The Boyne Valley Astronomical Society was officially founded in January of 2024 when a small group of like-minded amateur Astronomers from Drogheda, Dundalk, Collon, Naul, Navan, Dublin and even as far as Wicklow got together to host a Star Party on the ground of Oldbridge House, with full support and cooperation of the OPW.
That first night of sharing a passion for the night sky led to a club that has grown from merely an idea on paper to a regularly active club that has lots going on and just loves spreading the passion for amateur astronomy in the Boyne Valley region.
Since that first Star Party in January of 2024, we have hosted events and observing sessions at Bective Abbey, Mellifont Abbey and been guests at a special event at Knowth, courtest of the OPW again. We've also hosted amateur astronomy talks in Drogheda and Navan, as well as Sidewalk astronomy evenings in the heart of Drogheda town.
Alongside our outreach sessions, there have also been events where only our eyes are needed, such as the Perseid and Orionid meteor showers each year.
At the end of 2025 we made the decision to start doing some science projects for 2026 and 2027, and these include:
We also hold general informal monthly meet-ups, most often at the Boyne Valley Hotel, where members meet, get to know each other better, share news, talk general astronomy and discuss interesting topics such as new equipment for astrophotography and solar astronomy.
Join the BVAS
Our club is relatively new, est. 10th October 2023 and officially inaugurated 13th February 2024. Like all clubs, we have a constitution and committee.
The incoming 2026/27 committee is made up of:
Throughout the year we host many different events, from our Star Party to regular observing sessions and general meet-ups, to Amateur Astronomy Talks.
Visit our Events page to check-out what members have access to:
BVAS Events
Astronomy is more than just telescopes and images, it's all about exploring the cosmos, and the opportunity for amateur science.
A project to launch a payload into the edge of space from County Meath has been started by the BVAS!
And it involves a nice wee bit of science as well as video and imaging!
Checkout what's involved and why you should get involved...
Imagine being able to fly through the stars as if in your own spaceship, in a 3D world where the cosmos comes to life!
If you've never had a planetarium experience, it's something we recommend everbody gets the chance to do at least once in their lifetime.
Luckily, building your very own planetarium is actually kind of easy, and very cheap!
Join the club and find out more about this fantastic experience, fun for young and old:
This "September", the Boyne Valley Astronomical Society is gonna put on a fun event for everyone that loves the cosmos!
The event will be a full day out with lots to do and plenty of craic, "Astronomy Talks", "Table Quiz" and "Raffle", you'll be sure to meet like-minded people and if we get the weather for it, some observing too...
The incredible constellation of Auriga is a treasure-trove of jewels in our night sky.
Imaging from Dundalk's light polluted B7 skies, BVAS founding member Ciaran Copas is a master at capturing these hidden gems right above our heads that no one can normally see
This image contains over 10 hours of images all stacked together to create a masterpiece worthy of display on any wall, anywhere. In here you have three very specific and incredible nebulae all located within the one constellation:
IC405 The Flaming Star Nebula around 1,500 light-years away,
IC 410 The Tadpoles Nebula around 12,000 lightyears away,
IC 417 The Spider and the Fly Nebula around 10,000 light-years away.
Captured from Dundalk, January 2nd and 7th. February 26th and 27th.
This INCREDIBLE image above taken by Marty McCormack from Bortle 7 Skies in Dublin, shows Sh2-115 and its neighboring emission structures, located in the constellation Cygnus, approximately 7,500 light-years away.
The nebula is part of a large H II region, where ionized hydrogen glows under the intense ultraviolet radiation of nearby hot, massive stars.
The golden filaments trace regions rich in sulfur, while the bluish areas highlight oxygen emissions, revealing the chemical diversity of the interstellar medium. Intricate dark lanes of dust cut through the luminous gas, marking dense regions that may serve as future stellar nurseries.
Together, these features illustrate the complex interactions between stellar winds, radiation, and molecular clouds in shaping the morphology of emission nebulae. High res version HERE
This amazing object is named after the Norse God "Thor" because of its inherint helmet like shape, but it is in fact a Wolf-Rayet star that is about to go 'supernova' very soon, if it hasn't already done so.
One of the most challenging objects to capture from Ireland, most people don't attempt it because it is only 13° above the earth's horizon, and thus, obscured by an abundance of turbulence and light pollution from our cities.
In recent years however, our club founder has started something of a trend since he posted his first attempt at capturing this challenging nebula from Drogheda South, and since then a whole host of Astrophotographers have given it a go.
Located 11,960 lightyears away from Earth in the constellation of Cannis Major, NGC2359 is a notable Hii (inoized) region of the constellation just slightly north east of the star "Sirius". This image has 11 hours of data in it and is captured from Drogheda south over 3 seasons in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Video © Marty McCormack 2024 All Rights Reserved
We are a club of like-minded amateur astronomers of all levels, from complete beginners to advanced images and scientists alike, here to make astronomy fun in the Boyne Valley Region
