The sea air proved to be my ally as it moved the clouds out of the way, revealing the brilliant bow of the Milky Way
“I came along with my camera bits and pieces, but you can’t bring an awful lot on those flying boxes,” says Mark Holmes, referring to the small, 17-seater planes that fly to the island. Although it is possible to bring more luggage when travelling via the ferry, taking a large telescope and mount island-hopping would be a formidable prospect. By providing highend telescopes on the island, this hurdle is removed for astronomers, who only need to bring their far more portable cameras.
Finding dark skies
By now I was raring to get a look at these fabled dark skies. Just one problem – it had clouded over and started to rain. I wasn’t about to give up though.
Throughout the day I’d seen that the sea air had kept the clouds constantly moving and even a completely overcast sky hadn’t lasted for long. All I had to do was wait and, fortunately, I already had an evening of entertainment planned.
I’d come to the islands during Scilly Dark Skies Week, an event staged by COSMOS to help encourage beginner stargazers on the islands and the mainland by teaching them the basics of stargazing, while exposing them to the splendour of incredible dark skies.
The event opened with the COSMOS team explaining how the observatory came into existence, before socialising over a glass (or four) of wine. Soon enough, it was well into the evening, and so I thought I would duck my head outside to see if the clouds had cleared.
What greeted me were some of the darkest skies I’d ever seen. Even without dark adaptation and with the hall light on behind me, it took less than 10 seconds for the band of the Milky Way to begin swimming into view. I dashed back inside to tell everyone that the sky had cleared. The COSMOS team ran to the dome, while the rest of us found a dark corner to observe from. One of the local astronomers began leading the beginner stargazers around the sky, pointing out Cassiopeia and how it led the way towards the Little Dipper and Polaris.
Dr Ezzy Pearson is BBC Sky at Night Magazine’s news editor. She gained her PhD in extragalactic astronomy at Cardiff University
It was halfway through this celestial tour that
I realised something peculiar – the stars were not twinkling.
“That’s because we’re surrounded by the sea, it means the air is more stable,” explained Thomson.
Without the turbulence caused by the thermal imbalance between the cool sea and the warm land that most of the UK experiences, the air on Scilly remains steady overhead.
This was evident when the COSMOS crew announced that the 170mm refractor was locked on Jupiter. When I looked through it I was greeted by an image of the gas giant as steady as I’d ever seen, with all four of its Galilean moons perfectly clear. We didn’t have any idea how long it would be before the clouds rolled in and so we quickly filed past the eyepiece, sharing the view. For many there that evening it was the first time they had ever seen a planet through a telescope.
“I think that’s what makes it all worthwhile
– when someone looks through the telescope and sees Jupiter for the first time, and says ‘wow, that’s amazing’,” smiles Anna Brown, who organised the Dark Skies Week. “It’s about seeing everyone’s enthusiasm, and helping them understand a bit more about the sky.”
A starry guide home
Slowly though, the stars started to wink out. I had to assume it was the clouds rolling in – with no Moon or light pollution to illuminate them, it was only possible to tell where the clouds were by the absence of stars. It was a strange experience, watching blackness roll over the sky and cover the bright points of light.
It was time to make my way back to my shepherd’s hut. Carefully though – as soon as I was away from the light of the hall, I couldn’t even make out my hand in front of my face, let alone see my feet, one of the drawbacks of such incredibly dark skies. There was no choice but to forego my dark adaptation and switch on the torch.
I kept an eye on the sky, and once again the sea air proved to be my ally as it moved the clouds out of the way, revealing the brilliant bow of our home Galaxy and the thousands of stars normally hidden from view behind the orange glow of the ‘city’ I like to call home. Spellbound, I turned off the torch, let my eyes readjust and allowed the Milky Way to lead me to my bed.