​In Celtic folklore, bluebells have a strong association with spirits and faeries. They are often called faerie flowers and their small bell-shaped flowers are believed summon the faeries when rung.  This is not necessarily a good thing because faeries are believed to hang their spells on the bluebells to dry and disturbing them may unleash wild magic upon you, leaving you dazed by enchantment and unable to find your way out of the woods. It can be even more serious for children who pick bluebells because it is believed that they could be snatched away by the faerie folk, never to be seen again.
 
So, if you do visit a bluebell wood, just remember to stay on the path and to not pick or disturb any of the flowers. Besides risking the wrath of the faeries, another good reason to avoid disturbing them is that they are poisonous, and this might be the reason why there are so many old tales and legends warning people away from them.
 
However, these beautiful little flowers have also been valued for their useful properties and have been used over the centuries by herbalists to prevent nightmares and to treat leprosy, spider bites and tuberculosis. They contain at least 15 biologically active compounds that provide them with protection against insect and animal pests and in recent years, some of these compounds have been investigated as possible treatments for HIV infection and cancer.
 
Bluebells have practical uses as well. They produce an exceptionally sticky sap which was used by our Bronze Age ancestors to make a glue that they use for attaching flights of feathers to their arrows. This glue has also been used for several centuries by bookbinders to make and repair books, while in Tudor times, starch was extracted from crushed bluebell roots and used to stiffen the ruff collars that were very much the fashion back then.
 
Finally, some bluebell folklore gives a positive impression of this beautiful little flower. For example, some believe that by wearing a wreath made of the flowers, the wearer can be compelled to speak only truth while others believe that if you can turn one of the flowers inside out without tearing it, you will eventually win the one you love.

Virgo is home to a large cluster of galaxies known as the Virgo Cluster. The Cluster contains over 2,000 individual galaxies, 11 of which are Messier objects that will be visible to anyone using a reasonable astronomy telescope. They are all galaxies and the most notable of these is M104, the Sombrero Galaxy. This edge-on spiral galaxy has a dark dust lane running across its centre, giving it the appearance of a sombrero hat. M49 is an elliptical galaxy and is the brightest galaxy in the Virgo Cluster. M58 is a beautiful barred spiral galaxy and one of the brighter galaxies in the Virgo Cluster. M61 is a face-on spiral galaxy and is one of the largest galaxies in the Virgo Cluster. Other notable deep-sky objects in Virgo include the Eyes Galaxies and the Butterfly Galaxies. Both are made up of pairs of interacting galaxies that are colliding with each other.

Below Virgo is Corvus, the Crow. It is reasonably easy to find as it is a distinct, almost square set of stars right down on the horizon. Above Virgo, you will find Boötes (the Herdsman) and its brightest star, Arcturus. This star is easy to spot as it is the fourth brightest star in the night sky and has a noticeable golden tinge. It is part of the Spring Triangle asterism, which is formed by drawing lines from Arcturus to Spica, Spica to Regulus and Regulus back to Arcturus. Below and to the left of Virgo is Libra (the Scales), a very faint constellation with its main claim to fame being that it is the only constellation in the zodiac which doesn’t represent an animal.

This month’s full Moon is on 16 May, becoming 100% full at 5:14 am. This means that it will appear full on the nights of 14-15 May, 15-16 May, and 16-17 May. It will rise in the south-east at about 7:30 pm on 14 May, at about 9:00 pm on 15 May and at about 11:00 pm on 16 May when it will traverse the sky just above Antares. Many cultures refer to this month’s full Moon as the Flower Moon because of the abundant flower blooms that occur as spring gets going properly. Other names include the hare moon, the corn planting moon, and the milk moon.
 
There will also be a total lunar eclipse on 16 May, with it being visible from the Americas and parts of Africa and Europe. From the British Isles, the partial phase starts at 3:27 am and totality occurs at 4:29 am.
 
The last quarter Moon is on 22 May and will rise close to Saturn in the south-east morning sky. A few days later, on 25-27 May, you will see a crescent moon gliding below Jupiter, Mars and Venus, if you look very low down in the east as the mornings pass.
 
There is new Moon (no moon) on 30 May.

On the evening of 1 May, Mercury can be found low down on the western horizon, just to the left of the Pleiades, until it sets at around 10:00 pm. As the month progresses, it will gradually disappear into the twilight glow and will  not be visible by the middle of the month. Also, if you look east at around 4:00 am on 1 May, you will see both Venus and Jupiter rising into the sky very close to each other.
 
From about the middle of the month, Saturn will rise in the south-east at around 3:00 am and, if you look further east about an hour later, you will see Mars rise at around 4:00 am, to be quickly followed by Jupiter and Venus, both of which will be down and to the left of the Red Planet. Neptune lies to the right of Jupiter, also rising at about the same time, but it will be very difficult to see as will shine very faintly.

The main meteor shower in May is the eta Aquariids, which is the result of small pieces of Halley’s Comet burning up in the Earth’s atmosphere. This year it is forecast to peak between midnight and dawn on the morning of May 5 making this the best time to look for them. However, as there is no sharp peak for this shower, but rather a plateau of good rates that lasts a few days, then same time on May 4 and on May 6 will also be good for watching for them. On these mornings, a waxing crescent moon will have set in the half hours either side of midnight, meaning that the light from it will hardly intrude on the spotting of any meteors.
 
The meteors will appear to emanate from the constellation of Aquarius (The Water Carrier) at a radiant point near the star Eta Aquarii, although you don’t need to look there to see meteors as they’ll appear across the whole night sky. Start looking for them shortly after 3:00 am as that is when the radiant point is above the horizon and bear in mind that the higher the radiant point gets in the night sky, the greater the number of meteors you should see. Sunrise is at around 5:30 am, so this gives you an hour or so to spot them. At its peak, around 10-20 meteors per hour may be spotted. 

I’m a morning person and naturally wake up early, but I do realise that not everyone is like this. Therefore, I thought that I’d give some reasons why I think it is good to at least once, get up early with the birds, head to a favourite place and watch a new day begin:

• Be in the moment: In my blog in February, I wrote about how photography was an act of mindfulness that allows you to focus not on your outside concerns, but solely on the moment and the task at hand and the mental wellbeing that this brings. I find that watching the light and colours appear at sunrise gives me a similar experience because it encourages me to stop and realise that, as a new day begins, it is presenting me with an opportunity to enjoy everything it has to offer. 
• Improve your mood:  When you watch a sunrise, it will most likely put you in a better mood for the rest of the day. In fact, it has been proven that it relieves stress and has many physical benefits, so the next time you’re having a tough time, go to your favourite spot and watch the sun come up while your worries wash away.
• Your sleep and health: Getting out in the natural light of the morning is beneficial for our sleep because exposure to light early in the day, as well as physical activity, helps to set our internal body clock and so protect us from certain diseases.
  
• Protection from sunburn: The time of day has a significant impact on the amount and kind of light we enjoy, and early morning exposes us to a type of sunlight that we do not get during the rest of the day. It is low in the ultraviolet rays that cause sunburn and high in the infrared rays that enhance and strengthen the skin, doing this in a way that protects it from sunburn.
• Seeing colours that you never knew could exist in nature: When people see one of my sunrise photos they often ask, was it really that colourful. Well, yes, because the colours that the sun creates as it rises from below the horizon can be truly amazing and unlike any you might see at a different time of the day.
• Every sunrise is different:  The American author Jonathan P Lamas said that “Just like the days, no two sunrises are ever the same.” This is completely true because during each sunrise the light and colours evolve a little bit differently, making each one unique and well worth getting out of bed for.
• Better for photography: While photographing at sunset can yield stunning landscape photographs, I think that photographing at sunrise is much better because there tends to be fewer people about and there is less haze in the atmosphere. This means that you can pick your compositions without worrying about having to avoid people in them and you will have clear pictures as the air is visibly clearer.​
  
• It’s absolutely free: Last but certainly not least, is that it doesn’t cost a penny. Mother nature puts on these wonderful and colourful shows for free, so why don’t you set that alarm, get up early, take some coffee and get out there to enjoy the show?

As the days lengthen and the nights shorten there is still plenty to see in this month’s night sky. The winter constellations will gradually disappear beyond the western horizon as the spring constellations of Leo and Virgo dominate our southern sky. Also, after a gap of a few months, shooting stars return in the form of the Lyrids meteor shower, which peaks on the night of 21-22 April.

This month, the sun sets around 8:30 pm and the stars and the constellations start to become visible from about 10:00 pm onwards. So, once it is getting dark, look directly above your head and you’ll see the Plough, which is an asterism that is familiar to a lot of people. This makes it an excellent starting point from which to navigate your way around the southern night sky. 

Up from and to the right of Regulus, you will find Castor and Pollux, the two stars which mark the heads of the Twins, Gemini. The bodies of the Twins are the two lines of stars which extend towards Orion (The Hunter), which will be low on the horizon out to the west and will be best found by identifying Betelgeuse, the bright red star which forms the Hunter’s left shoulder at the top of the constellation.
 
Below and to the left of Leo is the constellation of Virgo (The Virgin), with its brightest star Spica sitting down towards the horizon.  In some cultures, Virgo is the "Wheat-Bearing Maiden" or the "Daughter of the Harvest” and is depicted holding several spears of wheat in each hand and Spica is one of the ears of grain hanging from her left hand. If you can’t find Spica, try going back up to the Plough and follow the curve of its handle down through the very bright star, Arcturus and then further on down to Spica, which will be low in the sky.

Below Virgo, you will see the small constellation of Corvus (The Crow), which ranks 70th in size among the 88 constellations in the night sky. The four brightest stars in this constellation form a square asterism known as the Sail, or the Spica’s Spanker, because two of the stars point the way to Spica. It is an ancient constellation that has been known since the time of the Babylonians. They saw it as a raven, and it was sacred to Adad, the god of rain and storm. To the ancient Greeks, it was a crow sent by Apollo to fetch water. The raven wasted his time eating figs. After returning late, Apollo punished him by throwing him into the heavens. He was also condemned to endure eternal thirst. This is why the crow caws instead of singing like other birds.
 
If you are at a location with little or no light pollution, you may be able to pick out Hydra (The Water Snake), which wriggles along the southern horizon and is the largest constellation in the night sky. Most of its stars are faint, but Alphard, its brightest star, is quite easy to find if you look below and to the right of Leo’s brightest star, Regulus (See above). Alphard is from the Arabic for "the solitary one" as there are no other bright stars near it. You might also be able to pick out the head of the Water Snake. It is an almost square set of four stars about halfway between Regulus and Procyon, the brightest star in Canis Minor, which sits below Castor and Pollux.

This month’s full Moon is on 16 April, becoming 100% full at 7:55 pm. This means that it will appear full on the nights of 15-16 April, 16-17 April, and 17-18 April. It will rise in the east at about 7:00 pm on the 15 April, at about 8:30 pm on the 16 April (traversing the sky next to Spica) and at about 10:00 pm on 17 April. It is often called the Pink Moon because of the pink flowers – phlox – that bloom in early spring in North America. In other cultures, it is called the sprouting grass moon, the egg moon, and the fish moon.
 
The last quarter Moon is on 23 April and on the following nights from 24 to 27 April it passes below the planets of Saturn, Mars, Venus and Jupiter over on the eastern horizon at dawn. You’ll need a very clear horizon to see the Moon and a pair of a binoculars or a telescope to make out the planets more clearly in the twilight glow.
 
There is another new Moon (no moon) on 30 April.

This month there are no bright planets in the night sky at all this month and they are pretty difficult to see in the morning as well., with the exception of Uranus which, at a magnitude of +5.8 will be very difficult to see. Saturn, Mars, Venus and Jupiter are all in a line, rising just before the Sun over in the east at around 5:00 am. Saturn and Mars are furthest from the rising Sun, so you might be able to spot them, but the others are closer to the Sun and will most likely be lost in the twilight glow.
 
However, later in the month, Mercury will be in the evening sky and on 29 April it will be at its furthest from the Sun, making it the best time look for this typically difficult to find planet. Look over in the west from about 45 minutes after sunset and you may be able to spot it low down on the horizon before it sets at around 10:30 pm.

