Big thanks to astronomer Steve Owens and Celtic storyteller Alis Ballance for hosting our astronomy and storytelling streams this evening up at Abriachan Forest.
Cosmosis was realised by a combination of Alis’s captivating Gaelic creation myths and Steve’s tour de scientific of the Solar System.
Although skies started off cloudy we were blessed with decent patches of open sky at the end for a deftly guided laser pointer finale, taking in Orion and other bright constellations. Plus binocular and telescopic views of the crescent Moon
I’ll be sky and star guiding from remote and beautiful Lewis this March, for the 2023 Hebridean Dark Skies Festival, with dates spanning 18-21st March. Tickets and event info below and in the accompanying link. On Thursday 16th March I’ll also be joining the HDS panel for a special facebook live session “Ask the Astronomers”.
Event details:
Join astronomer Stephen Mackintosh (aka Highland Astronomy) for an evening of fascinating insights into the cosmos and – weather permitting – a walk under the stars at some of our best stargazing spots.
Tickets can booked in advance via An Lanntair’s box office. A limited number may be available on the door on the night if the event is not sold out.
The Hebridean Dark Skies Festival runs from 9-21 March 2023 with arts and astronomy events for all the family at An Lanntair and across Lewis and Harris. Browse the full festival programme here.
Join us up at Abriachan Forest on March 25th (a Dark Sky Discovery site) for an evening of stargazing and storytelling.
For March we welcome HAS’s Maarten De Vries as our guest astronomer with a talk titled “Comets – Ancient Icy Visitors from the Edge of our Solar System”. Maarten had his first experience with comets when he was 11 years only and has been an ardent observer of the night sky ever since.
Additionally we welcome Fiona Macdonald our guest storyteller for the evening, sharing tales over the campfire.
Plus outdoor naked eye stargazing with astronomer Stephen Mackintosh if conditions are favourable.
Due to site and classroom capacity, booking via Eventbrite is essential. Admission is free for under 16s with accompanying adults but please inform Abriachan of any large booking requests.
Our next stargazing and storytelling session at Abriachan Forest will be on New Moon (Jan 21st) and we welcome back Glasgow Science Centre astronomer Steve Owens to guide us under the stars (or present a backup indoor talk on the planets). Our guest campfire storyteller Fiona Macdonald should also be in attendance.
If you booked for the cancelled December event your tickets will carry over and will be valid for the Jan event.
If you missed out on the last few events we have a February and March events planned so stay tuned. The February tickets links and event details will go up in the next week.
Join me on December 17th up at Abriachan Forest (a Dark Sky Discovery site) for an evening of stargazing and storytelling under Moonless dark skies.
If conditions are clear I’ll guide you under Abriachan’s Milky Way class dark skies (with a backup indoor astronomy presentation if clouds roll in).
Meanwhile we welcome our first guest storyteller of the season. Local gael Fiona Macdonald will lead the campfire storytelling section of the evening with tales steeped in Highland folklore.
Due to site and classroom capacity, booking via Eventbrite is essential. Admission is free for under 16s with accompanying adults but please inform Abriachan of any large booking requests.
Join us up at Abriachan Forest on November 4th for our first event of the 2022 Stargazing season – ‘Moon, Planets and Fox & Fire!’
To kick off the winter series our first event will be a Moon and Planet special with the waxing gibbous Moon, Jupiter and Saturn on display for live binoculor and telescope observing guided by astronomer Stephen Mackintosh. If skies are poor Stephen will instead present an indoor talk in the forest classroom on the history of lunar and planetary observing, going back to the earliest ideas our ancestors had about the Moon and Wandering Stars.
In addition the Abriachan team will present ‘Fox and Fire’ storytelling around the campfire with refreshments provided.
Due to site and classroom capacity, booking via Eventbrite is essential. Admission is free for under 16s with accompanying adults but please inform Abriachan of any large booking requests.
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