Stars and Stones Explored

September Stars & Stones Explored

Join us for a walk to celebrate the beauty of the autumn equinox. Our friendly guides will explain the ancient signs that people took from nature to mark out the seasonal year, found in the environment and the night sky. Learn why our ancestors constructed this site to mark the equinoxes and what function it served for local people right up to the modern day.Enjoy the balance of equinox with the Moon rising and the Sun setting during your walk. Solar-observing will be included if weather permits.

This event starts with a delicious picnic and refreshments before following our forest trail from OM out to the Davagh Stones. The total walk will be just under 3 miles using forest paths. Please wear suitable footwear and clothing. Dress weather appropriate as this event is outdoors and subject to weather.

Please advise when booking if you have any special dietary requirements or allergies.

October Stars & Stones Explored

Join our friendly guides for a dusk walk, returning during full darkness and learn all about our Dark Sky. Our knowledgeable guides will help explain the benefits of darkness for our ecosystem, our brains and our wellbeing, as well as the importance of dark skies in accessing our night sky heritage. At Beaghmore we’ll discuss how our ancestors created stories of the night sky to explain the Great Beginning. Our guides can also advise on how best to learn the night sky and be safe in the dark. We’ll also keep an eye out for any of our nocturnal animal friends who call the forest home.

This event starts with a delicious picnic and refreshments, before following the Solar Walk from OM over to the Beaghmore Stone Circles. The total walk will be just under 4 miles.

Please wear suitable footwear and clothing. Dress weather appropriate as this event is outdoors and in darkness. Please bring a torch with you, preferably with red light.

Please advise when booking if you have any special dietary requirements or allergies.

November Stars & Stones Explored

Celebrate the return of the dark half of the year with November’s Stars & Stones Explored on the feast day, Samhain: Celtic New Year.

In the Celtic tradition, fires in the home would be extinguished on the evening before and then relit with new, cleansed fire after dark on Samhain. This was believed to allow the dark to flow in and wake the dead, who would provide protection only after lighting the new fire for the New Year. We’ll visit the Davagh Stones here in the forest, before returning back to OM to watch our special Samhain themed outdoor film projection.  The Pleiades also known as the Seven Sisters, returns to the night sky around Halloween and has an important ancient link to the Otherworld. If skies are clear we will also observe this beautiful star cluster using our telescopes and binoculars as it rises, a celestial marker of the beginning of the dark half of the year.

The event starts with a delicious picnic and refreshments, before following forest trails out to the Davagh Stones, as darkness falls. Returning to the Observatory we’ll look for the rising of the Pleiades star cluster, the sign of the beginning of the dark half of the year. The total walk will be just under 3 miles.

Please wear suitable footwear and clothing. Dress weather appropriate as this event is outdoors and in darkness. Please bring a torch with you, preferably with red light.

Please advise when booking if you have any special dietary requirements or allergies.