After several months without any major meteor showers, we have the Lyrid meteor shower this month. It starts on 15 April and reaches its peak on the night of 21-22 April, when its dust particles that originate from the comet Thatcher hit our atmosphere are expected to produce around 15-20 meteors per hour. However, a good number of meteors can usually be seen on the night before and the night after the peak. This year, the peak happens close to a last-quarter Moon that doesn’t rise until about 3:30 am, making it great for spotting any shooting stars because the sky will remain dark pretty much all night.
 
The meteors will appear to emanate from the constellation of Lyra (The Lyre) at a radiant point near Vega, the constellation’s brightest star and the fifth brightest star in the night sky. You will find Vega over in the north-eastern night sky from 10:00 pm, although you don’t need to look there to see meteors as they’ll appear across the whole night sky. Start looking for them from about 10:00 pm as that is when the radiant point is above the horizon and bear in mind that the higher the radiant point gets in the night sky, the greater the number of meteors you should see.

It’s all because our eyes contain two types of photoreceptors (cones and rods) and how they work in the dark compared to how they work in daylight.
 
Each retina has about 6 to 7 million cones and they provide the eye with the ability to distinguish colour. However, these cones only work effectively when it is light. On the other hand, there are about 120 million rods. These are far more effective at helping us to see in low light and near dark conditions, but they cannot distinguish colour.
 
So, as it gets dark and the cones stop working, our eyes move from enabling us to see in full colour to only seeing in black and white. This means that anything we look at in the dark, including the Northern Lights, will only be seen in black, white and shades of grey.
 
However, the sensors that you find in digital cameras do not suffer from this limitation and are extremely effective at picking up both light and colour in the dark. They can easily pick up the greens, reds, blues and purples that are present in the aurora, meaning that the colours you see in digitally taken images of the aurora are not a result of any photo editing but are, in fact, real.
 
The auroral colours are a result of collisions between gaseous particles in the Earth's atmosphere and charged particles released from the Sun's atmosphere. The colours present in the aurora depend on the type of gas particles the charged solar particles collide with. Green is the most common because most solar particles collide with our atmosphere at an altitude of around 60 to 150 miles, where there are high concentrations of oxygen and these collisions with oxygen produce a pale yellowish-green colour.
 
Blue and purple can also be present, but far less frequently than green because they only appear when solar activity is strong enough to cause particle collisions in our atmosphere at an altitude of 60 miles or less. At these heights, it is a reaction with nitrogen that causes the aurora to be tinged with purple or blue.
 
On rare occasions, red can be present in the aurora, but only when the Sun’s activity causes solar particles to react with oxygen at altitudes above 150 miles or so. At this height the oxygen is less concentrated and is “excited” at a higher frequency or wavelength than the denser oxygen lower down in the atmosphere and so produces a purely red aurora.
 
To give you an idea of the difference between what we can see and what the camera sees, I’ve prepared two versions of another image taken that night, but at Castle Tioram rather than Loch Shiel. These two versions are below, with the one on the left showing what the camera saw and the one on the right showing what I saw when I was taking the photograph. 

Don’t despair though, as but there is a way you can experience the colours for yourself. Many modern phone cameras have a “Night Mode” setting that allows you to take bright, sharp and noise-free photos, even in the darkness of the night. So, the next time you hear of the aurora happening, head to a place with a clear view of the northern horizon, put you phone camera in “Night Mode” and use it to help you see the colours of the ‘Na Fir-chlis’.

This month, the sun sets around 6:30 pm and the stars and the constellations start to become visible from about 8:30 pm onwards. If you look south, you will still see the winter constellations of Orion, Taurus, Auriga and Gemini that I described in on my “Exploring Our Night Sky: February 2022” blog at the start of last month. Bear in mind that they will have moved a little bit to the west. Also, you will now be able to see some of the spring constellations coming into view, with the most significant of these being Leo (The Lion), which will be high up in the south-east sky.

Looking North, the thing to bear in mind is that the constellations you see do not change from month to month, it is only their orientation that changes. You can find the seven stars of the Plough up in the north-east and you can use its two right-hand stars to find the Pole Star, Polaris, which is always in the same position in the sky. Just follow the line between them for about five times its length and you’ll arrive at it.

Once you’ve found Polaris, you can use it to get your bearings on any night but bear in mind that all the northern constellations rotate around it in an anticlockwise direction and therefore change their position. It is also worth noting that Polaris is not that bright, with it being about the same brightness as the stars of the Plough. Its significance comes from it being directly above our North Pole. It’s just by chance that this millennium it happens to be very close to the pole of the northern sky, but there is a slow movement of the sky over the centuries that shifts the position of the stars, and 1000 years ago it wasn’t as close as it is now.
 
The constellation of Auriga (the Charioteer) was pretty much overhead last month and is now starting to sink down towards the western horizon but it’s still high up. It’s in the shape of a pentagon, with Capella, one of the brightest stars in the sky, at its northern tip. Next to Capella is a triangle of three stars which, though much fainter, makes the whole constellation very recognisable. Below Auriga is the constellation of Perseus who, in Greek mythology, beheaded the Gorgon Medusa for Polydectes and saved Andromeda from the sea monster Cetus. Also, below Perseus, you may be able to pick out the W-shape of the constellation of Cassiopeia, so named after the vain queen Cassiopeia in Greek mythology, who boasted about her unrivalled beauty. 

This month’s full Moon is on 18 March, becoming 100% full at 7:17 am. This means that it will appear full on the nights of 16-17 March, 17-18 March, and 18-19 March. It will rise in the east at about 4:00 pm on the 16 March, at about 5:30 pm on the 17 March and at about 7:00 pm on 18 March. It is referred to as the Worm Moon because of the earthworms that come out at the end of winter. It is also known as the Crow Moon, Crust Moon, Sap Moon, Sugar Moon, and Chaste Moon. The Old English/Anglo-Saxon name is Lenten Moon.
 
On the night of 15-16 March, then moon will spend the night traversing the sky close to Regulus, the brightest star in the zodiacal constellation of Taurus, while on the night of 19-20 March, it be close to Spica, the brightest star in the zodiacal constellation Virgo.
 
The last quarter Moon is on 25 March and on 28 March and you will see it rising in the south-east at about 7:00 am with Venus, Saturn, and Mars above it.

This month there are no bright planets in the night sky, with the exception of Uranus which, at a magnitude of +5.8 will be very difficult to see.
 
If you do want to see some planets, you will either need to stay awake for most of the night or get up early and watch Venus rising in the south-east at around 4:30 am. It is shining very bright this month, at a magnitude of -4.4 and reaches its maximum separation from the Sun on 20 March. If you look at it through a telescope, you should be able to see it as a thick crescent which broadens as the month progresses. It reaches dichotomy on 21 March when it is exactly half illuminated.
 
Mars spends the month below and to the right of Venus, rising at around 5:00 am and will be over 100 times fainter at a magnitude of +1.1. Saturn rises about half an hour later and will be in-between Venus and Mars.
 
Jupiter, Neptune and Mercury are lost in the Sun’s glare this month.

We are now in a quiet period for meteor showers, until the Lyrid meteor becomes active on 16 April. It will peak on the night of 21-22 April and the best time to look for them will be between sunset and when the moon rises at about 3:30 am.

The Zodiac is an 8° wide band that straddles the ecliptic, the invisible path that the Sun traces as it moves around the sky and is the region of the sky where we can find the Sun, Moon and planets (except for Pluto). It is only 8° wide because most of the planets have orbits that are only slightly inclined to that of the Earth. The exception is Pluto, whose orbital inclination of 17° takes it out of the zodiac during part of its orbit.
 
At this time of year, the Zodiac rises steeply from the horizon at dusk, meaning now is great for looking out for and observing one of the night sky’s most elusive phenomena: Zodiacal Light. It is fainter than the Milky Way, so the darker your sky, the better your chances of seeing it. Go to a location with little or no night pollution, on a night when the moon is out of the sky and look for it in the west in the hour or two after sunset. If you are lucky, you may spot a faint pyramid of light rising from the horizon.
 
This ghostly glow is caused by light from the sun, which will be well below the horizon at that time, reflecting off a fog of tiny interplanetary dust particles that fill our inner Solar System. It’s so difficult to see and many astronomers have never witnessed it, however, I was lucky enough to spot and photograph it at Sailean nan Cuileag around this time last year and I’ve used the resulting image as the header photo for this blog. The conditions for spotting it are good for the next 2-3 months, so do keep an eye out for it.

​I spent much of my childhood outdoors exploring the rolling Scottish Borders countryside and have many fond memories of the adventures that this entailed. Back then, I’m sure I never gave much thought to the benefits of time outdoors and it wasn’t until I moved to Glasgow for work that I started to appreciate how differently I felt when I was in the countryside. Day trips for a walk in the hills became a welcome relief from both the pace of city centre living and the pressures of my work. A camera always accompanied me and, as the years passed, photography became a bigger and bigger part of the experience, acting as my “mind medicine”, encouraging me to slow down, look carefully and really appreciate my surroundings.
 
Studies by researchers at Lancaster University into the effects of photography on mental wellbeing back this up.  They found that the act of finding a subject, trying different compositions and changing positions to alter the light requires such focus that it can be a meditative task, or an act of mindfulness that allows you to focus not on your outside concerns, but solely on the moment and the task at hand. I find this with landscape photography because it requires a great deal of patience to sit on a hillside, having framed a composition and wait for the right light and the perfect moment to press the shutter button. During this time, nothing else is on my mind and I feel completely detached from any stresses and pressures that life might hold.
 
Photography can also provide an artistic outlet, which many people may not have through any other means, and other studies have found that immersing yourself in a creative activity elevates mood while lowering both anxiety and stress hormone levels. Additionally, there are the general physical benefits of going for a walk with a camera, with the desire to capture images translating into the motivation to get outdoors at times when you would otherwise remain at home.
 
Finally, please do not think that landscape photography is limited to people with lots of expensive equipment. You will probably have a perfectly capable camera in your pocket because the quality of smartphone cameras nowadays allows almost anyone to capture some good images. So why don’t you get out into the beautiful landscape that surrounds us here on the Peninsula and try it out. With the sun still low enough in the sky to give us some lovely light, it is the perfect time of year to start. Get out there, take some pictures and feel all the better for it.

​This month, the sun sets around 5:20 pm and the stars and the constellations start to become visible from about 7:20 pm onwards. In addition, the night sky for this month is very similar to last month’s with Orion (the Hunter) Taurus (the Bull) and Auriga (the Charioteer) filling much of it. As darkness falls, the most obvious constellation you’ll see is Orion, which can easily be found by spotting the line of three bright stars (Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka) that make up Orion’s Belt. You’ll see it appear not long after dark if you look in the sky to the south along with the quadrilateral of other stars that surround it to make up Orion’s torso and legs. His shoulders are formed by Bellatrix to the right and the far brighter, blood-red Betelgeuse to the left. The slightly brighter, blue-white Rigel is Orion’s right foot, while the fainter Saiph is his left foot.
 
If you follow the line from the three stars of Orion’s belt upwards, you will find Taurus (the Bull). It appears to be charging at Orion, staring him down with a bright red eye, which is the giant red star Aldebaran. Continue to follow this line beyond the Bull’s eye and you will come to The Pleiades, or the Seven Sisters, which is a cluster of young stars that glow blue. In Greek mythology, the Pleiades were the seven daughters of the titan Atlas and the sea-nymph Pleione. Merope, the youngest of the seven daughters, was wooed by Orion.
 
You will find Auriga (the Charioteer) directly above Orion. Its brightest star is Capella, which is at the top of a great pentagon of stars that make up the Charioteer’s pointed helmet. At this time of the year, Capella is almost overhead and there is a little group of three fainter stars just to one side of it. There are four other stars in the big pentagon making up the rest of the constellation.

Orion’s other dog, Canis Minor or the Lesser Dog, can be found directly to his left and its main star is Procyon, the 8th brightest star in the sky. Above Procyon are two stars, Castor and Pollux, which mark the heads of the Twins, Gemini. The bodies of the Twins are the two lines of stars which extend towards Orion.
 
