An Lanntair’s Hebridean Dark Skies Festival is out of this world
An Lanntair has launched its fifth annual arts and astronomy festival, with a wealth of events and concerts taking place until Tuesday March 21.
Events include two planetarium weekends with indoor astronomy shows by Dynamic Earth, pictured, making its first trip to Lewis, and Cosmos Planetarium.
The two planetariums will travel to schools and community venues across Lewis and Harris in addition to their public screenings at An Lanntair.
David Bowie in Space: The Concert will see Hebridean musicians plus special guest vocalists performing imaginative new arrangements of Bowie’s space-themed songs, from Starman and Life on Mars to Blackstar.
Lass O’Pairts is a new indoor performance by Mischief La Bas, Scotland’s long-running street theatre company, in which colourful aliens tell you the stories of eight female pioneers in cosmology and space travel with the help of beautifully designed "artefacts".
Also on the programme is Ask the Astronomers, a live-streamed event today, Thursday March 16, with Highland Astronomy and Dynamic Earth, plus stargazing events at community venues across the island with Stephen Mackintosh of Highland Astronomy, who will take audiences on a walk to some of Lewis and Harris’s best stargazing spots.
Chasing the Aurora is an online talk by astrophotographer Wil Cheung in partnership with Outer Hebrides Tourism.
Festival director Andrew Eaton-Lewis said: "The Isle of Lewis is an extraordinarily beautiful place to be in winter, with truly spectacular views of the night sky and the Northern Lights; it’s always a pleasure to celebrate that in the company of so many inspiring artists and astronomers. Hopefully the stars will come out for us once again, but we’ve got a packed line-up of indoor events exploring astronomy, the night sky and our relationship with darkness through music, theatre, film, visual art, and workshops.
"We’re very grateful to Caledonian MacBrayne and all of our festival partners for their continued support.”