Throughout Ireland you can see impressive sites where the ancient and the modern go hand in hand. Nowhere is this combination more striking than at Blackrock Castle, home to Ireland’s first interactive astronomy centre.
At Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) Blackrock Castle Observatory, you can step 400 years into the past and see light years into the distant corners of the cosmos.
Blackrock Castle was originally built in the 16th Century to protect against pirates. The castle was twice damaged by fire – once in 1722 and again in 1827. Each time it was rebuilt, and the surviving structure is well maintained, impressive to behold and great fun to explore.
The “star” attraction at Blackrock Castle is the Observatory, which opened in 2007. It is filled with fun, educational activities that appeal to everyone from the curious youngster to the hardened science boffin.
Cosmos at the Castle is an engaging interactive exhibit showcasing some of the most recent celestial discoveries. The cinematic Comet Chaser game invites you to help design a crucial mission to prevent a comet from colliding with the earth. This high-stakes adventure requires you to use scientific principles to make critical decisions that could avert cosmic catastrophe.
For those wanting to reach out into the stars, the Observatory offers the chance to write an email that is then beamed via radio telescope to nearby stars known to have orbiting planets. Your message could be the first communication from Earth to be read by extraterrestrials!
A stunning fusion of the ancient and the modern, Blackrock Castle truly is out of this world.
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