesses in County Mayo. Two guest speakers have kindly agreed to join us and we will host workshops in Westport and in Ballycroy (approx 2 hours per event, repeated in both locations). Duncan Wise of Northumberland Dark Sk...
22 January 2023
Special Guest Dr. Sibylle Schroer who will present her talk "Human Centric versus Nature Centric Lighting" Monday 6th February at 7pm / Online Event To open our 2023 series of talks, we are thrilled to welcome Dr Sibylle Schroer to present her talk entitled "Human Centric versus Nature Centric Lighting" In 2017, Sibylle received the Galileo A...
08 January 2023
Dark Skies at Night Be part of Irish Research by joining one of these weekly walks in Mayo Dark Sky Park wonder | wellbeing | escape | wilderness | retreat | companionship | fear | nocturnal | mythology | hygge | adventure | comfort | tourism | sustainability | excitement | nature | culture | conservation Would you associate any of these concepts w...
20 November 2022
Dark Skies at Night Be part of Irish Research by joining one of these weekly walks in Mayo Dark Sky Park wonder | wellbeing | escape | wilderness | retreat | companionship | fear | nocturnal | mythology | hygge | adventure | comfort | tourism | sustainability | excitement | nature | culture | conservation Would you associate any of these concepts w...
30 October 2022
Astrophotography is the focus of our gallery exhibit at Ballycroy Visitor Centre, and we are delighted to welcome the return of Chasseurs de Nuits with the Award winning collection of works from the Photo Nightscape Competition. Chasseur de Nuits exhibition is kindly sponsored by the Embassy of France and joins the existing exhibition of talented a...
30 October 2022
Moving out of this world…. from angels and demons to photons and quarks…we cannot wait to hear from Brother Guy Consolmagno SJ – Director of the Vatican Observatory and co-author of the classic astronomy book (with Dan Davis) "Turn Left at Orion". Brother Guy will be presenting his talk on "Catholic" Cosmologies in Newport on Sunday afternoon. ...
30 October 2022
Join Professor Kevin Gaston, University of Exeter, to hear about his work on the environmental consequences of light pollution. Kevin is also a board member of the International Dark Sky Association and has recently co-authored (with Dr Alejandro Sanchez de Miguel) this Annual Environmental Review paper reviewing the impact light pollution has on p...
23 September 2022
Friday 23rd of September is #CultureNight and we look forward to celebrating it at the #BallycroyVisitorCentre in #WildNephinNationalPark An entertaining evening with traditional music by local musicians and a chance to try some delicious boxty. Sean Lysaght will be launching his book 'New Leaf' and we'll finish off the evening appreciating our won...
21 September 2022
The Mayo Dark Sky Festival is back with a bang! In 2021, covid restrictions meant that the festival could not go ahead as planned, so we are really looking forward to welcoming people back to Newport, Mulranny and Ballycroy from 4 - 6 November, for a feast of events celebrating Mayo's dark unpolluted skies. This year we will have talks by Brother G...
20 September 2022
Newport is considered the gateway town to Mayo Dark Sky Park and has been a community host town to Mayo Dark Sky Festival since its inception. The town is becoming known as a dark sky destination, attracting a growing number of international visitors in winter months, boosting the local tourism economy during the off-season. How...
09 September 2022
Guided Stargazing - a new activity for Nature Parks and Resorts ONLINE Event - 22nd September at 7pm (registration below). We are delighted to welcome Etta Dannemann to our series of Women in Dark Skies talks. In this talk, Etta Dannemann will talk about Guided Stargazing as a new activity for dark sky areas. She will explain how hosts...
01 August 2022
We are delighted to celebrate Heritage Week 2022 with a number of events of a dark sky theme, both in person and online and hope you can join us. As the darker evenings are just around the corner, Heritage Week is the perfect opportunity to start thinking about looking up into our lovely dark skies and enjoying the celestial skies above - assuming ...
30 April 2022
Join us for the next episode in our "Women in Dark Skies" webinar series. We are thrilled that Dr Hannah Dalgleish will be our next guest speaker for our series entitled "Women in Dark Skies". This webinar will be at 7pm on Friday 17th June - everyone is welcome! Hannah is a researcher at the University of Oxford in astronomy for developm...
