Star in the Countryside

11/10/2026

10/10/2026

AURORA ALERT: Look into the sky Northumberland!

Our resident astronomer Dr Adrian Jannetta FRAS captured this stunning display this evening, purple and green curtains dancing over the horizon.

Why the colours? Green = oxygen at ∼100km up, Purple = nitrogen at higher altitudes - all caused by solar particles hitting our atmosphere.

📸 Dr Adrian Jannetta FRAS

Northumberland

If you managed to get a picture, tag us and we’ll share the best ones in our stories.

06/10/2026

Happy World Space Week! 🌍🛰️

Every Oct 4-10 we mark two milestones: the launch of Sputnik 1 (Oct 4, 1957) and the signing of the Outer Space Treaty (Oct 10, 1967).

2026 theme: "Rocket Revolution" 🚀

From SpaceX and ULA to student-built rockets, launch costs have fallen 90% in a decade. That's opened space to weather forecasting, farming tech, GPS, and internet for rural areas - tech we use every day here in Northumberland.

The largest space event on Earth - over 50,000 events in 100+ countries this week.

www.worldspaceweek.org/

05/10/2026

🌙✨ A month beneath the night sky

There’s a little instrument sitting quietly at Bulby’s Wood that watches something most of us simply look up and admire — the darkness of our night sky.

Throughout September, the TESS-W light monitor recorded the changing brightness above the Valley, minute by minute.

And on 16 September, it recorded a remarkable reading of:

🌌 22.74 mag/arcsec²

The higher the number, the darker the sky — and this was the darkest individual reading recorded by the monitor during the month.

Then, as September drew towards its close, the Harvest Moon illuminated our landscape on 26 September. 🌕🌾

The monitor doesn’t just tell us whether it is dark outside. Over time, these measurements can help us see the effects of moonlight, cloud, changing seasons and artificial light on the night sky above the valley.

🏞️ Bulby’s Wood, Ingram Valley
🔭 TESS-W stars1155
🌌 Darkest recorded September reading: 22.74 mag/arcsec²

Protecting dark skies starts with measuring them.

04/10/2026

What a wonderful night celebrating a very special Birthday and Anniversary last night. Oxford University and Exeter University alumni too. Just amazing 🤩

A river of stars poured down the sky.

Our resident Astronomer, Dr Adrian Jannetta, Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, took this fantastic picture of the Milky Way 🌌 That soft, luminous cloud straight down the middle isn’t a cloud at all - it’s the heart of our Milky Way. Millions of distant suns, so many and so far that their light melts together.

Below, quiet trees stood watching, dark against a horizon that still held a faint, amber glow from the world far away.

27/09/2026

Harvest Moon from Northumberland 🌕

Harvest Moon - 26.09.26

Captured last night over Northumberland with the Seestar S30.
The Harvest Moon - the full moon closest to the autumn equinox, traditionally giving extra light for farmers bringing in the harvest.

Close up of the southern highlands showing Tycho crater - that bright ray crater is 85km wide and around 108 million years old.

Image 3 & 4: Andromeda Galaxy (M31) - 2.5 million light years away - with its satellite galaxies M110 and M32 visible in the same field of view.



🔭 📷: LJ Wilson

11/08/2026

Did you know eclipses come in pairs? 🌙☀️
It’s called an "eclipse season" when the Moon lines up just right with the Sun and Earth.

That’s why we’ve got a solar eclipse on 12 August AND a lunar eclipse on 28 August.

Our latest blog covers:
‘What’s happening’ and ‘Why it happens’ and ‘How to watch safely’.

Perfect if you’re planning an Ingram Valley Safaris with us.

Read the full guide via the link in bio.

August 2026 brings two fine astronomical events to the skies over Northumberland. On Wednesday 12 August, the Moon will cover […]

05/05/2026

https://ingramvalleysafaris.co.uk/the-invisible-universe-seeing-the-cosmos-beyond-light/

On a clear night in Northumberland, under some of the darkest skies in England, the stars feel close enough to […]

20/01/2026

https://ingramvalleysafaris.co.uk/jupiter-at-opposition-king-of-the-night-sky/

This month, Jupiter reached opposition. In simple terms, that means Earth lies between Jupiter and the Sun. Jupiter rises at […]

10/01/2026