Friday 18 August 2017

Dark Skies

Ardnamurchan's small and scattered population has meant that there are relatively few artificial lights at night. This gives it a night sky, when it's clear and the moon is new, which is genuinely dark. As a result, we've seen the moons of Jupiter and....

....spectacular meteorite showers - the one at top left is the best I have managed - as well as....

....moon dogs and....

 ....moonbows.

We've seen dark skies in the day too, when we watched a total eclipse in March 2015.

We've enjoyed all those things but nothing, nothing is as exciting as an aurora. The best - sadly before I had a digital camera - was so spectacular it was awe-inspiring, but we've witnessed numerous events with flowing colours that take one's breath away.

My camera skills are limited, so a better idea of this great natural phenomenon comes from the pictures of Ben McKeown (above, of the iconic phone box at Kilmory) and....

....Ewan Miles. Ewan's picture was taken from Mull and looks across to the Ardnamurchan peninsula. The lights of Kilchoan are to the right and the flash of Ardnamurchan Point lighthouse can be seen to the left.

Many thanks to Ben and Ewan for allowing me to use their pictures.

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