Astronomy & Natural Wonders
Tributes to the beauty of the universe ...
Click any picture to navigate to the page of interest for more information about this tartan or its associated day.
Norwegian Night
Jan 15
Winter Auroras
This tartan was inspired by the Aurora Borealis in the night sky, frequently seen in Norway. The colours used are: red, blue and white from the Norwegian flag; yellow, white and black are for the Aurora Borealis in the night sky (polar light).
Mars Exploration (Perseverance)
Feb 18
Landing of Mars Rover Perseverance
The colours of this tartan include a red background depicting the surface of Mars; blue depicts the water-rich past of Mars and the presence of water, mainly as ice, on the planet today; the four green lines represent Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun.
Exploration of Titan
Mar 25
Titan Discovery Day
The colours in this tartan specifically represent the organic compounds and chemical processes studied on Saturn's moon Titan.
Aurora
Mar 31
Spring Aurora Watch
This tartan, by designer Carol A.L. Martin, exhibits the beautiful diverse hues of the northern lights.
Solar Eclipse
Apr 8
The Next Great Solar Eclipse (2024)
The solar eclipse tartan, by designer Carol A.L. Martin, was inspired by the partial solar eclipse of Jan. 4th, 2011, seen across Europe.
Distant Galaxy
Apr 24
the Hubble Telescope Launch (1990)
This tartan, designed by Carol A.L. Martin, was inspired by the images seen through the Hubble telescope.
Infra-Red
May 7
Astronomy Day (Spring)
This tartan, by designer Carol A.L. Martin, was designed to illustrate the long wavelengths beyond visible light such as thermal radiation.
New Star
May 7
Astronomy Day (Spring)
This tartan, designed by Carol A.L. Martin, references the colours of the birthplace of new stars, huge, cold clouds of gas and dust, known as 'nebulas'.
Star Trails
May 7
Astronomy Day (Spring)
This tartan, designed by Carol A.L. Martin, illustrates the long-exposure photography of stars as they appear to move across the sky, leaving colourful trails.
Sunspots
May 7
Astronomy Day (Spring)
This tartan, designed by Carol A.L. Martin, explores the variation of colours exhibited by the active sun.
Full Moons
May 15
"Flower Moon" Eclipse (2021)
Designed by Carol A.L. Martin, this tartan was inspired by two full moons in 2009.
Milky Way
May 21
Milky Way Viewing Season
This tartan, designed by Carol A.L. Martin, represents a view of the Milky Way with the light bands showing the concentration of stars located in the direction of the galactic plane along with the dark regions in the Zone of Avoidance where the light is blocked by interstellar dust. The red lines represent the cosmological red shift, due to the expansion of the universe.
Solar Eclipse
Jun 10
Ring of Fire Eclipse (2021)
The solar eclipse tartan, by designer Carol A.L. Martin, was inspired by the partial solar eclipse of Jan. 4th, 2011, seen across Europe.
Moon and Airless Bodies
Jun 30
Asteroid Day
This tartan was designed to celebrate robotic and human science, exploration and outreach activities associated with the Moon or other airless bodies including asteroids, comets, Kuiper Belt Objects or other objects.
Lunar
Jul 20
Moon Landing
This tartan's colours emphasize the black, brown and grey from the lunar rock brought back to earth by the Apollo missions and the red for the rocket flame.
NASA Apollo 11 Moon Landing and Moon Walk
Jul 20
Apollo 11 Moon Walk Day
This tartan's colours emphasize the black, brown and grey from the lunar rock brought back to earth by the Apollo missions and the red for the rocket flame.
Comet
Jul 28
Comet Day (2061)
By designer Carol A.L. Martin, this tartans uses colours that represent a comet as it reaches perihelion in the night sky.
Twinkle
Aug 11
The Dog Days of Summer & Perseids
This tartan, by Carol A.L. Martin, represents a twinkling star in a dark night sky.
Dark Island (Black Moon)
Aug 18
Black Moon (2020)
The blackest of black tartans! Find out how the tartan pattern is created with a single colour!
Blue Moon (Hallowe'en)
Aug 22
Hallowe'en Blue Moon (2021)
This tartan was inspired by the shadows cast on the snow by the full moon.