Another thing you can see in the southern sky is the Winter Circle, a pattern of stars that is not a constellation. It’s made up of a lot of separate stars, in different constellations, so it’s what is called an asterism. It doesn’t form a perfect circle, but instead a hexagon that you can find if you start at Capella and move clockwise to Aldebaran, Rigel, Sirius, Procyon, Pollux, and Castor. In addition to the Winter Circle, Orion’s bright star Betelgeuse forms an equilateral triangle with the stars Sirius and Procyon. This what is called the Winter Triangle.

If you go back to Orion’s belt and look carefully about halfway down between it and the two stars that mark the Hunter’s left and right feet, you should be able to see a bright patch. This is the Orion Nebula, one of the brightest nebulae, or clouds of gas from which stars are born in the sky. One of many in our Milky Way galaxy, it lies roughly 1,300 light-years from Earth and is some 30 to 40 light-years in diameter. Look at it with binoculars or a telescope and you should see swirls of gas, though the darker and clearer the sky you have, the better. In it, you should also be able to pick out The Trapezium Cluster, which is made up of four bright stars that are only a million or so years old, babies on the scale of star lifetimes.

​Looking north, the thing to bear in mind is that the constellations you see do not change from month to month, it is only their orientation that changes. Look for the seven stars of the Plough, up in the north-east, and the W-shape of Cassiopeia, high up in the north-west at this time of year.  The Plough is known as the Big Dipper in North America. Use its two right-hand stars to point towards the Pole Star, Polaris, which is always in the same position in the sky. Once you’ve found it, you can use it to get your bearings on any night, though all the other northern constellations wheel around it anticlockwise.
 
Polaris is a second-magnitude star, which is about the same as the stars in the Plough or Cassiopeia, so don’t expect anything particularly bright. It’s just by chance that this millennium it happens to be very close to the pole of the sky, but there is a slow movement of the sky over the centuries that shifts the position of the stars, and 1000 years ago it wasn’t as close as it is now.
 
As Capella is pretty much overhead you will also see it when you are looking north. It is the sixth-brightest star in the night sky, and the third-brightest in the northern celestial hemisphere after Arcturus and Vega. You’ll find Arcturus over in the North-East. It is the brightest star in the constellation of Boötes (the Herdsman), the fourth-brightest in the night sky, and the brightest in the northern celestial hemisphere. You’ll find Vega low down on the northern horizon. It is the brightest star on the constellation of Lyra (the Lyre), the fifth-brightest in the night sky, and the second-brightest in the northern celestial hemisphere.

The first quarter Moon (a half moon) is on 8 February and will high up in the southern sky as darkness falls, while this month’s full Moon is on 16 February, becoming 100% full at 4:56 pm. This means that it will appear full on the nights of 15-16 February, 16-17 February, and 17-18 February. It will rise in the north-east just before 4:00 pm on the 15 February, at about 5:00 pm on the 16 February and at about 6:30 pm on 17 February.

On the night of 20-21 February, the Moon will spend the night traversing the sky close to Spica, the brightest star in the zodiacal constellation Virgo. 
 
The last quarter Moon is on 23 February and on 26 February, you will see it rising in the south-east at about 6:30 am, with Mars and Venus to the left of it.
 
This month’s full Moon is called the Snow Moon after the snowy weather typically found in North America in February. Some North American tribes named it the Hunger Moon due to the scarce food sources during mid-winter, while other names are Storm Moon and Chaste Moon, but the last name is more common for the March Full Moon.

​Jupiter hangs low in the south-west for around an hour after sunset before it drops below that horizon at about 6:30 pm. This gas giant is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest our Solar System and if you look at it through binoculars or a telescope, you should be able to see its four bright moons.
 
Once Jupiter has set, the only two planets on view for most of the night are Neptune and Uranus, the two faint outermost worlds in our solar system. If you look in the two hours after sunset, you may be able to spot Neptune low down in the south-west before it sets at about 7:30 pm. Meanwhile, you will find Uranus between the constellations of Taurus and Aries, quite high up in the south-west sky.
 
If you want to see more planets, you will need to look in the pre-dawn sky. Venus rises in the south-east from about 5:30 am and at a magnitude of -4.6, it will far outshine any star. Mars rises in the south-east about an hour later and you will find it pretty much below Venus, but it will be considerably fainter at a magnitude of +1.3.

​We are now in a quiet period for meteor showers, until the Lyrid meteor becomes active on 16 April. It will peak on the night of 21-22 April and the best time to look for them will be between sunset and when the moon rises at about 3:30 am.

​The reality is that you don’t need to buy lots of expensive equipment to capture your first images of the night sky. Any modern DSLR or mirrorless camera fitted with a wide-angle lens and mounted on a tripod will allow you to capture some lovely images of the night sky. So, if you have a full-frame sensor camera and a wide-angle lens with a focal length of about 30mm or less, you will be able to make a start at photographing the stars. Alternatively, if you have a 1.5x cropped sensor camera, a lens with a focal length of about 20mm or less will work fine. Ideally, these lenses should be able to open up to a wide aperture of f2.8 but if yours don’t, just give them a try at their widest setting and see how you get on. If you’re not happy with the results, you can always rent a lens for a little while to see if it is something you’re keen to get into, before deciding to buy a lens specifically for your night photography.

You are now all set up but please be patient and wait for it to get sufficiently dark for the stars to show in your photo. This will usually be about 1½ hours after sunset. Once you think it is dark enough, select your camera’s 2 second timer and use it to avoid you pressing the shutter button during the camera exposure and causing any movement that might blur the image. Simply press the shutter button with the two second timer switched on, wait for the exposure to complete and then check the photo you have just taken. If you find it is under or over exposed, adjust your ISO accordingly, but avoid an ISO that is so high that it makes your photo’s noisy and grainy.

​When you have got a shot you are happy with, feel free to change the tripod location and camera position to capture a different composition, but avoid changing your aperture of focal length (dials previously taped to prevent accidental movement) as this will put your camera out of focus. Also, because It will most likely be completely dark by now, you might be best to use a torch to light your field of view while framing the new composition.

This month, the sun sets around 4:15 pm and the stars and the constellations start to become visible from about 6:15 pm onwards. As darkness falls, the most obvious constellation you’ll see is Orion (The Hunter), with its three bright stars in a line, surrounded by a quadrilateral of other stars. You see it rising in the east not long after dark and by 10:00 pm it will be up there in the centre of the southern sky. As it is the brightest constellation in the sky, you’ll be able to see it even when there is a bright moon or some light pollution.

If you follow the line of Orion’s belt heading left and slightly down, you will find Sirius. It is in Canis Major, the Greater Dog. It is the brightest star in the night sky and appears very low down at our northern latitude. This can cause it to twinkle quite strongly, especially on a clear frosty night.
 
Canis Major is just one of Orion’s dogs. The other, Canis Minor or the Lesser Dog, can be found directly to his left and its main star is Procyon, the 8th brightest star in the sky. Above Procyon are two stars, Castor and Pollux, which mark the heads of the Twins, Gemini. The bodies of the Twins are the two lines of stars which extend towards Orion.
 
Another thing you can see in the southern sky is the Winter Circle, a pattern of stars that is not a constellation. It’s made up of a lot of separate stars, in different constellations, so it’s what is called an asterism. It doesn’t form a perfect circle, but instead a hexagon that you can find if you start at Capella and move clockwise to Aldebaran, Rigel, Sirius, Procyon, Pollux, and Castor. In addition to the Winter Circle, Orion’s bright star Betelgeuse forms an equilateral triangle with the stars Sirius and Procyon. This what is called the Winter Triangle.

If you go back to Orion’s belt and look carefully about halfway down between it and the two stars that mark the Hunter’s left and right feet, you should be able to see a bright patch. This is the Orion Nebula, one of the brightest nebulae, or clouds of gas from which stars are born in the sky. One of many in our Milky Way galaxy, it lies roughly 1,300 light-years from Earth and is some 30 to 40 light-years in diameter. Look at it with binoculars or a telescope and you should see swirls of gas, though the darker and clearer the sky you have, the better. In it, you should also be able to pick out The Trapezium Cluster, which is made up of four bright stars that are only a million or so years old, babies on the scale of star lifetimes.
 
Looking North, the thing to bear in mind is that the constellations you see do not change from month to month, it is only their orientation that changes. Look for the seven stars of the Plough, up in the north-east, and the W-shape of Cassiopeia, high up in the north-west at this time of year.  The Plough is known as the Big Dipper in North America. Use its two right-hand stars to point towards the Pole Star, Polaris, which is always in the same position in the sky. Once you’ve found it, you can use it to get your bearings on any night, though all the other northern constellations wheel around it anticlockwise.
 
Polaris is a second-magnitude star, about the same as the stars in the Plough or Cassiopeia, so don’t expect anything particularly bright. It’s just by chance that this millennium it happens to be very close to the pole of the sky, but there is a slow movement of the sky over the centuries that shifts the position of the stars, and 1000 years ago it wasn’t as close as it is now.

The first quarter Moon (a half moon) is on 9 January and will be over in the south-east as darkness falls, while this month’s full Moon is on 17 January, becoming 100% full at just after 11:48 pm. This means that it will appear full on the nights of 16-17 January, 17-18 January, and 18-19 January. It will rise in the north-east just after 3:30 pm on the 17 January, just after 2:30 pm on the 16 January and just after 4:30 pm on 18 January. On the night of 17-18 January, the full Moon will spend the night traversing the sky close the twins of Gemini, which you can find by spotting the constellation’s brightest stars, Castor and Pollux almost above it. Then on the nights of the 19-20 January and 21-22 January, you will find the Moon close to Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation of Leo.

The last quarter Moon is on 25 January and on 29 January, you will see it rising in the south-east at about 7:30 am, with Mars and Venus above and to the left of it.
 
This month’s full Moon is called the Wolf Moon, after the howling of hungry wolves lamenting the scarcity of food in midwinter. Other names include the Moon After Yule, Old Moon, Ice Moon, and Snow Moon.

​If you watch the sky in the south-west during the first few days of the New Year, you will see Venus (the Evening Star), very low down just after sunset. It will eventually disappear from the night sky when it passes between the Earth and the Sun on 9 January but will reappear over in the south-east at daybreak from about 15 January to become the Morning Star.
 
Mercury lies to the left of Venus at the start of the month, remaining low in the evening sky for almost two weeks. It reaches its greatest separation from the Sun on 7 January, setting just before 6:00 pm. It will remain visible until 12 January before disappearing into the glow of the sun in the days after that.
 
Jupiter will be above and to the left of these two planets, with Saturn in between. This gas giant, which is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest our Solar System, will set at around 8:00 pm and if you look at it through binoculars or a telescope you should be able to see its four bright moons. Saturn is the other gas giant, the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in our Solar System. It will set at about 6:00 pm at the start of the month before disappearing from view in the dusk twilight during the second half of the month.
 
Go up and left again and you will find Neptune a little bit above the constellation of Aquarius. It will be above the horizon until about 9:30 pm, but it will be very dim and therefore difficult to see, even with binoculars or a telescope. Its near twin in size, Uranus, will be a little bit brighter and can be found above the horizon until about 2:00 am, over to the east about halfway between the constellations of Pisces and Taurus.
 
Finally, following on from last month, Mars continues to make its reappearance and you will find it low in the morning twilight as it rises in the south-east at around 6:00 am. It starts the month near Antares and at the end of the month, the Red Planet will lie to below and to the right of Venus in the morning sky, albeit 250 times fainter and therefore more difficult to see.

The Quadrantid meteor shower, always the year’s first meteor shower, will peak on the night of 3-4 January and with this being very close to the new Moon of 2 January, there will be little or no moonlight to spoil the show. So, if we do get a clear night on 3-4 January and you do decide to look for meteors, start looking just before 9:00 pm on 3 January as this is when the shower is expected to reach peak activity.
 
At its peak, the shower is expected to produce around 120 meteors per hour. However, this is a theoretical maximum so, in practice, the number of meteors you are likely to see will be lower than this but given there will be little or no moonlight this year, you can realistically expect to see up to 100 meteors per hour at the peak.
 
However, the best time to look will be just before dawn on 4 January as this is when the meteor shower’s radiant point is at its highest point in the sky. You’ll find it in the north sky, directly below The Plough, but do bear in mind that you don’t have to look north as the meteors will appear across all the sky. 

