Dark Sky Observing at Abriachan

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A lovely crescent Moon hung in the West for most of the evening

We enjoyed another superb evening of stargazing and storytelling up at Abriachan Forest last Saturday – the last dark sky session until stargazing returns in October 2019.

There were beautiful crisp skies all evening long, allowing me to guide both groups outside for views of the Milky Way and numerous open star clusters like the Hyades, Pleiades, Beehive and the stunning double cluster in Perseus.

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Orion…of course

We also studied the Orion star forming nebula, the great spiral galaxy in Andromeda and some fainter galaxies in Ursa Major (M81 and M82), and even had a go at sighting the triplet of galaxies in Leo, which some of the keen eyed youngsters successfully glimpsed in the 8×40 binoculars.

Clelland was also back in action with the story of Arden and the birth of Merlin in the roundhouse.

Thanks to everyone who came along.  Please check my Facebook site for details of future summer events.

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Perseus and the double cluster

Star Stories – Glasgow Science Centre On Tour Special

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As part of the Star Stories programme up at Abriachan Forest we’ve invited the On Tour outreach team at Glasgow Science Centre to kickstart our daytime events on April 27th.

The GSC team will deliver indoor stargazing activities as well as meteorite handling, and comet and crater making. They’ll also be bringing a sample of their interactive science exhibits.

If you’d like to attend please book via the eventbrite link here and also look out for more astronomy events over the brighter months.  We have plans to purchase a Hydrogen alpha telescope in the next few weeks which will form the basis for some outdoor solar events.  Follow this blog or keep tabs on my facebook page for developments.

There’s still a few tickets left for the last dark sky observing session in March available here.

Planetary Nebula

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The term planetary nebula is highly erroneous, as these emission nebula have nothing whatsoever to do with planets.  Perhaps the most famous of these is the beautiful ring nebula in Lyra, not far from the brilliant star Vega, although many other planetary nebula are scattered around our night skies, and can be observed comfortably in larger telescopes.

The following video by ESA is a fantastic 3D model of the Ring nebula. In essence the ring nebula is the remnants of a dying Sun like star beyond its red giant phase. As the star enters its final stages its outer layers are shed in great expanding waves, and the residual hot white dwarf star at the centre ionises these gases into beautiful coloured shells.

This ionisation process is very similar to the mechanism that produces Earth based aurora. Electrons are recaptured within the host atoms (often hydrogen, helium, oxygen and nitrogen) and the drop to lower energy levels releases light of a specific frequency, governed by the simple equation we all learn in physics, E = hf.

 

Star Stories Photography and Aurora Special

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The aurora over Ceannabeinne Beach on the north coast by photographer Graham Bradshaw

Despite the stormy conditions earlier in the evening, skies cleared up beautifully at Abriachan on Saturday night for Star Stories.

Graham Bradshaw of Graham Bradshaw Photography was our guest speaker, talking about his fascinating experiences hunting and photographing aurora in some of the wildest and remotest parts of the Scottish highlands.  His talk included practical advice on seeking out aurora in the north of Scotland (which is much more prevalent than you might think), as well as showing many beautiful still images and stunning time lapses captured all over the highlands and further afield.

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Photographer Graham Bradshaw

Meanwhile I took two groups out stargazing and managed about 20 minutes of clear skies during the first outing until we were rained off by a very brief shower.  After heading back inside I switched to my backup slide deck on the science of aurora, talking about how the differential rotation of stars causes kinks in their magnetic fields, ultimately leading to the coronal mass ejections that produce the aurora.

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I got a nice capture of the Andromeda galaxy over the forest classroom (left), and a passing satellite.  This giant galaxy is over 2.5 million lights years away just visible naked eye.  It looks even more impressive in binoculars.

By the time Graham had finished his first talk, skies had cleared again and my second group had a much longer excursion under the stars.

As usual we took in broad sweeps of the night sky with the wonderful agility of binocular observing, hitting targets like the Orion nebula, Hyades and Pleiades star clusters, the Andromeda galaxy, Beehive cluster as well as numerous bright and massive red and blue giant stars.  The Milky Way was also clearly on display, even with the presence of an enchanting crescent Moon hanging in the South West.  We also saw Mars sitting above the Moon and had a go at finding Uranus (currently observable in the same binocular field as Mars).

During both streams Suzann Barr did some video interviews with some of the younger stargazers who’ve become regulars at the events, and captured feedback on our Star Stories wall chart.  Overall it was another great evening with good feedback from participants.

Our next event in March will be the last dark sky observing session for this season as skies begin to brighten.  The theme for this event will be galaxies, and I’ll have a backup presentation prepared on this topic should skies prove unfavourable.  There’s only a few tickets left available on Eventbrite here.

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Another good catch in my camera, this time the Milky Way in the region of Perseus, with the double cluster clearly visible on the left.

 

 

Upcoming Astronomy Outreach

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Here’s an updated list of events I’ll be hosting with Abriachan Forest, the Merkinch Nature Reserve in Inverness and others.  Tickets can be picked up via eventbrite (linked) or email contact.  Please follow the links below.

Saturday February 9th – Star Stories Aurora special with special guest Graham Bradshaw of Graham Bradshaw Photography.  Almost sold out, only a couple of adult and child tickets left.  Eventbrite link here.

Saturday 9th March – Star Stories Dark Sky Observing.  70% of tickets already allocated for this one.  Eventbrite link here.

Thursday February 28th – Stargazing and Guide to Deep Sky Observing at the Inverness Sea Cadet Hall and in partnership with the Merkinch Nature Reserve.  Event details here.

Thursday 28th March – The Life of Stars at the Inverness Sea Cadet Hall and in partnership with the Merkinch Nature Reserve.   Event details to be added.

I’ll also be involved in outreach at some festivals this year.  So far I can confirm my attendance at SCAPA Festival at Loch Fyne on the 3rd to 5th May  Details on the festival and booking info here.