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Keen of Hamar

DA DAY DAWN

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A stylized illustration of a bright yellow sun rising over a dark, rocky hill against a navy blue sky, with golden rays of light extending upward.

The Earthly Observatory

Stepping onto the Keen of Hamar feels like stepping into another world.

This “serpentine barrens” is a rare geological wonder, where the rocky, crushed-stone ground prevents most large plants from growing, leaving a vast, open expanse. In the absence of trees or tall buildings, the horizon here is absolute.

For thousands of years, this site has served as a natural observatory.

Because there is nothing to block your view, the Keen of Hamar allows you to witness the sky in its entirety.

It is the perfect place to observe the “Big Dance”—the dramatic, shifting journey the sun takes across the Shetland sky as the seasons turn.

Solstice

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Listen to an explanation of the changing position of sunrise at 60 degrees north in Unst. Written by Fabien Kuntz and read by Derek Jamieson

Read Along

Da Day Dawn

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Da Day Dawn is a traditional fiddle tune, played here by Angela Fraser. Recorded in 2021 for the Wild Skies Shetland project.

Caald Nights o’ Winter

Caald Nights o’ Winter is a traditional Shetland reel. You can listen to it played by William Hunter (1902–1984), recorded in 1955, on the Tobar an Dualchais/Kist o Riches website.

© ‘Caald Nights O Winter’, William Hunter (contributor), Calum Iain MacLean, (fieldworker), ref. SA1955.114.3, The School of Scottish Studies Archive, The University of Edinburgh

An educational diagram showing a person looking toward the sea with the different sunrise positions for the Summer Solstice, Equinox, and Winter Solstice marked across the horizon.

The Sun’s Seasonal Journey

At the Keen of Hamar, the wide, unobstructed horizon provides a natural observatory.

Because Unst is so far north, the difference between where the sun rises in June versus December is dramatic.

From this rocky vantage point, you can see the ‘footprints’ of the seasons as the sun marches back and forth along the edge of the world.

Visit Keen of Hamar [W3W: poets.jabs.truly] 

Solstice

Sitting on the bench looking straight out to sea you are facing east. Slightly down to your right there’s Balta and a little bit further away is Huney. Even further to your right, in a more southerly direction, you are looking down over Baltasound. Here at the top of the Keen of Hamar we find ourselves with a magnificent view out over the horizon that allows us to observe fascinating astronomical phenomena.

Sitting here you are facing directly east so the sun would rise right in front of you on two days of the year – the Spring equinox in April and the Autumn equinox in September.

Day after day after the Spring equinox the sun will rise more towards the north to your left as it approaches the summer solstice in June. Then after that it will rise slightly further south each day rising directly east at the Autumn equinox then continue to rise slightly further south each day towards Baltasound, to your right, until the winter solstice.

The word solstice actually comes from the Latin ‘sol’ meaning ‘the sun’, for example in parasol meaning to protect from the sun and ‘stice’ meaning ‘stop’ for example in armistice = to stop using weapons. So, solstice literally means ‘the day when the sun stops’ – stops going any further north at the summer solstice and stops going any further south at the winter solstice.

The impressive thing here in Shetland is that due to our high latitude these shifts between summer and winter are quite extreme. In Shetland on a summer’s day, in June or July, the sun will be above the horizon for over 18 hours but in winter, in December and January, it will only be above the horizon for less than 6 hours.

Sitting on the bench facing east if you open your arms wide, as if to greet an old friend, your hands will indicate the position of the sunrise at the two solstices. Your left hand shows where the sun will rise in midsummer, and your right hand where it will rise in midwinter. Not surprisingly, then, the lengths of the days are so different here between summer and winter.

 

Saxa Vord

Unst Heritage Centre

Viking Haroldswick

Keen of Hamar

Swinna Ness

Halligarth

Framgord

Muness

Belmont

Lund

Collaster

Houlland

Hermaness

Planetary Trail