Flare
Sep 2
The Carrington Event of 1859
This fiery tartan by designer Carol A.L. Martin, replicates the hot colors of the sun against the black of empty space.
Harvest Moon
Sep 20
Harvest Moon
By designer Carol A.L. Martin, this tartan was inspired by the colours of a bright Harvest Moon in the autumn night.
Aurora Borealis
Sep 30
Fall Aurora Watch
This tartan, by designer Carol A.L. Martin, exhibits the beautiful diverse hues of the northern lights.
Astrobiology
Oct 9
Astronomy Day (Fall)
The tartan colours were chosen specifically for the field of Astrobiology, the branch of biology concerned with the study of life on earth and in space.
Seek the Peak - Mount Washington Observatory
Oct 9
Astronomy Day (Fall)
Sol
Oct 15
Last of Summer Days
By designer Carol A.L. Martin, this tartan reflects the muted yellows in autumn when the sun is low in the sky.
Green Flash
Oct 23
Ghosts & Phantoms Night
Tartan design by Carol A.L. Martin
Planetary Transit
Nov 13
Planetary Transit of Mercury (2032)
Designed by Arpin Pierre for the last transit of Venus which occurred in June 2012.
Umbra
Nov 18
Lunar Eclipse (2021)
Designed by Carol A.L. Martin, this tartan uses amongst shades of black, white, and gray, a special color called "eclipse"!
Black Hole
Nov 26
Black Hole Friday
Designed by Carol A.L. Martin, this tartan is designed to reflect the fundamentals of our universe - galaxies, black holes and quasars.
Orion Nebula
Nov 26
Orion Nebula Day
The colours in this tartan represent the beautiful spectrum of light emitted from the Orion nebula, one of the most beautiful astronomical objects easily visible in the night sky.
Mars Exploration
Nov 28
Red Planet Day
The colours of this tartan include a red background depicting the surface of Mars; blue depicts the water-rich past of Mars and the presence of water, mainly as ice, on the planet today; the four green lines represent Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun.
Moon Shadows
Dec 18
Full Moon (Cold Moon)
By designer Carol A.L. Martin, this tartan was inspired by the shadows of a full moon on a winter's night.
Dark Sky
Dec 21
The Winter Solstice
This tartan was designed by Dale Stevenson for the Dark Sky Observatory in Dalmellington using colours that reflect the night sky.
Aurora Borealis
Jan 15
Winter Auroras
Auroras are produced when the magnetosphere is sufficiently disturbed by the solar wind, which carries charged particles mainly in the form of electrons and protons, and precipitates them into the upper atmosphere (thermosphere/exosphere), where their energy is lost.
Mars
Feb 18
Landing of Mars Rover Perseverance
tracks from Curiosity Rover
Titan's phases
Mar 25
Titan Discovery Day
Titan is the largest moon of Saturn. It is the only moon known to have a dense atmosphere, and the only object in space, other than Earth, where clear evidence of stable bodies of surface liquid has been found.
Aurora on the Isle of Lewis
Mar 31
Spring Aurora Watch
The aurora is caused by the interaction of solar wind - a stream of charged particles escaping the sun - and Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere.
Partial Solar Eclipse
Apr 8
The Next Great Solar Eclipse (2024)
The great solar of eclipse of 2017, resulted in the moon's penumbral shadow yielding a partial eclipse visible from a large region covering most of North America.
Hubble Image
Apr 24
the Hubble Telescope Launch (1990)
A giant cluster of about 3000 stars called Westerlund 2. The cluster resides in a raucous stellar breeding ground known as Gum 29, located 20 000 light-years away in the constellation Carina - photo: NASA
Infra Red Photography
May 7
Astronomy Day (Spring)
Long wavelengths, such as infra-red or radio waves can make it through the Earth's atmosphere without significant obstacles. In fact, radio telescopes can observe even on cloudy days.
Serpens Cloud Core
May 7
Astronomy Day (Spring)
According to our best available estimates, stars having about 90 percent of the sun's mass are just now starting to die in the globulars. These stars are most probably around 15 billion years old, but they could conceivably be as young as 12 billion years or as old as 18 billion years.
Star trails
May 7
Astronomy Day (Spring)
Photography by Lincoln Harrison - There are two methods popular with star photographers – using one very long exposure (long enough to register some noticeable star movement; at least 30 minutes) OR taking many shorter exposures and stacking those images in a way that shows sequential movement.
