Heavens above! Starry idea to prolong life of air bases
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Maarten de Vries at the Highlands Astronomical Society's observatory at Culloden
FACED with the threatened closure of its RAF bases, people in Moray are looking to the heavens for salvation of an economic rather than spiritual nature.
With Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic considering Lossiemouth as a possible space flight base for its space flights, Moray Chamber of Commerce has been looking at other ways of using our fascination with space to bring down-to-earth benefits.
One proposal is the Moray Space Wheel, a space station-shaped permanent centre housing an exhibition, planetarium, space flight simulator, educational facilities, shop and restaurant.
The original idea came from Black Isle’s Maarten de Vries, a member of Going Nova, a group interested in using science and technology as a way of stimulating economic growth in Moray.
"If you look at any decent spaceport in the world, they attract a lot of visitors," he pointed out.
It is now up to the people of Moray, whether through its Chamber of Commerce, council or Highlands and Islands Enterprise to see if they want to take the Space Wheel beyond the idea stage, Maarten added.
What is also important is to encourage organisations like Virgin Galactic whatever way possible and Maarten pointed out the UK Government has taken an important first step by changing the legislation to allow space flights to use UK airports.
"It’s a step in the right direction and goes to show that the government is quite serious," he said.
Dutchman Maarten, who has lived in Scotland for 20 years and the Highlands for the last 13 and was a regular contributor to The Inverness Courier’s Seeing Stars column, is no longer as involved in Going Nova as he once was.
However, the British Science Association member is still a keen advocate of the benefits science can bring.
"The science side of things up to now has been something of a hobby," he said.
"I’m a very keen astronomer with Highlands Astronomical Society and I’m a keen amateur physicist, but my background is engineering and computing.
"From that point of view, I am related to science and technology. But I’m not a scientist. Or at least not yet. It may well come, because I’m seriously considering studying the subject."
Maarten and his colleagues Howie Firth and Bill Graham also founded Cafe Scientifique, which was designed to offer an informal venue in which to discuss and promote science issues in the Inverness area. Unfortunately the initiative did not survive the loss of its regular home at Borders bookstore.
"It’s really difficult to make these things pay for themselves," Maarten sighed.
"Several attempts have been made to have science festivals in Inverness, but though they were successful in that they attracted a lot of attention and were enjoyed by the people who went there, the problem is trying to make them sustainable."
Though Maarten has not ruled out the possibility of Cafe Scientifique reconvening again, at the moment that seems unlikely.
"There’s great interest, but trying to organise these things is a lot of work," he said.
Fortunately the Highlands Astronomical Society (HAS) and its Moray counterpart, SIGMA, seem to have found their own niche and continue to run events.
"HAS is really riding high at the moment, and that culminated in 2008 when we opened the new observatory at Culloden Battlefield," Maarten said.
This has proven to be popular not only with keen astronomers. An average of 60 people attend observatory open days and with usual venue Smithton and Culloden Free Church ready to welcome the society back after being closed for extension work, its regular programme of public talks can resume.
"I believe the society now has something like 100 members, which for any society in this area is pretty good," Maarten said.
"The speakers we get are of a very good calibre. A good proportion of the talks are from professional astronomers and scientists.
"You meet so many like minded people who like to share an interest in all sorts of things and the membership goes from people who just enjoy the talk to some who are pretty clued up and one or two members who go round the globe chasing solar eclipses and things like that."
Astronomy has also been given something of a boost by the Dark Sky Scotland initiative to combat light pollution and the 2010 Year of Astronomy.
On television, Professor Brian Cox has also been doing his bit to get Britain watching the skies — though Maarten admits he does get irritated with science and nature programmes which insist on having their presenters permanently on screen.
"I’m sure Brian Cox is a very nice chap, but I don’t need to see his face all the time!" Maarten declared — a statement that female fans of the pop star turned pop scientist may disagree with. "But the story is very impressive and the way that he does it is very understandable."
However, Highland stargazers are more fortunate than Professor Cox’s viewers elsewhere in the UK thanks to our clear skies and lack of light pollution from major cities.
"The Highlands are extremely good for this kind and the Moray Firth area even more so because it is famous for actually being quite cloud free," Maarten pointed out.
"The skies are immaculate. You can, quite quickly, get away from any light pollution and see the most incredible skies.
"Here where I live in the Black Isle, instantly you can see the Milky Way. You wait five or 10 minutes until your eyes adapt and it’s just glorious without any optical aid whatsoever. Pick up a simple pair of binoculars and what you can see is stunning."
To get the most out of Highland skies, Maarten has recently turned to video astronomy.
"The equipment has become so affordable that you can easily stick a video camera to your telescope," he said.
"The one I have is easily 10 times more light sensitive than the naked eye. Even something like the Horsehead Nebula in Orion is visible with quite a small telescope using video astronomy. But again you need dark skies because as soon as the tiniest bit of light pollution appears, you lose the contrast."
This is why astronomers in the north are so keen to preserve our dark skies and this too could present another business opportunity for the area, Maarten believes.
"You see some guest houses already promoting dark skies," he said.
"It would be fantastic to get some of Highland areas dark sky status, as they have in Galloway. That would be a fantastic opportunity to attract people who are interested in astronomy and the stars."
It is a very different proposition from Maarten’s native Netherlands where you are never more than 30 kilometres from a major city.
"When I came to the Highlands, I couldn’t believe the skies," he said.
"That’s a major reason I took up the hobby again. I never actually owned a telescope until I came here. I was blown away when I did and I’ve never looked back."