21 April 2022
Biodiversity Week 13-22nd May Monday 16th MayJoin us in Newport for an Open Evening to launch the next phase of the community Lighting Project for the town. The Friends of Mayo Dark Skies obtained support from The Heritage Council, and a new pilot test for lighting begins in Newport with expert lighting designer Kerem Asfuroglu.Community memb...
08 April 2022
We're delighted to launch our events for International Dark Sky Week 2022 - Mayo Dark Sky Road show is back in person this time! We have no less than NINE events, back to back across County Mayo. As it's been a while since we could take our events to communities, we are going back to basics this year with introductory talks and events on ...
28 March 2022
Join us for the second episode in our "Women in Dark Skies" series. We are delighted to welcome Dani Robertson, Dark Sky Officer from Snowdonia Dark Sky Reserve. You may have seen Dani recently on the BBC's Countryfile programme giving a wonderful explanation of Dark Sky Lighting for rural areas. Dani is a leading advocate for protecting our dark s...
18 February 2022
Dark Sky Champion Workshops For Tourism and Hospitality Trade in Mayo Supported by Failte Ireland in partnership with Mayo Dark Sky Park and Blackrock Castle Observatory Mayo is home to Ireland's only Gold Tier International Dark Sky Park.With easy access sites from the Clew Bay and the Wild Atlantic Way, this visitor attraction has caught the imag...
31 January 2022
Our new series of web talks "Women in Dark Skies" starts appropriately on St Brigid's Day. Our first speaker of the year is Dajana Bjelarac, Founder of "Carpe Noctem" in Serbia - an NGO established to tackle environmental light pollution. Dajana's talk is titled "Defending the dark skies with resourcesfulness and creativity" Join Us from 7pm on Tue...
28 October 2021
The Ballycroy Visitor Centre will be closing for the season on Sunday October 31st. To mark the occasion and coincide with Halloween and what would normally have been the Mayo Dark Sky Festival weekend, some special events have been organised as below and in the image. Friday - 29th October 7pm – Dark Sky Social evening with Night themed Music and ...
07 October 2021
International Observe the Moon Night is an annual world-wide public engagement event that encourages observation, appreciation, and understanding of our Moon and its connection to NASA planetary science and exploration. Everyone on Earth is invited to join the celebration whether observing at home or at an organised event. Our team at W...
07 October 2021
Join us in Ballycroy for a self-guided looped walk especially for Space Week. Find out what makes our precious Peatland Ecosystems so similar to "Our Place in Space" and how protecting our local habitats will also help keep our world habitable. You can download this special booklet launched for Space Week 2021 Below: File Name: SpaceWeek2021_...
08 August 2021
We are connecting the three official dark sky places on the island of Ireland with 3 special live online events for teachers, educators and anyone with an interest in astronomy, archaeology or dark skies. These events are all free to attend and available via Dark-Sky.eventbrite.com Schedule of events: Tuesday 5pm 17th August, 2021 Join OM Dar...
08 August 2021
We are sharing the Dark Sky LOVE and inviting new communities seeking dark sky status to join a special event on how to create a dark sky place. With expertise from the International Dark-Sky Association, USA and Unihedron, Canada, this a blue-print for how to create a dark sky place in Ireland. Registration is via a Zoom link below. &n...
08 August 2021
Join our guides for a Bat & Nature Walk as dusk falls, followed by introduction to the Night Sky over Mayo Dark Sky Park. We can facilitate up to 15 people (maximum) per tour by prior booking only to ballycroyvisitorcentre@housing.gov.ie Weather permitting we will enjoy some stargazing and perhaps even a meteor or two for those stay...
08 June 2021
Free webinar on lighting for dark skies - Wednesday 16th June at 7pm We have been invited by Engineers Ireland to co-present this talk, together with Prof Brian Espey on Lighting for Dark Skies. The talk is open to anyone but hosted by Engineers Ireland and appropriate to Engineers involved in lighting design and those who wish to l...