​This image above was taken a couple of days after the full moon of January 2018 and shows Eilean Tioram still cut off from the mainland despite the time being a few hours since the last high tide. In fact, the high tide on that day, at over 5 metres high, was good quarter of a metre higher than what is typical for a spring tide on Loch Moidart and because this extra-high tide was only a few days after a supermoon, it was what some people call a king tide.
 
So, what is a supermoon and why does it create an extra-large spring tide, or king tide?
 
Well, the Moon doesn’t orbit around the Earth in a perfect circle. Instead, it has an elliptical orbit, where its centre-to-centre distance from the Earth varies throughout the month, with its closest point to Earth on this ellipse in any given month being called the perigee. When any full Moon or new Moon comes within 90% of the perigee, or within 224,791 miles (or less) of our planet, it is called a supermoon. On these occasions a full Moon will look bigger and brighter than normal and both a full and new Moon will exert a greater gravitational pull on the Earth than normal. This greater gravitational pull means that, just as a full moon gives us spring tides, a supermoon will give us extra-high spring tides, or king tides.
 
Most of the time these king tides don’t cause too much of a problem, but shortly before this photo was taken in 2018, the supermoon of January 1-2 was closely aligned with the perigee and created especially high king tides. On the day after, Storm Eleanor hit the UK with winds of up to 100 mph (160 km/h). These high winds, combined with the extra-high tides, caused coastal flooding, hampered travel, led to loss of life and injury and left tens of thousands of homes across the UK without power.
 
Should we expect this to happen again? Well perhaps not for the remainder of this year and the whole of next year because the predicted heights of the king tides during the UK’s storm season months (typically October to February) is lower than that of January 2018. However, in 2023 and 2024, the predicted height of the king tides are at or above those of January 2018 which, if combined with the high winds of a named storm, could lead to coastal flooding of the same level as that experienced during Storm Eleanor.

​This month, the sun sets around 4:00 pm and the stars and the constellations start to become visible from about 6:00 pm onwards. As with November, there is a great signpost, in the form of the Square of Pegasus, to help you find your way around the sky. It is a huge square made up of four stars of nearly equal brightness: Scheat, Alpheratz, Markab and Algenib and, in the early evening, you should be able to see it high up in the south, above and to the left of Jupiter, which will be sitting in the south-west.

​The top left star of the Square is Alpheratz. It is the brightest star in the constellation of Andromeda, which is marked by a line of three more stars running up and to the left of it. You can use this line to find the Andromeda Galaxy, one of the most famous features of the night sky and the nearest spiral galaxy to our own, the Milky Way. The best way to find it is to start Alpheratz and go a further two stars along the line, turn right and count another two faint stars along, and the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) will be close to the second faint star. If you are in a town, you’ll probably need a pair of binoculars to spot it, but if you’re in a dark place out in the country, you should be able to pick it out without using binoculars. ​

​There will be more about Taurus and Orion next month, but for the moment, draw a line using the three stars in Orion's belt and follow it through Aldebaran and you’ll find the Pleiades star cluster (M45) a bit beyond it. This cluster is the brightest open constellation we can see in the night sky and is a grouping of stars, seven of which are visible to the naked eye, but the entire constellation has more than 1,400 stars. The name comes from the early Greeks who referred to the constellation as the Pleiades, or the Seven Sisters, who were daughters of Atlas and Pleione. These stars are mentioned three times in the Bible and are linked to origin stories for many American Indian tribes.

If you look north, you’ll see the same stars as you would in any other month, but their orientation varies from month to month. In December the familiar Plough asterism, which many people recognise, is moving from the north to the north-east. If you follow its two right-hand stars upward, veer a little bit to the right and you’ll find Polaris, the Pole Star. If you look high up over to the north-east, you can see Castor and Pollux, the two brightest stars in the Constellation of Gemini (the Twins), which represent the heads of The Twins. Meanwhile, low down in the North-West, you will find Vega, the brightest star in the Constellation of Lyra (the Lyre). It is the fifth-brightest star in the night sky, and the second-brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere after Arcturus.

At the very start of the month, we are close to a new Moon (no Moon) as this occurs on 4 December and if it’s clear a couple of nights later, on 6 December, you will find the slightest of crescent Moons below and to the right of a bright shining Venus as it sets in the south-west at around 5:30 pm. On the following evening of 7 December, the crescent moon will to the left of Venus and will set about an hour later at around 6:30 pm. At sundown on 8 December the moon will be found directly south, hanging in-between Venus and Jupiter, while on 9 December, it will have moved to the left of Jupiter.

​On 20 December, the moon will be 98.5% full and will rise a little further to the north at just after 4:30 pm to spend the night traversing the sky between the twins of Gemini, which you can find by spotting the constellation’s brightest stars, Castor and Pollux above and to the left of it. Three nights later, on 23 December, you will find the moon close to Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation of Leo.
 
The first quarter moon is on 27 December and on 28 December, you will see it lying very close Spica once it has risen at just after 1:30 am.
 
This month’s full Moon is called the Cold Moon because December is the first month of winter. Its Old English/Anglo-Saxon name is the Moon Before Yule, while another name is Wolf Moon, however, this is more commonly used for January’s Full Moon.

If you watch the sky in the south-west this month as darkness falls, you will see a diagonal line of three bright planets. Venus will be to the right, Saturn in the middle and Jupiter to the left. As first half of the month progresses, you will notice Venus moving closer to the other two, but just after half-way through the month it will change direction and move back the other way, heading right and downwards.
 
Venus will get brighter and brighter until 7 December, the day on which it reaches its brightest during its appearance in our 2021 evening sky. It will then begin to fade and if you look at it through a telescope, you will be able to see Venus shrink dramatically to a narrow crescent as the month passes. At the start of the month, it sets at 6:30 pm and by the end of the month it drops below the horizon at 5:20 pm. If you do look for it towards the end of the month, you may be able to see Mercury sitting beneath it and moving from its right to its left as each night passes.
 
Above and to the left of Venus, you will find Saturn, a gas giant that is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in our Solar System. Then, if you look further left and up a little, you will see Jupiter, another gas giant that is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest our Solar System. Saturn sets in the south-west at around 7:30 pm and Jupiter sets at about 9:30 pm. If you use binoculars or a telescope you will be able to see Jupiter’s four bright moons and Saturn’s rings.
 
Go up and left again and you will find Neptune a little bit above the constellation of Aquarius. It will be above the horizon until about 11:30 pm, but it will be very dim and therefore difficult to see, even with binoculars or a telescope. Its near twin in size, Uranus, will be a little bit brighter and can be found above the horizon until about 4:30 am, over to the east about halfway between the constellations of Aries and Taurus.
 
Finally, Mars begins to make an appearance this month and you will find it low in the morning twilight as it rises in the south-east at around 7:00 am.

December is the month for viewing the shooting stars of the Geminids Meteor Shower, which unusually are not debris from a comet, but rather debris from an asteroid called Phaethon. The Geminids have become more plentiful in recent years and are considered by many to be the best meteor shower of the year. They are active from 4-17 December and during their peak, which this year is on the night of 13-14 December, it can be possible to see around 120 meteors per hour.
 
Their radiant point is in the Constellation of Gemini (The Twins) and this year it is close to one of its two bright stars, Castor, over in the north-east sky. Although this is where they originate from, you’ll be able to see them at any point across the sky while they burn up in the upper atmosphere, some 60 miles (100 km) above Earth’s surface.
 
They become visible when the radiant point is high up in the sky and it will get there by about 10:00 pm, so begin looking for them from then. However, the best time is normally at about 2:00 am, when the radiant point is at its highest in the sky, but this year, a waxing gibbous moon will be in the sky until about 3:30 am and will drown out the fainter meteors. It will therefore be best to wait until after the moon has set and look for them in the 2-3 hours of complete darkness between then and before sunrise on the morning of 14 December.

​This year, the Winter Solstice will occur on 21 December at 3:59 pm am and is the exact moment when the northern hemisphere is tilted furthest away from the Sun. However, many people refer to the Winter Solstice as the Shortest Day of the year, when the number of hours of daylight are at their minimum and the number of hours of night are at their maximum. On 21 December this year, our sunrise will be 8:55 am and our sunset will be 3:47 pm, giving us 6 hours and 52 minutes of daylight.

​Scientific researchers have found that the peak sunset season is from November through to February and that this is down to a combination three things. These are the type and quantity of the cloud cover, cooler air temperatures and how the Earth is tilted towards the sun at this time of the year.
 
Contrary to what you might think, we need clouds for a good sunset and they have to be the right kind of clouds. If they are too low down on the horizon, they will block out the Sun’s rays and prevent a sunset. Instead, we need mid to high level clouds that will refract the sunlight and give us those beautiful sunset colours. This happens more in autumn and winter because the weather patterns we get then tend to bring mid and high-level altocumulus, altostratus and cirrus clouds.

​The cooler temperatures mean that the air is less humid and that there is less water vapour to capture dust particles that are in the air and create the haze which is often a feature of the summer months. When present, this haze scatters sunlight and reduces its intensity. So, in autumn and winter, the lower humidity means that the air is clearer and we see the colours produced by the setting sun in all their intensity.
 
Finally, as we approach the winter solstice, the North Pole gets tilted further away from the sun, lengthening the time taken for the sun to set. This, in turn, means that the sunset colours last longer than at the equinoxes, for example, when the sun sinks very quickly towards the horizon at a 90-degree angle. The result is that we have more time to enjoy the sunset colours and the sunset colours have more time to make an impact on us.

​Despite all of these variables, predicting sunsets doesn’t have to be hard. All you need to do is keep an eye out for the following key indicators:
 
Mid to high-level clouds (2km and above)
Cloud coverage - 30 to 70 percent
Humidity - low but not too low
Clean air
Prior rainfall - no less than 2 to 6 hours before
Wind speed - low or non-existent
 
There are many online forecasts for these weather conditions and the one I refer to most is windy.com. So why don’t you have a go at predicting a sunset and head west at what you think might be a good time. You never know, you may be well rewarded for your efforts!

Following the clock change at end of October, the sun now sets at around 4:00 pm, meaning that the stars and constellations start to become visible from about 17:30 pm onwards. During the previous three months we have been watching the Milky Way get lower and lower in the southern night sky and you may have noticed the constellations in the south getting dimmer. This is because the position of the Earth is now such that we are looking out of the plane of our galaxy and into the rest of the universe. However, the Milky Way has not gone altogether, and you can see it over in the west along with the Summer Triangle of the three bright stars of Vega, Altair and Deneb, which we have been using to navigate our way around the night sky in previous months.

​The constellation of Pegasus represents the Flying Horse of Greek mythology and the Square marks the horse’s body. You may find it difficult to make out the horse because it is upside down and the constellation represents only the top half of its body and its head. However, you may be able to pick out Enif, the constellation’s brightest star which is below and to the right of the Square and Altair. Enif is an orange supergiant star that is 5,000 times brighter than the Sun and it represents the horse’s nose.

If you follow the diagonal down from the top left of the Square to beyond its bottom right star, you’ll come to a faint group of stars known as the Water Jar of Aquarius. It is an asterism formed by four relatively bright stars in the constellation of Aquarius (the Water-Carrier). It is easily recognised by its arrow shape, which looks a bit like a fighter plane with swept wings.  Though it’s not the brightest part of Aquarius, it’s a good pattern that helps you to find its other stars.

From the top left edge of the Square stretches a line of stars in the constellation of Andromeda, which is named after Andromeda, daughter of Cassiopeia, in the Greek myth, who was chained to a rock to be eaten by the sea monster Cetus. It is the home of the Andromeda Galaxy which, at approximately 2.5 million light-years from Earth, is the nearest spiral galaxy to our own galaxy, the Milky Way. It is also the most distant object that you are likely to see without an optical aid but if you can’t find it with the naked eye, then use binoculars through and look for a little oval blur.
 
Below Andromeda and to the left of Pegasus is where you will find the constellation of Pisces (the Fishes). It is very faint and difficult to see, so the best way to find it is to look directly below the Square of Pegasus for the Circlet of Pisces, which is a pentagonal asterism of 5 stars that marks the head of the Western Fish. Once you’ve found the it, go on from there to catch the Eastern Fish that’s jumping upward to the east of the Square of Pegasus. The entire constellation looks like the letter V.
 
