Darkness be my friend

Kielder Observatory in a landscape free of light pollution

As we approached the autumn equinox, the darkening evening skies gave me the notion to seek out the dark skies, away from light pollution, to get a proper view of the night sky.

There are children and probably, adults in this country who have never seen the Milky Way, the "basket handle", arching across above us, the end-on view of our galaxy, our own wee spot in the universe.

Just down the road from us is the Northumberland National Park with its Dark Sky areas.

The whole area is outstandingly beautiful and around Keilder there is a concentration of spots to star gaze.

Skyspace  viewing point

I booked into a great B&B* and settled down to have an evening with the stars. Unfortunately, the observatory was booked for a private event so I was thrown back on my own resources but my hosts made two telescopes available and I had my binoculars.

The gods smiled upon me and the skies cleared for a great view of the southern sky. I am no expert but managed to find the square of Pegasus. Thank goodness for Perseus' mother-in-law, Cassiopeia. The elongated W of her constellation is always easily found and acted as a starting point.

The planets were all too low in the sky for me to see them. At least I think that was why I couldn't find them but as I said I have no expertise only enthusiasm. So, no Mars, Jupiter, Venus or Mercury. None of the old gods were on view.

The next day, full of classical allusions from the heavens, and, being in the area, I drove along the stretch of road that runs, like all Roman roads, in a dead straight line following Hadrian's Wall.

The straight Roman road and wall

At Vindolanda, robbed of its stone over the centuries, you can still catch a glimpse of the might and power of the conquerors. They didn't last. No empires do. Still, the site was occupied for over three hundred years... about six generations or more... a time as long as from the Union of the Parliaments, the creation of Great Britain, until now, except there was no Scotland or England or United Kingdom then. It was Britannia - the most northern province of the Roman Empire. Nations are mere accidents of history

What intrigued me most was a soldier's worn out boot, a caligula, recovered from the rubbish in the ditch and now in the museum. It had once marched along the road I had just driven or stood guard on the fort wall above. Its owner would have shivered in the cold wind from the north and might have looked up at the same stars as I did. There would have been no problem of light pollution for him as he stood on the ramparts.

The legions and cohorts manning the fort seem to have been mostly Gallic. Batavians, Nervians, and Tungrians drawn from what is now the Netherlands and Belgium so the climate wouldn't have been much different to their home but they would have had different names for the constellations. No Greek mythology for them.

Did they see their gods in the skies?
 There are temples to various deities on the Vindolanda site but their stones are mute.

Temple of Jupiter Dolichenus

I must return to the dark skies later in the year. 

*  TWENTY SEVEN B&B