You may or may not have heard about our new project Space Crafts. Space Crafts is a new STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts & Maths) initiative being run at DIAS Dunsink Observatory and is funded through the Science Foundation Ireland Discover Programme with support from ESERO Ireland and Fingal County Council Arts Office.

Since we have now hosted two workshops as part of the project, we wanted to provide an update and insight into the work we have been doing.

Our first workshop took place at the end of May when we welcomed a 5th class group from a local primary school. Their workshop focused on planetary composition as well as the physics of light. These topics laid the basis for each student to create a painting of a planet of their own creation. Their lessons on planetary composition helped the students decide what kind of planet they wanted to create, while their lessons on light allowed them connect with various media to create different different textures and patterns on their paintings.

Our second workshop was hosted at the end of June when a 5th class group from another local school joined us for a workshop based on the orbits of planetary bodies and other objects in space such as galaxies, comets, asteroids and even spacecraft! All of this led to some incredible drawings being created by the students which were inspired by some of the learnings throughout the workshop.

The artwork created in both workshops will be on display in the observatory for the events in the autumn where the general public will be welcome to see them up close!

We will also be back with more Space Crafts workshops in the autumn so watch this space!