Below Pisces is the constellation of Cetus, the Sea Monster which in Greek mythology both Perseus and Heracles needed to slay. You’ll find its tail marked by a fairly bright star called Diphda located low down in the sky, almost directly below the left-hand edge of the Square of Pegasus, while further over to the left and up a little, you’ll find Menkar, a reasonably bright star that marks its head.
 
You may have noticed that all the constellations in this part of the sky have watery connections. It is said that this is because the Sun travelled through these constellations during the wet season in ancient Mesopotamia, which was from November to March, and flooding was a major problem. Many of our constellations date from that location and time.
 
Finally, to the east of the Square is Aries, the Ram, whose three main stars form an easily recognised triangle, and another more regular triangle, actually called Tringulum, the Triangle, which contains the nearby galaxy M33. This will be visible with binoculars if you have a reasonably dark sky.
 
If you look north, you’ll see the same stars as you would in any other month, except that their orientation varies. This month the familiar Plough asterism, which many people will recognise, is low down in the north at the moment with its rectangular end almost directly below Polaris, the Pole Star. If you look over to the north-east you can see Capella. It is a yellow giant star, the brightest star in the constellation of Auriga (the Charioteer), the sixth-brightest star in the night sky, and the third-brightest in the northern celestial hemisphere after Arcturus and Vega.

At the very start of the month, we are close to a new Moon (no Moon) as this occurs on 4 November and if it’s clear a couple of nights later, on 6 November, you will find the slightest of crescent Moons setting in the south west at around 4:30 pm. However, it may be difficult to see the Moon on that evening as it will be lying close to where the sun has set. You'll probably find it easier to see it on the following evenings of 7 November and 8 November as it will have moved slightly to the left and will be sitting further from the sun. It will also be next to a bright shining Venus on these two evenings.

​The first quarter Moon (a half moon) is on 11 November, and it will be sitting beneath Jupiter, low down on the southern horizon.

There is a partial eclipse of the Moon on 19 November, but it takes place just before sunrise, when the Moon will be low down in the north-west. This means that will need to be quite far west and north in the UK to see anything of it. If you are, then you may see the dark part of the Earth’s shadow starting to move onto the Moon at 7:18 am.
 
This month’s full Moon is called the Beaver Moon and there is disagreement over the origin this name. Some say it comes from Native Americans setting beaver traps during this month, while others say the name comes from the heavy activity of beavers building their winter dams. It is also known as the Frosty Moon, and along with the December Full Moon some called it the Oak Moon. Traditionally, if the Beaver Moon is the last Full Moon before the winter solstice, it is also called the Mourning Moon.

When it is getting dark, you may be able to spot Venus hanging low down on the western horizon just before it sets at around 5:30pm. It is shining brightly because it reached Elongation, its furthest point from the Sun, on 29 October and will take a few weeks to move away and become less bright as it does so.
 
Well to the left of Venus, in the south, you will find Jupiter, a gas giant that is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest our Solar System. It is the second brightest planet in our night sky at the moment and to the right of it is a fainter Saturn. Saturn, another gas giant, is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in our Solar System. Saturn sets in the south west at around 9:30 pm and Jupiter at about 11:00 pm. If you use binoculars or a telescope you will be able to see Jupiter’s four bright moons and Saturn’s rings.
 
Neptune will be above the horizon until about 1:30 am and you will find it to the left of Jupiter in Aquarius. However, it will be very dim and therefore difficult to see, even with binoculars or a telescope. Its near twin in size, Uranus, can be found above the horizon all night long, over to the east in Aries. It reaches opposition on 5 November, when it will be at its closest to Earth this year at 1,742 million miles away. Even so, it is only just visible to the naked eye and will be difficult to distinguish from the stars. It will be better to look for it with binoculars night after night and spot it moving against the background of stars.
 
Last month was the best month of the year to see Mercury because it reached its maximum separation (elongation) from the Sun on 25 October, so in the first part of this month you will still be able to see it in the south-east sky just before sunrise.
 
Mars is too close to the Sun to be visible this month.

​During the first part of the month there South or North Taurid meteor showers, which unlike other meteor showers, don’t have strong peaks but instead have “staying power” and produce a steady stream of meteors over a number of weeks. The South Taurids are active from about September 10 to November 20, while the North Taurids are active from about October 20 to December 10. They both produce a steady stream of about 5 meteors/hour and because they overlap up until the 20 November, you can expect to see up to 10 meteors/hour during the first 3 weeks of the month. However, the best time to look for them will be at the start of the month, a few days either side of the new Moon on 4 November when there will be little or no moonlight to drown them out.
 
We also have the Leonid meteor shower this month and it is known for periodic storms of historic proportions, when shooting stars fall like rain. While no storm is predicted for the 2021 Leonids, you can still catch plenty of meteors between 6 November and 30 November. The meteor shower peaks the morning of November 17 but unfortunately, this is two days before a full moon, meaning that the Moon will hang around for most the night, brightening the sky and washing out many of the meteors. However, as the Leonid meteors can appear in huge numbers, do keep an eye out for them from about 10:30 pm, which is when the radiant point rises above the horizon. You never know, you might spot some.

​By the middle of the month most of the numerous wooded areas around the Peninsula are normally at or near their “autumn peak”, having swapped canopies of green for tapestries of vibrant reds, golds and ambers. The image above was taken around this time in 2019, which was a particularly good year for the autumn colours, and it shows the trees around the Old Shiel Bridge at Blain in their full autumn splendour.
 
The Old Bridge was built by Thomas Telford in 1804. It spans a narrow chasm through which the waters of the River Shiel pass and seem to come to the boil before they expand in the House Pool, slow down and then run both still and deep. This single span bridge provides an interesting subject that can be photographed from many different angles. This, combined with how the smooth waters of the House Pool and the river downstream of it reflect the autumn colours, make it the perfect place to capture the splendour of the trees at this time of the year.

​I’ve visited the bridge a few times over the last week or so to find that the arrival of the autumn colours is not quite as advanced as it normally is. Indeed, I can’t help feeling it is a week or two behind and although there are now hints of golds in the landscape, I find my myself wondering if their late arrival means that there will be a poorer show this year.
 
So, what makes for a good show of autumn colours? Well, the answer lies in the fact that leaf colour comes from pigments, which are natural substances produced by the leaf cells to help them obtain food. There are three pigments: chlorophyll (green), carotenes (yellow) and anthocyanins (reds and pinks). It is the mix of them, as influenced by the weather, that determines depth of colour we get each year:
 

• Cold nights: low temperatures destroy chlorophyll so the green leaf fades to yellow, but if temperatures stay above freezing, anthocyanin production is enhanced and the leaves take on a red colour.
• Dry weather: the sugars become concentrated in the leaves, more anthocyanin is produced and consequently the leaves are redder.
• Bright sunny days: photosynthesis can still occur on sunny autumn days, using the remaining chlorophyll. Sugar concentration increases, then more anthocyanin is produced and the leaves are redder.

 
In addition to this, a warm dry 'Indian summer' is needed so that the leaves work for longer and therefore stay full of these pigments until the reducing hours of daylight and lower night temperatures trigger the colour change. So, if we’re to have another great show of autumn colours this year, let’s hope for some settled weather over the next couple of weeks, followed by some cold nights and dry, bright sunny days.

​This month, the sun sets around 6:30 pm and the stars and the constellations start to become visible from about 8:00 pm onwards. Even though we are now into Autumn, the Summer Triangle, which is made up of the three bright stars of Vega, Altair and Deneb, is still visible and can be used to navigate your way around the night sky. Start off by finding Vega, a really bright white star which will be high up in the sky to the South-West. Just face south, look up, then look right and you will find it. Next is Altair, which you will find below Vega, halfway down towards the horizon and slightly to the left. Finally, there is Deneb, which will be almost directly above Altair and above and to the left of Vega.

The Milky Way, which has dominated the night sky over the last couple of months can still be seen during the early part of the night. Just trace a line down from Deneb, through Altair and you should be able to make out its band of stars as it flows down to the horizon, with the last of its cloudy core visible and to the right of Saturn and Jupiter as they sit just above the horizon.

​At the moment there are not many bright stars in the lower part of the southern sky, so if you are in an area with light-pollution, look higher up and you should be able to pick out some constellations. Below Vega, you will see the 4 other main stars that make up the constellation of Lyra (the Lyre). These form a small parallelogram and make up the body of the Lyre – the sky’s only musical instrument.

​Finally, looking at Altair, you will find the constellation of Aquila (the Eagle) because Altair is its brightest star. Altair also has outstretched wings, though they are not as obvious at the wings of Cygnus. In between these two flying birds is the constellation of Sagitta (the Arrow), a dim but distinctive shape which is reasonably easy to pick out. Another small but easily seen constellation called Delphinus (the Dolphin) is nearby and it also looks like what it’s meant to be. 

​If you look high up and slightly to the South-East, you’ll find the Square of Pegasus a large asterism made up of 4 stars of nearly equal brightness in a large square pattern. These are Scheat, Alpheratz, Markab and Algenib. The constellation of Pegasus represents the Flying Horse of Greek mythology and the Square marks the horse’s body. You may find it difficult to make out the horse because it is upside down and the constellation represents only the top half of its body and its head. However, you may be able to pick out Enif, the constellation’s brightest star which will be about halfway between the bottom right of the Square and Altair. Enif is an orange supergiant star that is 5,000 times brighter than the Sun and it represents the horse’s nose.
 
If you look north, you’ll see the same stars as you would in any other month, but their orientation varies from month to month. In October the familiar Plough asterism, which many people will recognise, is moving from the north-west to the north. Follow its two right-hand stars upward, veer a little bit to the right and you’ll find Polaris, the Pole Star. If you look over to the north-east you can see Capella. It is a yellow giant star, the brightest star in the constellation of Auriga (the Charioteer), the sixth-brightest star in the night sky, and the third-brightest in the northern celestial hemisphere after Arcturus and Vega.

At the very start of the month, we just miss the last quarter Moon as it was on 29 September, while there is a new Moon (no Moon) on 6 October. So, if it’s clear on the evening of 9 October, you will find the slightest of crescent Moons setting in the west at around 7:00 pm with a bright Venus below and to the left it.

This month’s full Moon is called the Hunter’s Moon because traditionally, people in the Northern Hemisphere spent the month of October preparing for the coming winter by hunting, slaughtering and preserving meats for use as food. Like the last month’s Harvest Moon, the Hunter's Moon is also particularly bright and long in the sky, giving hunters the opportunity to stalk prey at night.

This month’s full Moon is on the night of 20-21 October, becoming 100% full just before 4 pm on the afternoon of 21 October and then rising in the east a few hours later at just before 7:00 pm. It will be below and to the right of the Pleiades (The Seven Sisters) on 22 October and almost directly above Aldebaran, the red eye of Taurus the Bull, on 23 October. The last quarter Moon (a half moon) is on 28 October, rising in the north east, next to Praesepe (the Beehive Cluster) shortly after 11:00 pm.

When it is getting dark, you may be able to spot Venus hanging low down on the western horizon just before it sets at around 7:30 pm, or 6:30pm after the clocks change. It is gradually getting brighter because it is moving closer to Earth. On 29 October it reaches Elongation and is at its furthest from the Sun.
 
Saturn and Jupiter, two of our Solar System’s gas giants, are still visible above the southern horizon and Jupiter, the bigger and brighter of the two, will probably be the first thing you see when it’s getting dark. Saturn will appear to its right about half an hour after you first see Jupiter. They will travel just above the southern horizon until they set, with Saturn doing this first at around midnight and Jupiter following at around 2:00 am.
 
Neptune will be above the horizon until about 4:30 am and you will find it to the left of Jupiter in Aquarius. However, it will be very dim and therefore difficult to see, even with binoculars or a telescope. Its near twin in size, Uranus, can be found further over to the east in Aries, rising at about 6:30pm and staying above the horizon all night. It will be just visible to the naked eye, although you’ll have a better chance of seeing it if you use binoculars or a telescope.
 
This is the best month of the year to see Mercury because it reaches its Elongation, or maximum separation from the Sun, on 25 October. If you look east at around 6:30 am that day, you may be able to see it, but because it keeps close the horizon, the best chance of success will be found if you are at an elevated position overlooking an open horizon with no trees and buildings to prevent you from seeing it.
 
