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Thursday, June 14, 2007 :
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Star search: castle observatory will give glimpse into space
PEOPLE will be able to beam messages deep into space and destroy earth-killing comets thanks to a hi-tech astronomy visitor centre opening in Cork today.
The city’s lord mayor will this afternoon, boldly go where no lord mayor has gone before, to launch Cosmos at the Castle at the city’s landmark Blackrock Castle.
The visitor centre is the final element of a €3 million project that has transformed the 16th century castle into one of the country’s top astronomical research facilities.
It is poised to become one of the city’s leading tourist attractions.
Its new visitor centre highlights recent discoveries of extreme life forms on Earth and their implications for life in space and invites interactive debate on our place in the universe.
A gallery of cinema- sized high-definition digital video screens with proximity sensors will allow visitors to interact with the process of the evolution of the universe and of life on Earth.
But one of the more exciting attractions will invite visitors to compose their own impressions of life on Earth.
They will then be able to fire those messages at an exo-planet orbiting a distant star using the radio telescope located on the observatory roof.
The centre’s Comet Chaser is also set to become a huge attraction.
The immersive cinema experience challenges visitors to work together on a space mission to track and divert a comet threatening the Earth.
Blackrock Castle was acquired by the city council in 2004 when it was in very poor condition.
Following discussions with Cork Institute of Technology (CIT), the castle was restored and an astronomical observation and robotic telescope research centre was established there
Researchers at Blackrock Castle Observatory are currently searching for extra-solar planets (planets orbiting distant stars), studying the effects of black holes and they are making optical observations of gamma ray bursts.
They are using two telescopes at the castle itself and are linking via theinternet to a 1.2-metre telescope in Kryoneri, Greece.
Lord Mayor Cllr Ahern said the integration of research, an interactive astronomy exhibition centre, and school outreach projects, makes the Blackrock Castle project unique in Ireland.
“These hi-tech functions in an historical landmark setting are a most appropriate use for this resource,” he said.
www.bco.ie
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