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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 10
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