Dark Sky at Night!

Scotland has some of the largest areas of dark sky in Europe. Dark skies are found in rural areas that are free of urban light pollution. From a city centre location, we might see fewer than 100 stars with our naked eyes. Under a dark sky we can see over 1,000 stars. We are very fortunate it in Mingarry we can even see our own galaxy, The Milky Way, stretching across the sky.

Dark Sky places are areas or sites that have been officially recognised for their low levels of light pollution and good public access.

Dark Sky Discovery Sites are places that:

• are away from the worst of any local light pollution.
• provide good sightlines of the sky.

There are two darkness ratings:

• "Orion" sites. At these sites, the seven main stars in the winter constellation Orion are visible to the naked eye. Typically, this means away from, or shielded from, bright lights such as streetlights, security lights or approaching car lights.
• "Milky Way" sites. At these sites the Milky Way is visible to the naked eye. They are much darker sites found only in more rural areas.

The above information has been taken from Dark Sky Discovery Sites website.

There are a few dark Sky Discovery Sites in the area and although Mingarry is not a designated place, the sky above us is amazing on a clear night. We have recently added seasonal star charts to our welcome information, so even those not familiar with the dark sky can start to make out some of the constellations.

Every so often if you are really lucky on a clear night there may be the chance of an Aurora! We use the AuroraWatchUK app to get alerts. At the start of this week, it was going mad with some of the best sightings of the Northern Lights in a long time all across the area.

We also follow local photographer Steven Marshall’s monthly night sky blog Stargazing Monthly Guides for Ardnamurchan, Ardgour Moidart, Morvern and Sunart | Steven Marshall Photography - Steven Marshall Photography (smarshall-photography.com)

This is a fact packed interesting read every month and gives great information on what can be seen locally in the terms of constellations, planets and what the moon is up to.

Long may Mingarry remain dark at night so we can continue looking up at the wonderful sky above.