Matthew, Dark Sky Ranger

Name: Matthew, Dark Sky Ranger
Address: Dumfries & Galloway, Dumfries, GB
Telephone: +447548668737
Rating: 5

Home
United Kingdom
Dumfries
Matthew, Dark Sky Ranger

Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Matthew, Dark Sky Ranger, Tour guide, Dumfries & Galloway, Dumfries.

Dark Sky Tours in Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park and wider Dumfries & Galloway, learning about space and star gazing, with the option of high quality photos of your experience.

18/07/2025

Some local protestors are concerned a new wind turbine development could damage the area's dark sky park.

30/06/2025

Summer nights are too light to go start gazing (this photo was taken at 1.00am on Sunday) but they do bring the opportunity to see noctilucent clouds. You can only see these close to the summer solstice and they are worth staying up for. They form about 50 miles up in the mesosphere and are supposed to be pretty rare.

The cool bit for me is that they are made from ice crystals forming on dust from meteors and volcanoes!

If you want to see them yourself, they look as good with the naked eye as in photos (unlike some northern lights images!). You need a clear(ish) night but the weather down here has no effect on what goes on 50 miles above us. You need to be out around midnight and looking north. Just look for the brightest area of sky and enjoy the beauty of it.

Seeing hardly any stars during the summer months gives me real enthusiasm for August, when the new season begins. I always start my dark Sky Tours with the Perseid meteor shower in mid August.

Wishing you clear skies!

11/04/2025

Dumfries and Galloway has the most beautiful sunsets!

Sometimes, you just have to stop and take in the view. The clouds last night meant that it wasn't looking good for stargazing but this view over Galloway Forest was worth travelling for.

Wishing you clear skies.

08/04/2025

I am delighted to be able to run three Dark Sky Tours this week, taking advantage of the wonderfully warm weather and clear skies. If you would like to join me, please let me know.

Wishing you clear skies!

30/03/2025

New Dark Sky Tours available! I will be running public events on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, this week.

Spring has brought clear skies, just in time for us to say farewell to Orion, the most spectacular of the winter constellations, who will soon leave us and not be seen again in the evening skies until October.

Jupiter and Mars are still on show and there are a vast array of constellations to explore. There are also a couple of minor meteor showers and there is a good chance of seeing shooting stars. The northern lights are still quite active, so we just need to be out at the right time.

If you would like to join me for one of these events, please get in touch, via the contact details on the flyer.

Wishing you clear skies!

25/03/2025

We are coming out of the cloudy winter just in time for the northern lights to start their spring displays. Tonight was fairly pale to the naked eye but an 8 second exposure was enough to bring out colour and some faint structures.

Flash the black lab was fairly impressed!

25/02/2025

The Northern Lights make an appearance.

Last night was mostly cloudy but those clouds were backlit quite brightly, so I set up my camera for an 8 second shot, This is what was hiding behind the clouds, subtle shades of green and purple.

After the winter, as the northern hemisphere starts to tilt back towards the sun, we should get the chance to see some more of the spectacular auroras we saw last spring and autumn. Here's hoping!

Speaking of hope, it has been really frustrating to have so many people enthusiastic to join me on Dark Sky Tours but have so few clear nights to get out there. I hope that the spring will bring a change to that and we can be out and about more often.

Wishing you clear skies.

31/01/2025

Tuesday night wasn't just clear. There was also a hint of Northern Lights. You could see the brightness on the northern horizon but the colours stood out quite well in camera shots. As the northern hemisphere starts to tilt back towards the sun, we should start to see more significant showings over the next few months, until the skies get too light to see them after mid-May.

The weather forecast is looking really good for Wednesday and Thursday, so I will definitely be running tours on both nights. They will start at 6.30pm and run until about 8.30-9.00pm. An announcement will follow but you can book now by messaging me directly.

Wishing you clear skies!

29/01/2025

When all you want to do in winter is get out and look up at our wonderfully clear skies, night after night of thick cloud can really start to feel personal. Having only been able to get out once this year, last night was a real treat.

I am calling this photo Home Skies, because it is a look at what we can see from our wee cottage in the woods.

Just above and to the left of the large oak tree is the Beehive Cluster. Mars is above and slightly to the left of the top of the oak. The Milky Way is rising up through the centre of the photo, with Orion to the right of the tree. Move up and slightly to the right and the brightest object is Jupiter, with the Eye of Ta**us glowing red, below and to the right, making it look as if Ta**us has two eyes staring down on us. Finally, above and to the right of Jupiter, The Pleiades Star Cluster (also known as the Seven Sisters) completes the whistlestop tour of the southern skies.

We are supposed to be having some more clear skies on Wednesday and Thursday night, next week, so I will look to run a public Dark Sky Tour at Clatteringshaws, if there is enough interest and the weather doesn't change again.

01/01/2025

Happy New Year! Tonight is the first clear night I have been able to be out since early December and it is beautiful!

There is northern lights activity, with the main feature at the moment being a bright SAR Arc to the south. Venus, Mars and Jupiter are all shining at their brightest, too, and the winter constellations are crystal clear.

I am looking forward to more clear nights like this and getting to share them with lots of you.

Wishing you clear skies for 2025!

25/11/2024

Jupiter: King of the Planets!

King because it is about 2.5 times more massive than all of the other planets combined, it shines really brightly just now because we are approaching our closest to Jupiter for this year. That also means that we can see the brightest four moons of Jupiter, known as the Galilean Moons because of the guy who first pointed a telescope at them, Galileo Galilei, way back in 1610. He spotted these little points of light which he soon observed to be moving around Jupiter and he realised that these must be moons!

Before Galileo, all observations of the night sky were by naked eye viewing, which is the main method we use on Dark Sky Tours and is excellent for seeing the vastness of our galaxy in an area of low light pollution. His most famous telescope had a magnification of x20, which is only slightly smaller than the magnification of the astro-binoculars we also use, meaning we can look closer at Jupiter in much the same way as he did.

This photo was taken on 20th November at 8.45pm and gives a similar perspective to what Galileo would have seen through his eyepiece. The four Galilean Moons are laid out in a line. From the left, we have Europa, Io, Ganymede and Callisto. Io is the closest to Jupiter, with Europa orbiting a bit further out. Then comes Ganymede, with Callisto, far out to the top right, having the longest orbit. The inner three are orbiting so quickly that you can actually observe their orbital paths in relation to Jupiter over the course of an evening!

If you look closely, you can also make out some of the coloured striping of the jet streams on Jupiter!

We have seen so much cloud recently. Although it is really frustrating for a Galloway Forest International Dark Sky Park Ranger and for those who want to join one of my Dark Sky Tours, a look back at previous years shows that this is actually pretty normal for this time of year. The skies will clear! In fact, there are a few nights of clear skies forecast for the middle of this week. I look forward to running some more public Dark Sky Tours soon.

Wishing you clear skies!

24/10/2024

Lots of you have been asking me when I will be running my next Dark Sky Tour and I have not been able to give you an answer. For us to live in such a lush, green landscape takes a lot of rain and this often comes over weeks at a time. The forecast suggests that conditions will start to improve around the middle of next week and I will plan more tours as soon as possible. Credit: BBC Weather for forecast pic.

In the meantime, I shall get back to my stardance!

Wishing you clear skies!

Address

Dumfries & Galloway
Dumfries

Telephone

+447548668737

Website

http://www.darkskyranger.co.uk/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Matthew, Dark Sky Ranger posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Matthew, Dark Sky Ranger: