Life

Irish skywatchers hoping to catch a glimpse of the last lunar eclipse in this part of the world until 2015 could be in luck this evening with Met Eireann predicting “good clear spells” in most areas. According to Astronomy Ireland , observers in the east of the country will see the rising moon covered in a dark red colour while people in the west will see most of the moon obscured by the shadow of the Earth. The astronomy club, which has over 12,000 members, says the moon will begin rising towards the east of the country at 10 pm, and viewers will be able to see a red colour on the…

The sky over Ireland will appear blood-red just before 8 o’clock tomorrow morning due to a total eclipse of the moon. Tuesday is Winter Solstice 2010 and the full moon will turn red just before sunrise, casting a red hue over the whole sky. Astronomy Ireland said the event is a total lunar eclipse as the moon moves into Earth’s shadow. According to the organisation, sky-gazers will be able to see the moon get gradually darker from 6:32am. At 7:40am the moon will have entered totality. This will be the last total eclipse for at least five years. No viewing equipment is necessary to experience the spectacle. Astronomy Ireland will be holding their annual…

Breakout author Emma Donoghue was the big winner at the Bord Gáis Irish Book Awards last night as she came away with the Hughes & Hughes Novel of the Year Award for her novel Room. Loosely inspired by the Josef Fritzl case in Austria in 2008, Room tells the story of a boy who lives with his mother in a locked room. It was much-acclaimed and just missed out on winning the Man Booker Prize. The Dublin-born writer said she believed the book touched on the universal theme of a young person discovering there was more to life than the confines of their own little world. The shortlist for the…

The controversy surrounding the world-famous Parthenon Marbles rumbles on, as it appears that the new, state-of-the-art Acropolis Museum in Athens – due to open next Saturday, 20 June – is unlikely to ever be given the opportunity to house the sculptures. There were hopes that the opening of the museum (pictured) would boost the likelihood of the marbles returning to Greece; its state-of-the-art building supposedly quashing the argument that they should remain in the British Museum, where they have been since 1816, because of a lack of appropriate display facilities in Athens.However, according to a report in the Guardian newspaper yesterday, a spokesman for the UK Department for Culture, Media and…