Mars is too close to the Sun to be visible this month.

​The Orionid meteors fly each year between about October 2 to November 7 and are caused by debris from Halley’s Comet smashing into the Earth’s atmosphere. You can spot them from the start of the month, but you can see the greatest number at meteor shower’s peak on the night of 21/22 October.
 
In a good year, you can expect to see about 10- 20 meteors/hour at the peak, but this year a near full moon will block out all but the brightest ones. However, if you do decide to look for them, wait until after 10:00 pm because that’s when their radiant point (the area of the sky where the meteors seem to originate) is to the top left of Orion as it rises in the east.
 
When watching for the meteors, give yourself at least an hour of observing time, because they will come in spurts, interspersed with lulls. Also remember that your eyes can take as long as 20 minutes to adapt to the darkness of night, so don’t rush the process. If you are patient, you may see some of the brightest Orionid meteors despite the Moon’s glare.
 
Alternatively, you could watch for the Draconid meteors at nightfall and early evening on October 8 as there will be little or no moon to drown them out. You might catch some on the two nights either side of that as well. You’ll find the radiant point for the Draconid meteor shower a little bit to the right of Vega and right next to the head of the constellation Draco the Dragon.
 
The Draconid shower is a real oddity, in that the radiant point stands highest in the sky as darkness falls. That means that unlike many meteor showers, more Draconids are likely to fly in the evening hours than in the morning hours after midnight. Also, this shower is known as “a Sleeper” because in most years it produces only a handful of meteors per hour. However, do look out for them because the Draconids’ unpredictable nature, as seen in both 1933 and 1946, means that you could enjoy thousands of meteors in only one hour.

Most people know that the Sun rises in the east and sets in the west, but they may not realise that this is quite a generalisation. In fact, the Sun only rises due east and only sets due west on two days of the year; the days of the Spring Equinox and the Autumnal Equinox which, for 2021, are March 20 and September 22. To illustrate this, Figures 1 and 2 show the location of the rising and setting sun at the Spring Equinox and Autumnal Equinox, respectively.

​Once it has risen due east and set due west at the Autumnal Equinox (Figure 2), the Sun rises and sets a tiny bit further south each day until the Winter Solstice, the day on which it rises as far to the southeast as it ever does and sets as far to the southwest as it ever does (See Figure 4). It then changes direction and begins moving north each day, eventually rising due east and setting due west on the Spring Equinox (Figure 1) before continuing northwards until the Summer Solstice, when it rises as far to the northeast as it ever does and sets as far to the northwest as it ever does (Figure 3).

​Once it has risen due east and set due west at the Autumnal Equinox (Figure 2), the Sun rises and sets a tiny bit further south each day until the Winter Solstice, the day on which it rises as far to the southeast as it ever does and sets as far to the southwest as it ever does (See Figure 4). It then changes direction and begins moving north each day, eventually rising due east and setting due west on the Spring Equinox (Figure 1) before continuing northwards until the Summer Solstice, when it rises as far to the northeast as it ever does and sets as far to the northwest as it ever does (Figure 3).

​Image 1, at the top of this blog, was taken at Resipole during sunset on the day after the Autumnal Equinox of 2019, with the camera facing southwest down Loch Sunart towards the Isle of Carna and the hills of Morvern.  If you look closely, you can see a patch of intense colour behind the wooded hillside on the right-hand side of the image. This was the spot where the sun was setting due west and for me, such a sight is one of the most welcome of the year because it marks the return of spectacular sunsets to this part of the Loch.

​With the passing of the autumn months and the movement of the setting sun towards the south, these sunsets become more and more intense. They are something that I’ll never tire of photographing even though I have taken countless photos of them from this spot. I can honestly say that I’ve never seen the same mix of colours twice. Each sunset is different because of the varying position of the sun and the infinite range of possible cloud formations that reflect the light from the sun and produce the kaleidoscope of colours.
 
The Autumnal Equinox also paves the way for increased chances to see aurora borealis displays. According to NASA, the equinoxes are prime time for Northern Lights, because the geomagnetic activity that causes them is more likely to take place in the spring and autumn than in the summer or winter. In addition, we tend to have more clear nights in spring and autumn so this, combined with more geomagnetic activity, may be the reason why I tend to have captured most of my Northern Light images in September/October and March/April. 

Image 2 above was taken 4 days after the Autumnal Equinox of 2019, when I had a client out with me for some night photography tuition. We had spent the first part of the night preparing for and taking photographs of the Milky Way rising above Loch Sunart and while we were doing this a very high Aurora Alert came through on my phone. We quickly packed up our camera gear and headed up to Acharacle and set it up again on the jetty there is on Loch Shiel. It is a perfect spot to look for and photograph the Aurora Borealis because it faces directly towards northern horizon that has only a few distant and low-lying hills on it, meaning that the view north is clear of any obstructions. We had a very productive time there and also at another couple of locations nearby and came away with some great shots of the “Merry Dancers”.
​
Finally, although the equinox referred to as a day by many people, it is actually the exact moment in time when the tilt of the Earth’s axis and Earth’s orbit around the sun combine in such a way that the axis is inclined neither away from nor toward the sun. For 2021, the Autumnal Equinox will be at 8:21 pm on Wednesday 22 September and the Spring Equinox was at 9:37 am on Saturday 20 March.

​This month the sun sets around 8:00 pm and the stars and the constellations become visible from about 9:00 pm onwards. As with July and August, the best way to navigate your way around the night sky is to use the Summer Triangle, which is made up of the three bright stars of Vega, Altair and Deneb. Start off by finding Vega, a really bright white star, which will be directly overhead. Next is Altair, which you will find halfway between Vega and the southern horizon. Finally, there is Deneb, which will be almost directly above Altair and across from Vega.
 
Once you have found the Summer Triangle, you can start to look for some of the constellations in the southern sky. Start off with Vega, the constellation of Lyra’s (the Lyre) brightest star. Below it, you will see the constellation’s 4 other main stars. These form a small parallelogram and make up the body of the Lyre – the sky’s only musical instrument.  

​The two better-known constellations of Capricornus and Aquarius are below Delphinus in the lower part of the sky. They are well known because they are in the Zodiac, the path of the planets but, as they have no very bright stars, you might not be able to pick them out.  Capricornus is the Water-Goat and Aquarius is a human, the Water-Carrier.

​As with August, September is a good month to view the Milky Way. If you trace a line down from Deneb and through Altair, you should be able to make out the Milky Way’s cloudy core to the right of Jupiter and Saturn, which you’ll find shining bright just above the southern horizon. The cloudy core will be visible up until about 10:00 pm. When you look at the Milky Way, you’ll notice a black band running down it’s middle, between the stars. William Herschel, the first astronomer to map our Galaxy, thought that this was a hole in space, but it is actually a dark swathe of sooty dust, known as the Great Rift in Cygnus which runs along the disc of our Galaxy.
 
If you look north, you’ll see the same stars as you would in any other month, but their orientation varies from month to month. By September the familiar Plough asterism, which many people recognise, is down over to the north-west. Follow its two right-hand stars upward, veer a little bit to the right and you’ll find Polaris, the Pole Star. If you look over to the north-east you can see Capella. Contrast its colour with that of Vega which is virtually overhead at this time of year. Capella is a yellow giant star, while Vega is a slightly bluer star than the Sun. The contrast is obvious if you look from one to the other.

​At the very start of the month, we just miss the last quarter Moon as it was on 30 August, while there is a new Moon (no Moon) on 7 September. So, if it’s clear on the evening of 9 September, you will find the slightest of crescent Moons setting in the west at around 8:00 pm with a bright Venus to its left. However, it may be difficult to see the moon on 9 September as it will be lying close to where the sun has set. You'll probably find it easier to see it on the following evening, 10 September, as it will have moved slightly to the left and will be sitting further from the sun and to the left of Venus. 

​This month's full moon is on the night of 20-21 September, becoming 100% full at just before 1 am on the morning of 21 September. It will rise over in the east at around 8:00 pm, with Jupiter well over to its right. On the night of 25-26 September, you will find the moon passing beneath and close to the Pleiades (The Seven Sisters), one the closest open star clusters to Earth.  September’s full moon is called the Corn Moon because this is when crops are gathered at the end of the summer season. At this time of year, the Moon appears particularly bright and rises early, thus letting farmers continue harvesting into the night. This moon is also sometimes named the barley moon, and it is often the nearest full moon to the autumnal equinox, earning it the title of 'harvest moon'.

When it is getting dark, you may be able to spot Venus hanging low down on the western horizon just before it sets at around 8:30 pm.  You may also catch Mercury, the smallest and innermost planet in our Solar System because it reaches maximum separation from the Sun on 14 September.
 
However, if you are looking for planets, you will have more success when looking to the south-east at dusk because two of our Solar System’s gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn will rise from there at about 7:30 pm.  Jupiter is the brighter of the two planets and will be sitting to the left of Saturn. Jupiter sets at around 4:00 am, while Saturn sinks below the horizon at about 2:30 am.
 
If look at Jupiter through binoculars, you’ll see its four largest moons. They are Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto and are known as the Galilean moons. With a telescope, you’ll also be able to see the dark belts of Jupiter crossing its disc, and maybe, if you are lucky, the storm known as the Great Red Spot. If your binoculars or telescope magnify by about 40 or 50 times, you be able to see Saturn’s famous rings and its biggest moons when you look at it. The largest, Titan, is enormous. In fact, it’s 40% more massive than the planet Mercury and 80% more massive than our own moon.
 
Neptune will be above the horizon all night long and you will find it to the left of Jupiter in Aquarius. It will be at its closest to Earth on 14 September, but it is our Solar System’s most distant planet, so "close" actually means 2,688 million miles away. Also, it is not particularly bright, so you will need binoculars or a telescope to see it. Its near twin in size, Uranus, can be found further over to the east in Aries and will be just visible to the naked eye, although you’ll have a better chance of seeing it if you use binoculars or a telescope.
 
Mars is too close to the Sun to be visible this month.

The annual Perseid Meteor Shower put on a good show last month and those of you who were lucky enough to have clear skies around its peak on the night of 12-13 August will have seen them shooting across the sky. However, September is not a good month for meteor showers, so we will have to wait until October for the chance to see some more. The Draconis will peak on the night of 8-9 October and the Orionids on the night of 20-21 October.

The Autumnal Equinox is when night and day are nearly exactly the same length (12 hours). It also marks the start of astronomical autumn and when the nights start to become longer than the days. Although the autumnal equinox referred to as a day by many people, it is actually the exact moment in time when the tilt of the Earth’s axis and Earth’s orbit around the sun combine in such a way that the axis is inclined neither away from nor toward the sun. For 2021, this will be at 8:21 pm on Wednesday 22 September.
 
The Autumnal Equinox also paves the way for increased chances to see aurora borealis displays. According to NASA, the equinoxes are prime time for Northern Lights, because the geomagnetic activity that causes them is more likely to take place in the spring and autumn than in the summer or winter. In addition, we tend to have more clear nights in spring and autumn so this, combined with more geomagnetic activity, may be the reason why I tend to have captured most of my Northern Light images in September/October and March/April. Finally, if you do want to catch a glimpse of the “Merry Dancers”, be sure to keep an eye out for “aurora alerts” on the web and on social media. Good sources for forecast and alerts are AuroraWatch UK, Glendale Skye Auroras and Aurora Research Scotland.

r a few years, an old sailing boat had sat perched high up on a huge, rounded rock on the southern edge of the bay, in a position such that it combined with the edges of the bay and the distant silhouette of the Small Isles to create the perfect composition. I visited the bay on a perfectly still August evening in 2019 when a high spring tide coincided with sunset. Even with almost 5 metres of tide, this old sailboat was high enough up on the rocks to remain steadfast in its position. After taking in the scene for a while, I set up my camera on its tripod, set the exposure time to 90 seconds, pressed the shutter button to capture and freeze 1½ minutes of the most magical west coast sunset to create the image at the top of this blog titled “On the Rocks I”.

