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Castlehill Heritage Centre

Castlehill Heritage Centre

Castletown, Caithness, Caithness, KW14 8TG

Best time to visit

Car park and regular location for stargazing events by Caithness Astronomy Group.

Castlehill Heritage Centre is a Dark Sky Discovery Site, an officially recognised place where anyone can stargaze. Most such locations have overnight parking (sometimes with a fee); however, many do not allow overnight camping. There may or may not be toilet facilities.

Location events organiser

Caithness Astronomy Group

Caithness Astronomy Group organises events at this location

Please contact Caithness Astronomy Group directly with any enquiries relating to visiting this location

Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.spanglefish.com/caithnessastronomygroup
Facebook: Caithness Astronomy Group

Weather forecast

  • 08/08/22

    16° 58%

  • 08/08/22

    15° 19%

  • 09/08/22

    14° 9%

  • 09/08/22

    14° 13%

Weather forecast for Dunnet Bay - Murkle Bay/dunnet (beach) (1.2 miles away) updated 07/08/22 at 20:00.

Local light pollution

Castlehill Heritage Centre is estimated to have light pollution levels similar to arural rural location based on data from the VIIRS satellite.

The above demonstrates the estimated effect of light pollution - graphics created using Stellarium.

Light pollution map of Castlehill Heritage Centre

Best time to visit

The Moon has a big impact on the visibility of celestial bodies in the night sky. Try to plan your stargazing when there is no bright Moon at night as this is when the skies will be at their darkest.

The below chart shows when the skies will be at their darkest at this location and therefore the best time to visit. Moonlight is shown in light yellow and the Sun's twilight in light blue. Midnight on the date shown is shown as a white line with sunset to the left and sunrise the next morning to the right. A black background with stars shows the best times for stargazing. See our dark sky calendar for more details.

Mon 8th Aug

Waxing Gibbous
77% illuminated
Dark from 23:30 to 02:13
Dark for 2h 43m

Tue 9th Aug

Waxing Gibbous
87% illuminated
Dark from 00:43 to 02:18
Dark for 1h 35m

Wed 10th Aug

Waxing Gibbous
94% illuminated
Dark from 22:19 to 02:22
Dark for 4h 2m

Thu 11th Aug

Full Moon
98% illuminated
NO DARKNESS

Fri 12th Aug

Full Moon
100% illuminated
NO DARKNESS

Sat 13th Aug

Full Moon
99% illuminated
NO DARKNESS

Sun 14th Aug

Waning Gibbous
95% illuminated
NO DARKNESS

Find more dates

If you are planning to visit this location check our dark sky calendar to find out when is best!

Calendar

Events nearby

No events found

Stay and gaze nearby

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