Sunspots
May 7
Astronomy Day (Spring)
Sunspots tend to appear in cycles of 11 years and can sometimes erupt into powerful solar storms that shoot streams of charged particles into space, occasionally in the direction of Earth. Some solar storms can bombard Earth's magnetic field and disrupt power grids or knock out satellites in orbit!
A Penumbral Eclipse
May 15
"Flower Moon" Eclipse (2021)
The moon, framed by ashes from the Mount Sinabung volcano, penumbral eclipse from Karo in North Sumatra province on August 8, 2017
The Milky Way
May 21
Milky Way Viewing Season
In western culture, the name "Milky Way" is derived from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky. The term is derived from the Hellenistic Greek for "milky circle." In Greek mythology, the Milky Way was supposedly made from the forceful suckling of Heracles, as Hera acted as a wet nurse.
Partial Solar Eclipse
Jun 10
Ring of Fire Eclipse (2021)
Vesta
Jun 30
Asteroid Day
Many features of the moon are named after famous individuals. Amongst others, several craters of the moon are named after Scottish scientists, including John Napier, and James Clerk Maxwell.
Lunar Walk
Jul 20
Moon Landing
Panorama created from photos taken on the fourth crewed Moon mission, Apollo 15, which landed in August of 1971
Moon Landing, July 21, 1969
Jul 20
Apollo 11 Moon Walk Day
Astronaut Neil Armstrong on the moon's surface
Comet Hale-Bopp, 1997
Jul 28
Comet Day (2061)
As a comet gets closer to the Sun, some of its frozen gases sublimate creating a coma – a bright envelope of atmosphere that surrounds a comet. These gases can reflect sunlight which is visible in the form of two tails. The ion tail – a collection of charged particles pushed away by the solar wind – will begin to glow with a blue tint.
Starry Night
Aug 11
The Dog Days of Summer & Perseids
The Dog Days of summer, generally reckoned to begin July 3rd and ending August 11th, coinciding with the rising of the Dog Star, Sirius, in the constellation Canis Major.
Almost a New Moon
Aug 18
Black Moon (2020)
The term black moon refers to an additional new moon that appears in a month or in a season. It may also refer to the absence of a full moon or of a new moon in a month.
Blue Moon Shadows
Aug 22
Hallowe'en Blue Moon (2021)
Astronomically, a "blue moon" is an additional full moon that appears in a subdivision of a year: either the third of four full moons in a season, or a second full moon in a month of the common calendar, depending on the astronomical or the current common definition.
Solar Flare
Sep 2
The Carrington Event of 1859
Massive solar flares are sometimes accompanied by coronal mass ejections which can trigger geomagnetic storms that have been known to disable satellites and knock out terrestrial electric power grids for extended periods of time.
Wheat in the Night
Sep 20
Harvest Moon
Harvest Moons often appear larger and more colourful than other moons of the year, aided by the tilt of the earth and reflections from the atmosphere.
Aurora on the Isle of Lewis
Sep 30
Fall Aurora Watch
The aurora is caused by the interaction of solar wind - a stream of charged particles escaping the sun - and Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere.
Artistic rendering of a terra-formed Mars
Oct 9
Astronomy Day (Fall)
Astrobiology is a branch of biology concerned with the origins, early evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe. Astrobiology considers the question of whether extraterrestrial life exists, and how humans can detect it if it does.
Oct 9
Astronomy Day (Fall)
Indian Summer Hudson River
Oct 15
Last of Summer Days
“Indian summer” is a phrase most North Americans use to describe an unseasonably warm and sunny patch of weather during autumn.
Green Flash
Oct 23
Ghosts & Phantoms Night
Green flashes and green rays are rare optical phenomena that occur shortly after sunset or before sunrise, usually observed from a low altitude where there is an unobstructed view of the horizon, such as on the ocean.
2016 Transit of Mercury
Nov 13
Planetary Transit of Mercury (2032)
As seen from Earth, Mercury appears to cross the disk of the sun — an event known as a transit — only about 13 times per century.
The Earth's Umbra
Nov 18
Lunar Eclipse (2021)
This composite image uses successive pictures recorded during the eclipse from Athens, Greece to trace out a large part of the umbra's curved edge.