With sunset now at around 9:00 pm, the stars and the constellations will become visible from about 10:00 pm onwards. As with July, the best way to navigate your way around the night sky is to still use the Summer Triangle. The Triangle is made up of the three bright stars of Vega, Altair and Deneb. Start off by finding Vega, a really bright white star which will be directly overhead. Next is Altair, which you will find halfway between Vega and the southern horizon. Finally, there is Deneb, which will be almost directly above Altair and across from Vega.

Once you have found the Summer Triangle, you can now start to look for some constellations. There’s Cygnus the Swan, which is also known as the Northern Cross. It is a large cross-shape with Deneb at the top, marking the tail of a swan which flies down the Milky Way with outstretched wings towards Sagittarius (the Archer) which is low down on the southern horizon. It’s not a particularly bright constellation, so you’ll need a good clear night and to be far away from any light pollution to see it. As you trace a line between these two constellations, you should be able to make out the Milky Way’s cloudy core, which will be visible up until about three hours after sunset. 

​Although most of what to see is in the southern night sky, there are a few notable things to see if you look north. In the north-west, you will find the familiar shape of The Plough and you can use its two right hand stars to point towards Polaris (the Pole Star or North Star), which is always in the same position in the sky.

To the right of Polaris, you’ll see the W-shape of Cassiopeia, the constellation that represents the fabled vain queen of the same name. At this time of year her husband, king Cepheus, is high in the sky, though his stars are nothing like as bright as those of his beautiful wife. Below Cassiopeia are the stars of Perseus, after which the Perseid meteors are named. These meteors will peak on the night of 12-13 August, and you can find out more about them below. Finally, low down and below Perseus is Capella, the brightest star in the constellation of Auriga (the Charioteer) and the sixth-brightest star in the night sky. ​

However, it will be difficult to see the moon on 9 August as it will be lying close to where the sun has set, so you'll probably find it easier to see it on the following evening, 10 August, as it will have moved slightly to the left and will be sitting further from the sun and closer to Venus. Try again on 11 August and you may see the moon lying to the left of Venus.

The first quarter Moon (a half moon) is on 15 August while the full moon is on the night of 21-22 August, when it will rise in the south-east at around 9:30pm, with Saturn above and to the right of it and Jupiter above and to the left of it. August’s full moon was called the Sturgeon Moon by North American fishing tribes because this species of fish appeared in large numbers during this month. It's also been called the green corn moon, the grain moon, and the red moon for the reddish hue it often takes on in the summer haze.

​When it is getting dark, the first thing you spot will be Venus. It will be low down on the western horizon in the dusk twilight, just before it sets at around 9:30 pm. Mars will be close to it, but this planet will be difficult to see because it is almost 200 times fainter than the “Evening Star”.  
 
If looking for planets, you will have more success when looking to the south-east at dusk because two of our Solar System’s gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn will rise from there at about 9:00 pm and will be at their closest approach to Earth this year and this month. First there is Saturn, reaching ‘just’ 831 million miles away on 2 August, while Jupiter passes its closest to us on 20 August, at 373 million miles away.
 
Jupiter is the brighter of the two planets. It will be sitting to the left of Saturn and if you look at it through binoculars, you’ll see its four largest moons. They are Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto and are known as the Galilean moons. With a telescope, you’ll also be able to see the dark belts of Jupiter crossing its disc, and maybe, if you are lucky, the storm known as the Great Red Spot.
 
If your binoculars or telescope magnify by about 40 or 50 times, you be able to see Saturn’s famous rings and its biggest moons when you look at it. The largest, Titan, is enormous. In fact, it’s 40% more massive than the planet Mercury and 80% more massive than our own moon.

​After a few months’ absence, you’ll be able to see some shooting starts because the number of meteor showers is now on the increase. In fact, this August will be a great month for watching shooting stars because the annual Perseid Meteor Shower will peak on a night when the Moon is only a crescent and sets soon after the Sun. This is the night of 12-13 August and with no moon to drown out the shooting stars, you are likely to see them from the hour or so after sunset.
 
They are called Perseids because the radiant (the area of the sky where the meteors seem to originate) is located near the constellation of Perseus and although you’ll be able to see them throughout the night, you will see more if you wait until this radiant is high in the night sky. This will be from about midnight and if you watch until dawn, the shooting stars will be raining down from overhead.
 
When watching for shooting stars, give yourself at least an hour of observing time, because they will come in spurts, interspersed with lulls. Also remember that your eyes can take as long as 20 minutes to adapt to the darkness of night, so don’t rush the process. If you are patient, you may see up to 60 meteors per hour at the shower’s peak. 

​In the 8 or so weeks either side of the Summer Solstice, which this year was on 21 June, the days are long and the nights are short. In fact, the sun gets to no more than 10-15 degrees below the horizon and this makes it a lean period for both aurora chasers and stargazers because astronomical, or full darkness does not occur at any point during the night. The resulting all-night twilight means that it is simply too light to see the “Merry Dancers” and all but the brightest stars.
 
However, all is not lost because what you can see are noctilucent, or “night-shining” clouds. They become visible in the north to north-west sky as darkness falls and just as the brightest stars become visible. They have the appearance of ghostly whispers of light shimmering in the all-night twilight and are usually set against a pearly-blue sky.

​These night-shining clouds are the highest clouds in Earth's atmosphere. They form in the middle atmosphere, or mesosphere, roughly 80 kilometres (50 miles) above Earth's surface. They are thought to be made of ice crystals that form on fine dust particles from meteors and volcanic activity. These ice coated dust particles then reflect the light that the sun projects high up into the sky, when it is between 6 to 16 degrees below the horizon, to create an illuminated cloudy veil in the northern sky at latitudes between ±50° and ±70°.

They are first known to have been observed in 1885, two years after the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa, but it remains unclear as to whether their appearance had anything to do with the volcanic eruption or whether their discovery was due to more people observing the spectacular sunsets caused by the volcanic debris in the atmosphere. 

​This does indeed give me cause for concern, but nevertheless, the sight of these shimmering and wispy clouds illuminating the upper reaches of our summer night sky is quite mesmerising. I was fortunate enough to both see and photograph them on a mid-July night at Castle Tioram when it barely got dark. They seemed to not only illuminate the sky but also the landscape around me. There is still time to see them so, if you are outside after midnight on a clear night, look north and you may be able to pick them out. 

​If you have a modern digital camera fitted with a wide-angle lens which you can mount on a tripod, you can try taking some photographs of them yourself. Put the camera on the manual setting, open up the aperture to at least f4, set your ISO 800 and take a few test shots at exposures of several seconds until you find the exposure time that works. You could even try photographing them with your smart phone if it has a “Night Mode” setting.

​It’s now after the Summer Solstice so it will begin to get dark at night again and with sunset at around 10:00 pm, you should see the constellations emerging from about 11:00 pm onwards. Also, at this time of year, we begin to see the Milky Way again and at the end of the month, this home to 200 billion stars will be visible from around 11:00 pm because it’s cloudy core will be above the southern horizon then.

​Above Ophiuchus look for a quadrilateral of stars known as the Keystone, from its shape. This is the most recognisable part of the Constellation of Hercules, named after the Roman mythological figure who was known for his strength and numerous far-ranging adventures. The constellation is best known for its great globular cluster of stars, M13, and has a a lesser globular cluster, M92, nearby.

At one time, the globular cluster M13 was known as ‘The Great Hercules Cluster’. It is the brightest globular cluster in the northern hemisphere and is visible to both the naked eye and binoculars. It contains more than 300,000 stars and is 25,200 light-years from Earth and to find it, look about two thirds of the way up the right-hand side of the Keystone. It will look like a circular misty patch through a small telescope, but larger telescopes will start to show the individual stars.

To the east of Scorpius, and just above the horizon, you will find the constellation Sagittarius (the Archer). This is not a particularly bright constellation, so you’ll need a good, clear night and be far away from any light pollution to see it. If you do spot the stars of Sagittarius, you will see that they form a sort of teapot shape. The handle of the teapot represents the upper body of the Archer, while the curve of three stars to the right are his bent elbow. The spout of the teapot is the point of an arrow which is aimed at Scorpius, the fearsome celestial scorpion.
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Sagittarius is rich in star clusters and nebulae, some of which you can see with binoculars on a night when the southern horizon is really clear. Above the spout is the Lagoon Nebula, a giant interstellar cloud that’s visible to the naked eye. Near to it and visible with a telescope is the three-lobed Trifid Nebula, while above Sagittarius and in the Milky Way, you will find a bright patch of stars called the Sagittarius Star Cloud (M24). Above this, is the Omega Nebula, which is considered to be one of the brightest and most massive star-forming regions of our galaxy.

Going back up to Vega, you’ll see the constellation of Lyra (the Lyre), of which Vega is its brightest star. Below Vega, you will see the constellation’s 4 other main stars, which form a small parallelogram. To its upper left is an interesting double star, Epsilon Lyrae. Some people can see this as a double star with the naked eye, but binoculars show it well. And a telescope larger than about 75 mm aperture reveals that each of the two stars are themselves double stars. For this reason, some people refer to Epsilon Lyrae as the “Double Double”.

​The first quarter Moon (a half moon) is on 17 July and you will see a half-Moon sitting near Spica, the brightest star in the constellation of Virgo. A week later, on 24 July, the full Moon will rise in the south-east at around 11:00 pm with Saturn sitting above it. This full Moon was called by some, the Buck Moon to signify the new antlers that emerge on deer buck's foreheads around this time. It is also known as the Thunder Moon, Wort Moon, and Hay Moon.

As it gets dark, the first thing you spot will be Venus, low on the western horizon in the dusk twilight, just before it sets at around 10:30 pm. Mars will be close to it but it will be difficult to see as it is almost 200 times fainter than the “Evening Star”.  From July 12, the two planets will begin to move apart, with Venus moving off to the left at a quicker pace than Mars.
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Over the course of the last month, Saturn has been rising earlier and earlier each night and now appears at around 11:00 pm with Jupiter following it about half an hour later, rising above the horizon at a point below and to the left of Saturn. Half an hour after that, a very faint Neptune follows Jupiter with a slightly brighter Uranus following about an hour and a half later.

​July sees the number of meteors increasing and it may be possible to spot some shooting stars from the Alpha Capricornids and the Delta Aquarids meteor showers. They will appear to come from the south-east, but they will be difficult to see as the Moon will be quite bright at the end of the month, which is around the time they are at their maximum of activity. In reality, we need to wait until the Perseid Meteor Shower in August for our next good show. It will peak on the night of 12-13 August and there will be little or no moon to mar the show because a thin crescent Moon will have set by early-to-mid evening. That guarantees a dark sky for this year’s Perseid meteors, so fingers crossed for a clear night.

​Above Scorpius, you will find Ophiuchus (the Serpent-Bearer). It is a large constellation, which straddles the celestial equator, and it is commonly depicted as a man grasping a snake. This snake is represented by the constellation of Serpens (the Serpent), which is immediately to the west of Ophiuchus. Above Serpens is the semi-circular constellation of Corona Borealis (the Northern Crown), which is made up of 4 bright stars that represent the crown of Ariadne, daughter of King Minos in Greek mythology, who helped the hero Theseus kill the Minotaur and find his way out of the labyrinth in which the creature lived.

​High up in the south-eastern sky, you will find Vega, the brightest star in the constellation of Lyra (the Lyre) and the fifth brightest star in our night sky. Vega acts as the guide star to the Keystone, a rectangle of four stars in the constellation Hercules, the fifth largest constellations in our night sky. To find the Keystone, trace a straight line from Vega and towards Arcturus. You will find it about one third of the way along this line. The Keystone represents the body of Hercules and is home to M13, the Great Global Cluster, a bee-like swarm of a third of a million red giant stars. It is one of the brightest globular clusters and although it is visible to the naked eye, it will be easier to see when using binoculars or a small telescope.

The first quarter Moon (a half moon) is on 18 June and the following night, you will see the half-Moon sitting above Spica, the brightest star in the constellation of Virgo. Just under a week later, on 24 June, the full Moon will rise in the south-east just before 11:00 pm. In Colonial America, this full Moon was referred to as the Strawberry Moon because this was when these little red berries ripened. Europeans have dubbed it the rose moon, while other cultures named it the hot moon because it occurred at the beginning of the summer heat.
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Similar to last month, June’s full Moon will be a supermoon (full Moons are those within 228,420 miles of Earth) and the fourth of four supermoons that occur in 2021. This one will be the third biggest and brightest full Moon of the year at only 224,662 miles away from Earth and because it happens in June it is termed a Super Strawberry Moon.

