Highland Astronomy

07/11/2024

Low waxing crescent 🌙 Moon over towards the southern horizon this evening.

07/11/2024

🌟 With good views towards the south west you might be noticing Venus burning low in the horizon after the Sun sets. It appears as a very bright but steady burning star.

As we progress into November and December the planet will appear higher in the sky and more obvious as skies darken.

Clear skies.

04/11/2024

☄️☄️ The Taurids meteor shower is currently rumbling along with peak activity in the first two weeks of November.

This week is ideal with no bright Moon about to wash away any fainter meteors (shooting stars).

Go somewhere dark and enjoy views of Jupiter and the Pleiades as they rise into late evening.

You may get lucky and see some brighter meteors originating near the Pleiades although generally your best bet is to look towards the clearest opening of sky available and keep fingers crossed.

The later you stay out the better, allowing Ta**us to rise higher in the south eastern sky.

Clear skies.

03/11/2024

🎹🎶🌌✨We had a wonderful evening of music and astronomy this Saturday up at Abriachan Forest.

The evening started with a unique premier - a live analogue synthesiser set from Nick and Maarten of QRM, riffing beautiful melodies, sound waves and effects in realtime against a montage of space and astronomy themed visuals I created especially for the evening.

Afterwards we had a virtual planaterium tour and talk on Supernovae, before finally getting some breaks in the cloud and heading out to see Jupiter and several nearby constellations and bright stars.

Big thanks as ever to Abriachan for hosting and my wife for the home bakes.

02/11/2024

Abriachan Music and Stargazing this Evening - Sat 2nd November

Just a quick note for all those with tickets to Abriachan forest classroom this evening. Due to space and numbers for our music performance we can't admit any extra tickets at the door this evening.

Please wrap up warm as we may be opening the veranda doors in the main room for the musical performance to make extra space for equipment at the front of the room. And perhaps some open air stargazing afterwards if skies are kind to us....

We'll aim to start just after 7pm but there may be some delays due to a fairly involved setup with the musical equipment so please be patient if we hit any snags.

If you're new to the events, the Abriachan forest classroom can be hard to find in the dark. Type 'Abriachan Forest Trust' into Google maps and navigate to the Forest Classroom. There is plenty of parking nearby.

Alternatively for anyone without satnav or if you loose signal you can find more detailed instructions here:

https://www.abriachan.org.uk/environment/ #:~:text=Abriachan%20Forest%20Trust%20classroom%20in,is%20west%20of%20Loch%20Laide.&text=To%20get%20there%20uphill%20from,Loch%20Laide%20on%20your%20left.

27/10/2024

⏰Clocks Change ✨ - Planet viewing start of 2024 season

Whatever your views on the issue of daylight saving happen to be, the clocks have once again changed, bringing with it a significant jump in our night sky views.

At the moment we have 3 easy to view planets to look out for, with observing times presented below for November.

Early evening from 6pm - Saturn is in an excellent position, due almost South, with its rings still in a good orientation for telescopic views.

From 10pm - Jupiter and Mars are both visible in the East. Jupiter blazes within the horns of Ta**us while Mars sits lower on the horizon and much dimmer (but unmistakably red in hue).

All these planets are visible naked eye, especially Jupiter, which will be the brightest star like object you can see barring Venus.

Saturn is much dimmer naked eye so remember to look for an unblinking point of light as opposed to a twinkling point - which most stars present as due to Earth's atmosphere and their enormous distance.

More night sky updates incoming as the season kicks off so stay tuned.

Clear skies.

22/10/2024

The waning gibbous Moon will sit in Gemini on Tuesday evening, rising late. It can help you locate planets Jupiter and Mars.

Jupiter will have already been blazing high in the east by about 11pm but Mars is much fainter with a red tinge and will have recently risen eastwards.

Clear skies.