29 March 2021
International Dark Sky Week, which takes place from 5 - 12 April is, as its name suggests, a global affair, organised annually by the International Dark Sky Association. On this global stage, Mayo is playing a leading role, with a series of events from astronomy to archaeology, wildlife to wellbeing. Mayo Dark Sky Park will al...
17 April 2020
This annual week of events might be remarkably different for 2020 but nevertheless, it gives us all an opportunity to connect with our night skies, to consider the amazing habitat we have overhead and to reconnect with loved ones far away. We have a series of virtual events planned in collaboration with the International Dark Sky Association and...
27 September 2019
To celebrate Space Week 2019 and mark International Observe the Moon Night, join us in Wild Nephin Ballycroy National Park Visitor Centre for an evening of moon gazing and storytelling under Mayo’s magical moonlight. All welcome. Booking Details: Entrance is free, no booking is required. Please RSVP to mayodarksky@gmail.com More information about...
26 September 2019
The programme for the 4th Mayo Dark Sky Festival has been launched. It promises to be a very exciting weekend with events for all the family.
For the full programme visit the Mayo Dark Sky Festival website
13 April 2018
Don’t miss Natalie Marr’s talk next Wednesday 18th April. It is her first time in Ireland and we have invited Natalie from Scotland to present her work “Skies Above, Earth Below”, which explores the cultural values of Dark Sky Places. Natalie is an artist and researcher based at the University of Glasgow and works across sound, video, photography, and...
06 August 2017
Date : 24 August, 7:30pm - 8:30pm Venue : Friends of Mayo Dark Skies - Mulranny Park Hotel Admission : Admission Free Booking : Booking Required Contact : mayodarksky@gmail.com...
06 August 2017
Date : Saturday 12th August at 11PM Venue : Murrivaugh Beach Mulranny Meet : Meet at Mulranny Golf Club Admission : Free Description : Mulranny Tourism in collaboration with Ballycroy National Park Guides and Newport Astronomy Club invite you to a free meteor shower watch on Murrivaugh Beach. Wear warm clothes and Bring a...
19 June 2017
19 June 2017
19 June 2017
Date : October 27th-30th Venue : Newport, Mulranny and Ballycroy Admission : €5 per talk with many free events Contact : www.mayodarkskyfestival.ie...
19 June 2017
19 June 2017
Date : 22nd September
Venue : TBA
Admission : €5 for non-members
Contact : www.newportastronomyclub.com
19 June 2017
Date : Tuesday June 20th Venue : 8pm - The Gráinne Uaile, Newport Admission : €5 for non-members Contact : www.newportastronomyclub.com...
08 April 2017
To celebrate International Dark Sky Week 2017 (22-28th April) there are lots of events planned in the Mayo Dark Sky Park area. Exciting events are taking place in Newport, Mulranny and Ballycroy throughout the week and hopefully we will see you there. FREE INTERNATIONAL DARK SKY WEEK EVENTS IN MAYO Title: A Little Night Art – Pauline McSor...
24 March 2017
Date : Tuesday 28th March Venue : 8pm – Hotel NewportAdmission : €5 (free to members of Newport Astronomy Club)Contact : Newport Astronomy Club www.newportastronomyclub.com...
24 March 2017
Date : Saturday 25th March Venue : 3pm - Ballycroy National Park Visitor CentreAdmission : Free (prior booking required)Contact : mayodarksky@gmail.com...
28 February 2017
Venue : The Grainne Uaile, NewportDate : Tuesday, February 28th 2017.Time : 8pm.Admission : €5 for non-members.Contact : Newport Astronomy Club www.newportastronomyclub.com...
28 January 2017
Venue : Ballycroy National Park Visitor Centre, BallycroyDate : 28 & 29th January 2017Time : 11am Admission : by prior reservationCost : €20 per person (covering lunch)Contact : Mayo Dark Skies mayodarksky@gmail.com...
24 January 2017
Venue : The Grainne Uaile, NewportDate : Tuesday, January 24th 2017.Time : 8pm.Admission : €5 for non-membersContact : Newport Astronomy Club www.newportastronomyclub.com...