A few days after this full Moon, early on 27 June, you will find the Moon setting low in the south, with Saturn above and to the left of it, while the following morning of 28 June it will be sitting in between Saturn and Jupiter. The Moon moves further to the left on 29 June, rising in the south-east at around 1:30 am with Jupiter sitting very close to it as it travels westward, low down on the southern horizon.

This is a great month for spotting Venus as it will be brighter than anything else in the night sky, apart from the Moon. You’ll find it low on the western horizon in the dusk twilight, just before it sets at around 11:00 pm. As the month passes, Venus gets higher in the sky, moving up and to its left to get closer and closer to Mars, which is almost 200 times fainter than this “Evening Star”.
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On 23 June, you find Mars low in the evening twilight, right in front of the Beehive (Praesepe) Star Cluster. It will be well worth looking at through binoculars or a small telescope as this is a wonderful swarm of a thousand stars. In fact, it is one of the nearest open cluster of stars to us, with a larger population of stars than most other nearby clusters.
 
Saturn rises in the south-east at about 1:00 am, while Jupiter follows about half an hour later, rising above the horizon at a point below and to the left of Saturn. Half an hour after that, a very faint Neptune follows Jupiter to appear above the horizon but is may not possible to see it as the dawn twilight approaches. 

​June is a quiet month meteor showers as most of them occur when it is daylight. In reality, we need to wait until the Perseid Meteor Shower in August for our next good show. Radiating from the constellation of Perseus, It will peak on the night of 11-12 August. This year, the Moon will only be 13% full on that night and is expected to set as the meteors begin to appear so, you will likely see around 50 to 75 meteors per hour if the sky is clear. Also look out for them on the nights before and after as they will probably put on a good show then too.

​This year, the Summer Solstice will occur on 21 June at 03:32 GMT (04:43 BST) and is the exact moment when the northern hemisphere is tilted most towards the Sun. However, many people refer to the Summer Solstice as the Longest Day of the year, when the number of hours of daylight are at their maximum and the number of hours of night are at their minimum. On 21 June this year, our sunrise will be 4:30:17 am and our sunset will be 10:19:33 pm, giving us 17 hours, 49 minutes and 16 seconds of daylight. On June 20, our hours of daylight will be 6 seconds less and on June 22 they will be 3 seconds less.

On 10 June an annular solar eclipse will appear over Canada, Greenland and Siberia, when the Moon will pass between Earth and the Sun, thereby partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. During an annular eclipse, the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun's, so it block’s most of the Sun's light and cause the Sun to look like an annulus or ring.

​Here on the Peninsulas, we can expect to see a partial eclipse and while it will not be as spectacular, it will still be a sight to witness and fortunately for us, the further north and west you are the more complete the eclipse will be. In the south-east of the UK, you can expect about 20% of the Sun to be covered by the moon’s shadow, but here in the north-west, we can expect the Sun to be covered by about 40%. Look out for the eclipse from about 10:00 am on June 10, when the Moon will first appear to take a bite out of the Sun, after which it will reach maximum eclipse and then move off the Sun at around 1:00 pm.

Scotland has 40 National Scenic Areas which cover 13% of its land mass and they earn this designation because their outstanding scenery makes them the country’s finest Landscapes. One of these areas is Morar, Moidart and Ardnamurchan here on Scotland’s north-west coast. It is home to a coastline of spectacular cliffs, dramatic rocky shores and beautiful white sand beaches. Added to all of this are breath-taking views of the Small Isles of Muck, Eigg, Rùm and Canna, which sit a few miles west out in the Sound of Arisaig and just south of the Isle of Skye.
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As you travel from Moidart in the east, to Ardnamurchan in the west, your perspective of the Small Isles changes significantly, with both them and features on them coming into view and disappearing again after only a few miles. This everchanging view makes photographing both them and this coastline an absolute joy and now that the evening sun is in the north-west, my plan for the coming weeks is to photograph to do just that. My aim is to capture this spectacular coastline while it is bathed in warm sunlight at the end of our long summer days. In the meantime, however, I thought I would describe this somewhat special journey and share some of the images that I already have. 

​On reaching Glenuig, you can turn off the main road, drive past the Glenuig Inn and continue westward for about a mile and a half to reach the road end. From there, a short walk takes you to Smirisary, an isolated and roadless crofting village that sits between a rocky foreshore and a steep hillside about two miles to the west of Glenuig. As you walk the final half mile to the village, your view of the sea is obstructed by a small hill, but as you get to the top of it, the view dramatically opens up to reveal islands that you feel you can almost touch (Image 3).

​I like to visit Smirisary in mid to late summer. It is a great place to capture Muck, Eigg and Rùm sitting in flat calm seas while they are silhouetted against the colourful skies that are a feature of the sunsets there at that time of year. From there, you get a closer view of the distinctive shape of An Sgurr and the dramatic peaks of the Rùm and its Cuillin mountain range, which sits behind Eigg and simply adds to the magic you are witnessing (Image 4). 

If you want to get a view of the Small Isles on this part of your journey, you need to head out to the small but beautiful sandy beach at Ardtoe where a short walk out to the headland on its western side brings the southern end of Eigg and An Sgurr back into view. From there, you also get a glimpse of Rùm because the high peaks of the Rùm Cuillin are just visible above the land that shelters the beach from the open sea (Image 1 and Image 7). 

​While at Ardtoe and if you don’t mind a walk over uneven and often boggy ground, you can make your way out to the end of Rubha Luinngeanach where you get a more open view of Eigg with Rùm behind it. It was at this spot where I witnessed what I think is the most spectacular sunset I have ever seen over the Small Isles (Image 8). I was out there on a rather cloudy July evening, so my hopes of getting a good image were not high. Suddenly the clouds beyond the skerry of Sgeir an Eidigh parted and allowed the most intense of crepuscular rays to shine down on the Isle of Eigg and silhouetted it against the golden backdrop that they had created. It is a moment that is forever etched on my memory.

​On leaving Ardtoe to head back towards Acharacle, you’ll find that a slight diversion down the road towards Arivegaig rewards you with a fine view out through the entrance of Kentra Bay to Eigg, where An Sgurr sits directly behind the gap between the land and the sea (Image 9). 

The road to Arivegaig is also a spot where you can catch a full moon setting behind the Rùm Cuillin on a clear winter morning (Image 10). ​

​The next part of the journey west takes you along the side of Loch Sunart and it is a good few miles before you see the Small Isles again because the road now takes you along the southern coast of the Ardnamurchan Peninsula. It is not until you pass Camas nan Geall and follow the road north around the side of Ben Hiant to reach Doire Daraich before they come back into view again (Image 11). 

It is from the hills above Portuairk from where I think you get the most dramatic view of Rùm and the magnificent peaks of its Cuillin mountain range. It is simply majestic, sitting there beyond Sanna Bay and the significantly more diminutive Isle of Muck (Image 15). 

​While there, it is well worth taking the walk from Portuairk to the beautiful white sand beach at Sanna because, as you climb over the hill that separates the two, another magnificent view of the Small Isles reveals itself (Image 16). It is from there that you can see all the Small Isles because the fourth and, up until now, elusive Isle of Canna reveals itself. If you stop there for a little whole and look north over the beach you can just make it out, sitting well out the west of the Isle of Rùm, which has Eigg to its east and Muck to its south.

Our journey from east to west along this beautiful Moidart and Ardnamurchan coastline ends at Ardnamurchan Point. It is as far west as you can go on the British Mainland and is home to the iconic Ardnamurchan Lighthouse which so many visitors head for when they visit the West Highland Peninsulas.
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While you do get a clear view of the Small Isles from there, they do not readily sit in any photographic composition that features the lighthouse because the camera tends to point in a direction looking away from them or is at an angle where the islands are hidden by the lighthouse itself.

It takes a walk out on to the rocks of Dubh Rubha Mor at low tide before you can point the camera north, across the bay of Briaghlann, and capture both the lighthouse and the now familiar profile of Rùm and Muck behind it and it seems fitting that I end this journey with an image of the sun setting on this very scene (Image 17). 

​Last week, I found myself with an unexpected hour or so to spare at Corran Point, so decided to go for a walk and find the Ardgour War Memorial, which is located up on a bank just south of the lighthouse and above the road. The main reason for doing this was to scout out the location in advance of me going there at some point after dark to photograph the Memorial under the stars. This is something that I do when preparing for most of my night shots as it is so much easier to figure out a composition in daylight than it is in the pitch dark.

​Having walked from the Corran Ferry, I reached the bend in the road by the Lighthouse and followed a track up into a field beyond a metal gate. I found the War Memorial at the top of a bank overlooking Loch Linnhe, with expansive views all the way down its full length to the south. The Memorial itself is typical of the many that you find scattered across the Highlands, consisting of a granite Celtic cross and plinth mounted on a base of what seemed to be made of local stone.

​Gradually, I began thinking ahead to my future shot of the War Memorial under the stars and, eventually, I began looking at different shot angles of the Memorial to see if I could find some compositions that might work for the photograph that I had in mind. My plan is to take it later in the year when the Milky Way will be at its best, with its cloudy core above the horizon in the south to south-west sky. My aim is to produce something similar to these two shots that I’ve taken of the Strontian and Moidart war memorials in previous years.

While doing this, I noticed that the Memorial’s stone base was sitting on what appeared to be a metal ring with several bolts protruding from it. You can see the metal ring and bolts in the picture below and the more that I thought about them, the more I couldn’t help wondering what they had been used for. 

This played on my mind for a day or two, leading me to do a bit of research to find out more about them. After looking at a few sources, I found some information in the Highland Historic Environment Record, that suggested that a gun battery was built on that spot in 1917, to provide protection for the United States ships unloading naval mines at Corpach that were then transported in smaller boats through the Caledonian Canal to the US Naval Base at Inverness.

Further research uncovered a report titled “The Built Heritage of the First World War in Scotland” that was commissioned by Historic Scotland which confirms that the gun battery was built there and that it comprised two 15-pdr guns and one 7.5-inch howitzer bolted down onto steel rings called holdfasts, which were set into plain concrete slabs. It turns out that the War Memorial was built on one of these concrete slabs and the steel ring at its base is one of these holdfasts. The Imperial War Museum does have a photograph of the gun battery which was taken in 1918 and shows the Royal Marine Gun Crews manning the guns. In it, you can see that there is no parapet around the guns and that the ammunition for them was stored in wooden lockers close by. I’ve asked the Imperial War Museum for a licence to publish this photograph and hope to be able to share it with you at some point.

Another question came to my mind while I was researching all this – Why was the United States Navy shipping naval mines to Corpach and then transporting them up the Caledonian Canal to Inverness? Well, the answer is that the mines were being used in the North Sea Mine Barrage which was a large minefield laid easterly from the Orkney Islands, right across the top of the North Sea to Norway with the aim of preventing the U-Boats making their way from their bases in Germany and out into the Atlantic to attack the convoys that were bringing supplies from the United States to the British Isles.
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Laying this mine barrage was a huge undertaking and until World War II, it was the largest ever laid. It spanned the entire 230-mile width of the North Sea from Orkney and Norway and was between 15 to 35 miles wide. The Allied Forces began laying the mines in June 1918 and within a matter of a few months they had laid just over 70,000 of them at a total cost of just over £1bn in today’s money. The barrage was considered to be a great success and is credited with the destruction or damage of up to 21 U-Boats, but probably its greater effect was in shattering the morale of German submarine crews, thus helping to bring about the revolt of German seamen that marked the beginning of the defeat of Germany in World War I.

​So there you have it, a tiny little bit of history hidden beneath the Ardgour War Memorial in the form of a steel ring and some bolts giving a small clue of something that went before. I would never have thought that these incongruous bolts would have been part of what today would be the equivalent of a £1bn military project that is thought to have played a key part in bringing World War I to an end. A war that left more than 16 million people dead and also helped to spread one of the world’s deadliest global pandemics, the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918, which killed an estimated 20 to 50 million people. Poignant, very poignant indeed.