17/10/2024

Another Comet A3 catch - this time from from Paul Warrener

"Finally managed to catch Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS.
Next pass in 80,000years.
500mm, f/5.6, 2.5s, ISO 8000." - Paul

17/10/2024

The Full Moon 🌕 will rise on Thursday evening from about 6pm in the Eastern sky. Wait up later and it will be joined by Jupiter rising to its far left and eventually Mars further still on the low horizon.

15/10/2024

Tuesday evening Comet A3 observing update, plus images from Aberdeenshire by Kevin Williamson.

Remember to look west towards the afterglow of the setting Sun from about 7.30pm. Your observing window is limited as the nucleus of the comet will have set below the horizon by about 8.40pm. If the comet isn't visible to the naked eye scan above the horizon with binoculars - it could be obscured by even the thinnest of low clouds.

"Hi Stephen, Thanks for the updates on the Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS. Fortunate to have had enough clear sky to allow me to take some shots tonight. Hope all is well." - Kevin Williamson*

Clear skies.

*Instagram unfortunately crops images when posting batches, so apologies to Kevin if his wonderful images are compromised by this.

14/10/2024

☄️Comet A3 photographed from Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland by Howard Taylor.

Thanks for sharing Howard. Great catch just above that pesky cloud band.

14/10/2024

Saturn sits close to the waxing gibbous Moon this Monday evening. You should be able to pick it out naked eye but if the glare of the Moon is too bright try scanning the area with hand held binoculars.

Clear skies.

14/10/2024

On Monday evening Saturn will sit very close to the waxing gibbous Moon, plus Comet A3 update after Sunset. (🤞🤞for some clear patches of sky westwards)

Pick Saturn out in binoculars as the light of the bright Moon may well obscure it.

13/10/2024

Comet A3 photograped from Sicily during my travels ☄️. It's a clear naked eye object in twilight levels of darkness which makes me suspect the comet will also be readily visible from Scotland if skies would just clear over the next few evenings and beyond (🙏🤞)

Given suitably dark and clear skies in the Highlands I suspect views will be amazing.

In the first image Venus sits to the left of the comet although Venus won't be readily visible from high northern latitudes due to the shallow angle of the ecliptic.

Lets hope for some clear skies and meanwhile keep heading out after sunset during the rest of October and look West when skies have turned twilight blue.

Images were snapped with a Samsung mobile phone.

Clear skies.

04/10/2024

Bright Comet Update ☄️☄️ From October 13th Comet C/2023 Tsuchinshan-Atlas will potentially be visible in the evening sky after sunset from about 8pm.

Look West towards the glow of sunset and use binoculars if available. Moving away from sky glow and light polluted skies will help.

Opportunities will improve beyond Oct 13th with the comet sitting higher each evening but much will depend on its brightness come mid October. As with all comets brightness can dramatically change with little warning.

Clear skies and happy comet hunting.

03/10/2024

Stargazing and Cosmic music at Abriachan Forest . Star Stories launch event on November 2nd. Tickets available on Eventbrite.

Stargazing, astronomy and live Sounds of the Cosmos Synthesiser performance

02/10/2024

Dark of the new Moon means views of the Milky Way 🌌 if you can escape from the light pollution of towns and cities and go somewhere dark and rural. Thanks for sharing David.

"Milkyway from Knockfarrel this evening" David Wilson

28/09/2024

You may be hearing excited reports of a bright comet in the sky. ☄️ Comet C/2023 A Tsuchinshan-Atlas is unfortunately incredibly hard to spot in the northern hemisphere right now. At the moment it could theoretically be observed in dawn skies around 6.20am rising before the Sun but with the most fleeting of windows.

Wait too long and the Sun will wash it away. Too early and it won't be above the SE horizon. Either way you'll need a flat horizon, no low cloud and perfect timing.

Come mid October better opportunities will emerge to observe the Comet in the evening, after sunset. Stay tuned for observing guides.

Meanwhile if anyone snaps it please share. Clear skies.