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My name is Martin McKenna, I'm an amateur astronomer, storm chaser and photographer in N. Ireland

02/11/2026

Nice Autumn colours on a beautiful sunny day at Springhill House, Moneymore this morning.

02/11/2026

Classic 22 degree sun halo today outside Cookstown formed on bands of cirrus cloud rich in ice crystals.

01/11/2026

Killymoon Castle looking beautiful today surrounded by rich Autumn colours. A really lovely sunny day and a nice start to the first day of November.

01/11/2026

Killymoon Castle outside Cookstown today with the nicely developing Autumn colours. Two reveals edited together.

31/10/2026

What a beautiful sunny and calm Halloween day with areas of nice Autumn colours. A fragmented front bringing in light rain later though but weakening as it does so, drying up again behind it later.

30/10/2026

If you have clear skies over the next few nights keep an eye out for Taurid meteors and specifically Taurid fireballs. This famous meteor shower has two radiants within Ta**us the Bull, known as the Northern Taurids and Southern Taurids.

On their own they don't produce high rates at all, however with both radiants active at the same time Taurid activity might be close to a ZHR of 10. I know that's not a lot but what they lack in numbers they make up for in brightness.

Taurids originate from the 'Taurid Meteoroid' Complex which has a source composed of Comet 2P/Encke and perhaps several asteroids also, these themselves may have been inert/extinct comet nuclei. Current thinking is a much larger object entered our inner solar system a long time ago and fragmented into many pieces leaving this stream behind.

Every Autumn Earth enters this debris field and produces bright meteors over quite a long time from September into late November and the Halloween period is particularly good to see them.

They can be seen any time of the night however this weekend the evening sky is best before the moon rises later. Taurids can boast orange or even green colours and leave glowing trains in their wake among the stars. A fireball is any meteor brighter than planet Venus, and the Taurids are famous for producing good fireballs!

I've seen Taurids light up the sky as bright as a full moon with smoke trains and vivid colours, on one occasion I even heard a rare sound phenomena associated with one of these fireballs.

So do keep an eye out any clear night this weekend and all through next week for Taurids, they are worth seeing. I wish you clear skies.

29/10/2026

RIP Patrick Stewart, another absolute legend and great actor who will be sadly missed. Even though he is most famous for his role in Star Trek Roisin and I have always loved him as Scrooge in a Christmas Carol, his presence and commanding voice really made him stand out.

29/10/2026

Wellbrook Beetling Mill located outside Cookstown in Co. Tyrone this week. In it's day water from the Ballinderry River would turn the giant wheel sending wooden beetles crashing down on linen. The business was opened in 1764 by Hugh Faulkner who operated it until the price of linen declined.

It was bought over by the Leeper family in 1864 when demand grew again who actually exported produce to New Zealand and Australia.

The National Trust took over the mill in 1970 where it remains to this day. For walkers it remains a nice quiet spot to explore and during NT open days tours are available to explore the inside.

28/10/2026

Looking forward to doing a presentation with the U3A Foyle group this evening on the Aurora Borealis. This is my second year doing talks with this lovely group and the second talk of this season.

27/10/2026

Nice Autumn colours showing today at Drum Manor forest park outside Cookstown. One by drone the rest DSLR.

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