The open evening of 11 August 2016 was a highly successful for Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland. Free tour and observations of Perseid meteor shower together with astronomers was attended by approximately 75 people (60 adults and 15 children). Later, another dozen of stargazers came to watch meteors. In total 90 visitors, who had never previously visited the Observatory, came from many areas around Armagh some as far afield as Belfast.

The event was led by Astronomer David Asher and Mark Bailey, Emeritus Director of the Observatory, and supported by Research Technician James Finnegan and PhD students Pamela Martin, Yanina Metodieva and Rok Nezic. Visitors were divided into four groups and led by one of the group leaders with further support from students Daohai Li and Conor Byrne.

The main event started at 8pm, and comprised extensive tours of the main Observatory building, including an exhibition in the Boardroom, the historic Troughton Telescope - the oldest telescope in the world still in its original dome, the Observatory's historic clocks and a number of other instruments, supported by an explanation. After the walk around Observatory, the visitors had a chance to ask questions during a plenary Q&A session held in the Observatory's Library. The astronomers demonstrated video clips showing Perseid meteors observed from the Observatory during 2015 and previous years.

A leaflet, which had been produced by St Catherine's College student Genevieve McKee as part of a work-experience project at the Observatory and supported in part by the Observatory's involvement in the European Union Space Awareness programme, was distributed to all visitors.

The meteor watch started after around 11.30pm. Despite the patchy cloud after 11:30pm, everybody who spent the time to observe saw meteors, many for the first time in their lives!

Among comments received from participants of the event were:

"Well presented interesting tour. Gave me an incentive to investigate further. More tours please!"

"Brilliant and informative"

"It's great to be able to visit the Observatory, see the work that goes on and talk to the staff.  We would be very interested in attending more such events"

"This should be a more frequent event. Very enjoyable."