Join the Friends of Mayo Dark Skies to celebrate the launch of the Heritage Funded Project, Community Constellations for Dark Skies at the National Museum of Ireland at Turlough Park.

Enjoy live music and participate in a free, drop-in lantern making workshop with Wilderland artist, Tom Meskell, and learn about County Mayo’s progress toward becoming a Dark Sky Reserve!

Community Constellations for Dark Skies is a project that aims to provide a heritage interpretation plan for communities participating in dark sky preservation and restoration projects in County Mayo.

As the county is working towards becoming a dark sky reserve, this plan will assist the understanding and importance of dark sky preservation. It will work directly with communities to develop a customised interpretation of dark skies that is specific to their own unique location and identity. It will help visitors to appreciate better quality lighting practices and educate on how small changes can enhance biodiversity and include climate action measures.

The project will develop a template for dark sky interpretation which will be tailored for up to 19 communities, providing supporting data through sky quality measurement and connecting a network of dark sky communities linked under the concept of community constellation.

The individual pieces will be consolidated into one overall interpretation plan for County Mayo's dark skies, providing a strategic direction for the development of an International Dark Sky Reserve for the county. In joining the dots of the participating communities, a new constellation shape will be created as the icon of the project.

Please note that this is a FREE event and no booking is required.

To learn more about Mayo Dark Skies, visit their website HERE.