Dark skies festival to shine a light on stargazing

Now that the clocks have gone back and the darker nights are rolling in, this is when the stars really get a chance to shine.

 

The Dark Skies Gigha group will be hosting a Dark Skies Festival on the island on Friday November 18 and Saturday November 19.

 

This free event is open to anyone in Kintyre and beyond with an interest in stargazing and space; no prior knowledge about these subjects is required.

 

Cosmos Planetarium will be taking part in the festival on the Friday, allowing those attending to witness special shows in a mobile planetarium using a state-of-the-art full dome digital projection system.

 

If the skies are clear, telescopes will be available for some stargazing. But visitors shouldn't despair if it is cloudy, because lots of space-themed activities will be on offer in Gigha Village Hall.

 

Astronomer Chris Leigh from the Astrophysics Research Institute of Liverpool’s John Moores University will also be providing a talk with an astronomical theme in Gigha Hotel on the Saturday night.

 

Gigha’s new informative Dark Skies Theatre, located at the recently-awarded Dark Sky Discovery Site at the north point of the island, will have its official opening on the Saturday afternoon.

 

'We would be absolutely delighted if people could join us for the festival weekend,' said a Dark Skies Gigha spokesperson, 'and we wish to extend sincere thanks to Tesco Community Grants, People’s Postcode Trust, Institute of Physics Scotland and Gigha Community Fund for contributing to make this event happen.'

 

For more information on the event, contact the Dark Skies Gigha team by emailing dark.skies.gigha@gmail.com.