Follow our epic journey to see the Major Lunar Standstill when we travelled from Brighton to Lewis in the Outer Hebrides in June and July last year

On the 2006 calendar we featured the Lunar standstill which had it's most spectacular viewing at the standing stones of Callanish during the full Moons of May June and July 2006.

Click here for an indepth look at the astronomy of the Lunar Standstill and what a lunar standstill actually is.

And here to download the Moonrise and set calculator.

Behold the Movements of the Heavenly Bodies
The ancient people of this earth were very aware of the movement of the Sun and Moon because they watched the heavens and lived in harmony with the land. During their observations, they noted that the Sun was high in the sky in summer and low in winter and that the moon was low in the sky in summer and high in winter. Reversing their positions.

The path of the Sun is called the ecliptic and the Sun never deviates from this path. The Moon in its cycle swings 5� north or south of the apparent path of the sun. This swing creates extremities giving the Moon a most southerly and northerly standstill point. When the Moon is at its most southerly standstill, at extreme latitudes north, it rises and only just skims the horizon. The last time the Moon reached this point was in 1987 and it happened again in 2006.

Due to the northerly latitude of the British Isles and especially at the beautiful stone circle of Callanish on the western Isles of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, there is an amazing phenomenon to be seen. In March and September of 2006, the Moon will reached its most southerly declination. However, the most impressive viewing was the full moon of July 2006, which was the fullest Moon at its most southerly declination. The phenomena we saw (between the clouds) was the Moon rising out of the sleeping beauty in the Parc Mountains, just skimming the horizon and setting in the beautiful stone circle of Callanish. This was a truly rare phenomena only happening every 18.6 years.

Quote
“The historian Diodorus of Sicily wrote in 50 BC that from a circular temple on the island of Hyperborean, the moon appeared to be close to the Earth and that the gods visited the island every 19 years.” 
The Lure of the Heavens – a history of astrology by Donald Papon
Linda Day


The Sleeping Beauty Hill range by Gerald Ponting

Here's a link to an excellent site about Callanish
http://home.clara.net/gponting/index-page4.html

and a lovely book all about Callanish

Callanish and other megalithic sites of the Outer Hebrides

And here are two lovely books written by Jill Smith who lived on Callanish for ten years and experienced the lunar standstill of 1987. Her books are inspirational as well as informative.
Please click on a book to link to Jill Smith's site to order.