nature-shetland.co.uk

An independent, non-commercial site to collect and disseminate information on the natural history of Shetland

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Nature in Shetland

winner of a Shetland Environment Award 2004

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Occasional reports on astronomical events

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Monday 10th December 2007

Aurora borealis over Bigton (4 photos) and St Ninian's Isle (1 photo) - Hugh Harrop

Aurora borealis over Lerwick and Wadbister - Austin Taylor


Thursday 18th October 2007

Aurora borealis from Wadbister - Austin Taylor


Thursday 26th July 2007

Noctilucent clouds - Austin Taylor


Wednesday 10th January 2007

Comet McNaught - Steve Minton


Sunday 7th May 2006

Red sunset at Baltasound - Mike Pennington


Monday 30th January 2006 Saturn - Steve Minton

'One of the coolest things in the sky', even with the tantalising glimpses an ornithological scope can manage.


Monday 3rd October 2005

Partial eclipse of the sun over Foula - Tony Mainwood


Tuesday 9th November 2004

A spectacular aurora almost filled the sky from just after sunset to just before dawn. Colours mainly varied from green to white, but there were some spectacular shapes.   Aurora over Haroldswick and Clibberswick - the constellations visible are the Plough in the first two, Gemini on the right of the third, Gemini and Auriga in the next two and the star Vega in Lyra is the most obvious star in the final photo - Mike Pennington

Aurora over Nesting - Bryan Gray


Tuesday 31st August 2004A brief but spectacular aurora was reported over Lerwick at 01:30 this morning.

It was predicted by Aurora Watch - click here for a link.


Tuesday 8th June 2004With sunny spells through the day there were good conditions for viewing the transit of Venus across the face of the Sun - an event not seen anywhere on Earth of 126  years.

The transit of Venus, the second showing the so-called 'third contact' when the disc of Venus comes into contact with the edge of the Sun's disc before leaving the face of the Sun - Austin Taylor (click on images for larger versions).


Monday 3rd May 2004It was too cloudy to see the eclipse of the moon on the night of 4th/5th, although there was a fine night sky the night before.


Saturday 20th March 2004

A rather unusual set of circumstances over the next week or so allows an observer to see all five naked eye planets at dusk - Mercury is very low in the west and only visible for half an hour or so after it gets (fairly) dark, Venus is about as bright as it ever gets, Mars is fading fast but is easy to find just beneath the Pleiades (Seven Sisters), Saturn is high in the sky and Jupiter is in the east and almost as bright as Venus.


Thursday 20th November 2003

The best display of the Aurora Borealis ('Northern Lights' or, in Shetland, 'Merry Dancers') was witnessed throughout the islands. These photos were taken by Mike Pennington at Uyeasound.


Saturday 31st May 2003

The annular eclipse of the sun was affected by the cloud cover. A few lucky observers saw the 'golden ring' effect through the clouds. On Unst, this was the best view before the sun disappeared behind thick cloud.

 

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