Tours and Visits

The Observatory has continued to encourage visits to the Armagh Observatory Grounds and Astropark. During 2004 such visits have included school groups from as far afield as Dublin, as well as groups of retired people, unemployed people and members of history, philosophical and astronomical societies. In addition, the Observatory opened its doors to the general public on a number of occasions, including events surrounding the Astronomical Science Group of Ireland and Institute of Physics in Ireland conference in April 2004, the Transit of Venus on 8 June 2004, the UK and Ireland ``Routes to Roots'' exhibition, and the Heritage Lottery Fund 10th Anniversary celebrations.

A selection from the list of Group visits to the Observatory during 2004 is provided in Table 6. In addition, 677 people signed the Visitors Book, suggesting that approximately 1,000 people were accompanied on tours of the Observatory by staff and students during 2004. It is noteworthy that visitors to the Observatory originated from more than a dozen separate countries.

Table 6: Selected list of Group visits and tours around the Armagh Observatory during 2004.


Group	Date	Approximate Number
St Patrick's Day Tours	17 Mar 2004	100
QUB Extramural Group	25 Mar 2004	25
Malahide School, Dublin	27 Mar 2004	30
ASGI/IoPI and Public tours	3 Apr 2004	80
Dundalk Unemployed Group	21 Apr 2004	20
DCAL and DFP Visit	26 May 2004	10
Transit of Venus Exhibition and Open Day	May/Jun 2004	35
Beaumont Active Retirement Group, Dublin	24 Jun 2004	15
IAA Summer Solstice Event	26 Jun 2004	25
County Cavan Museum Group	3 Jul 2004	45
Dublin Tourism Group	25 Aug 2004	10
Routes to Roots Exhibition	6 Sep 2004	15
European Heritage Day Tours	11 Sep 2004	100
Irish Phenology Garden Meeting	28 Sep 2004	10
Armagh Natural History and Philosophical Society	14 Oct 2004	20
Heritage Lottery Fund 10th Birthday	6 Nov 2004	10
QUB Extramural Group	11 Nov 2004	20
Launch of Human Orrery Event	26 Nov 2004	40

The number of visitors using the Armagh Observatory Astropark has continued to be recorded during 2004. Nine months data for this period (owing to intermittent instrumental failure) indicated approximately 16,000 visitors to the Astropark. This undoubtedly includes many repeat visits by regular users of the facility, but the corresponding annual figure (more than 20,000) again demonstrates the importance of the Armagh Astropark for people of all ages and from all sections of the community, including local residents and general visitors.