Under An Island Star

For those who linger after dusk, the Hebrides offer a rare encounter with the cosmos

- COINNEACH MacLEOD

NOVEMBER on the islands always feels like a turning point. The long, bright days of summer are well behind us, and we've cooried in through the storms of October.

Now the nights close in quickly, and by teatime the croft is already wrapped in darkness.

But the winter months on the island have their own kind of beauty. With only a few precious hours of daylight, step outside on a still November night and you'll see why folk travel from all over the world to stargaze here.

Just 570 miles from the Arctic Circle, the skies above the Outer Hebrides – according to the Stornoway Astronomical Society – hold the distinction of being the darkest in all of Scotland.

Here, the Milky Way stretches like a silver river across the sky, and on lucky nights those Merry Dancers, the Northern Lights (Na Fir-chlis), sweep their colours across the horizon.

In Gaelic tradition they are nimble men leaping through the heavens, while in Norway the aurora is linked to the Valkyries – warrior women whose armour was said to cast shimmering light across the night sky.

Islanders have always looked to the heavens for guidance, comfort and stories. Villagers would point out An Reul-iùil – the North Star. While other stars wheel around, it stays steady, always showing the way north.