Wow – the Milky Way
In late October and early November, Waternish experienced the perfect sky watching time. The skies were clear. There was no moon or a very small one. It was cold so…
Finding Transients with Gaia
Thank you to Dr Simon Hodgkin of the Astronomical Survey Unit, Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge for this very interesting article.Artist’s impression of Gaia14aae. Credit: Marisa Grove/Institute of Astronomy Gaia is…
Dark Skies on Waternish
Prepared in a personal capacity for us by Dr Simon Hodgkin of the Astronomical Survey Unit, Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge. Truly dark skies are only found far away from the urban…
Noctilucent Cloud – from Stein
A wonderful photograpgh taken by Angus McGhie of the Stein Inn here on Waternish, very early one morning on his way back home after closing the Inn.
Aurora Borealis
Waternish Peninsula – home to three Dark Skies viewing sites has been the perfect location throughout our stormy winter from which to view the Aurora Borealis. When the skies have…
NASA Photo of Aurora over Scotland
A Nasa Astronaut (Terry Virtis) photographs the aurora borealis over Scotland from the International Space Station. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-31440059 Absolutely fabulous – if only it could be as clear as this from Waterish…
Hubble spots a galaxy smiling at us
The Hubble Space Telescope is producing pictures on a daily basis which are just wonderful and awe-inspiring. They recently shared this picture on Facebook. Hubble spots a galaxy smiling at…
The GAIA Project Lecture
A very interesting lecture was held at Waternish Hall earlier this month, given by Dr Simon Hodgkin of the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge. The lecture was very well…
August Meteors
Go some place dark. August is a really good month for meteors with the return of Perseid Shower. See earthsky.org/tonight/the-radiant-of-the-delta-aquarid-meteors And of course after weeks of light skies and short nights,…
Noctilucent Clouds
Noctilucent clouds (NLC’s) are the highest clouds in Earth’s atmosphere and are visible in a deep twilight, mostly observed in the summer months at latitudes between 50º and 70º north…
Fabulous Aurora
On the 27th February the country experience a very widespread aurora. Waternish was part of that, for at least half an hour. There was some colour in the sky to…
Isle of Coll – Awarded Dark Sky Community Status
Visit Waternish would like to extend our warmest congratulations to the Isle of Coll who this last weekend were awarded the status of Dark Sky Community. This will have entailed…
Experiencing Hubble
Starting on Tuesday 15th October, the first of a six week programme being shown by Gill Williams. It will feature another ‘Great Courses’ Course called ‘Experiencing Hubble – Understanding the…
Spectacular night skies over Waternish
If the hype delivers, this coming November could produce one of the most spectacular natural sights ever witnessed in the night sky. Discovered in September last year by two Russian…
BBC Stargazing Photograph
This is the photo of the sun, taken on Waternish by Robert Arnold, which was shown on the BBC Stargazing Live TV program on January 8th 2013. It is taken…
We’re REALLY dark here!
Look at this picture from NASA, how dark are we here on Waternish on the Isle of Skye? Can you even see Skye??? We are currently having clear skies and…
Dark Skies in December
What a fabulous week we have had for Dark Skies. For once everything seemed to come together this week. We had a new moon which made the night sky really…
The Transit of Venus
This is so exciting. For the only time in our lifetime there is a transit of the sun by Venus early on the morning of June 6th. If the clear…
Dark Sky events on Skye in March
Dark Sky events on Skye in March Friday March 9th 2012: Dark Skye Launch Event: Destination Skye and Lochalsh presents Dark Skye Discovery starting at 7:30 pm at the Broadford…
Award for completing ‘Our Night Sky’ Course
A significant core group of Waternish residents have completed a basic course via DVD called ‘Our Night Sky’. The youngest member of this group, Murdo MacGilvaray, received a very personal…
Dark Skies (Not Dark Clouds) Report
We’ve had a report from a local couple: “We sat in the garden from 1850hrs till 1930hrs 27th Jan 2012 and this is what we have observed: Clear skies, waning/…
Dark Skies Lectures
About 20 local residents attended the first in a series of DVD lectures in the Waternish Hall last night on ‘Our Night Sky’. It would be fair to say that…
Waternish and Skye promote Dark Skies
Dark Sky Discovery, a pioneering new national and regional partnership of astronomy and environmental organizations, has just unveiled a series of Dark Sky Discovery Sites throughout the UK. Led by…