Stargazing at Loch Insh

Name: Stargazing at Loch Insh
Start: 2024-03-02T20:00:00+00:00
End: 2024-03-02T22:00:00+00:00
Location: Loch Insh Outdoor Centre

Saturday 2nd March 2024 from 20:00pm to 22:00pm

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Loch Insh Outdoor Centre
Insh Hall, Kincraig, Inverness-shire, PH21 1NU, null Scotland

Discover the magic of the outdoors after dark in the Cairngorms National Park with our stargazing experience. Loch Insh is a tremendous dark skies area just outside the local village.

The emphasis is on naked-eye observation, but we will also teach you how to use your smartphones (make sure they are fully charged), and you could bring binoculars if you have them.

Wrap yourself up nicely, as we will spend a good hour outdoors, weather permitting. Bring a low light torch to make walking in the woodland trails easier. Our guides will lead you to magical local places to capture fantastic night photos on your smartphone or camera. The dark trees provide a dramatic contrast to the night sky.

In Scotland, cloudy skies are a fact of life, but we get clear skies and even the Northern lights. You never know what you’re going to get.

We’ll do everything possible to create a memorable experience for you and your loved ones. You’ll leave knowing a great deal more about stargazing than the majority of people.

Please note that this has already taken place on 02/03/2024

Event booking

Please book tickets for this event via the Loch Insh website.

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Event darkness

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 if and when the skies will be at their darkest during this event. 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.

Sat 2nd Mar

Third Quarter

66 % illuminated

Dark from 19:13 to 02:58

Dark for 7h 44m

Local light pollution

Loch Insh Outdoor Centre is estimated to have light pollution levels similar to adark site dark site location based on the latest data from the VIIRS satellite.