Astrophotography
Glendalough
Glendalough, in the heart of the Wicklow Mountains, is one of my most-visited locations for astrophotography in Ireland. The combination of relatively dark skies — among the darkest within easy reach of Dublin — and the density of early medieval structures makes it unlike anywhere else I shoot. St Kevin's Church, the Round Tower, and plenty of Celtic crosses are all contained within the monastic graveyard, meaning every composition has layers of history in the foreground.
This image was captured in late September, when Cygnus sits above the western horizon after dark. The Northern Cross sits directly above St Kevin's Church — an alignment that drew me back to this spot. The Heart and Soul Nebulae, usually only accessible through a telescope, are visible above the Round Tower in a longer tracked exposure from the same location.
The graveyard itself offers no shortage of compositions — move a few metres and the relationship between the crosses, the church, and the sky changes entirely. The valley sits at roughly Bortle 4 on a good night, making it one of the more accessible dark sky locations for photographers based in the east of Ireland.
St Kevin's Church, Glendalough, Co. Wicklow — the Milky Way through Cygnus over one of Ireland's most important early Christian sites.
The Glendalough Round Tower under a clear spring sky, with the Heart and Soul Nebulae glowing in hydrogen-alpha above the Wicklow hills.
Glendalough, Co. Wicklow — the Milky Way through Cygnus rising behind a Celtic cross in the monastic graveyard.
Lough Lene, Co. Westmeath — Orion above the lake on a clear winter night.
Classiebawn Castle, Co. Sligo — Orion above the Atlantic, with Barnard's Loop arcing through the winter Milky Way.
Cygnus over Loughcrew Cairns
Cygnus and the summer Milky Way setting over the stone circle on Slieve na Calliagh, Co. Meath. Loughcrew is one of Ireland's great Neolithic megalithic complexes, broadly contemporary with Newgrange and the Boyne Valley tombs at over 5,000 years old. At roughly Bortle 3, the hilltop offers some of the darkest skies in Leinster — on a clear night the Milky Way is clearly visible from the cairn, though the nebulae of Cygnus only reveal themselves through a camera and longer exposures. The town glow of Oldcastle sits on the horizon to the west and can wash out the lower sky in that direction, so compositions facing north or east tend to give the cleanest results.