Forestry Commission Scotland will be hosting an evening for stargazers in Galloway Forest’s Dark Sky Park on Monday 14 February.
The event is organised as one of the Commission’s Astrofest programme of activities to celebrate the first anniversary of the forest park being awarded Dark Sky Park status.
The Valentine’s night event will start with a talk at Glentrool School Hall at 7pm and weather permitting, a guided tour to spot distant galaxies. Keith Muir, the Commission’s recreation and tourism manager said: “The Dark Sky Park events to date have been very popular indeed so it is great news that Galloway is becoming a favourite place to see the stars. We’ve been lucky so far with some cracking clear nights and great sights in the night sky.
“The talk will give valuable advice on viewing the galaxies and ghostly nebulae and how best to see them, whether with the naked eye, binoculars or by telescope. If the weather is good then we will go outdoors and put this into practice with the help of local astronomical society members.
“We expect that with all the interest in stargazing, many people may have been given telescopes or binoculars for Christmas…this event would be a great time to try them out.”
The talk will start at 7pm at Glentrool School Hall within Glentrool village. Steve Owens, the speaker, ran Scotland’s largest planetarium in the Glasgow Science Centre for four years and was the UK co-ordinator for the International Year of Astronomy 2009. If you are planning to go on the event bring very warm clothing, hats and gloves and good footwear in case the weather conditions allow for the outdoor stargazing session. If you have binoculars or telescopes then bring them too, along with a torch, preferably covered with red cellophane. More information can be found at the Forestry Commission website.
And if a starry night in Glentrool doesn’t quite do it for you, why not suggest your own romantic destination and take part in our Valentine’s Poll? The John Muir Trust is wanting to find Scotland’s most romantic landscape – to vote and get the chance to win a beautiful Year Book full of great photos visit the poll on the Walkhighlands forum.