By Sean Fagan
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The moon and the planet Venus - bearing down their luminous presence from the southern sky over the river Liffey, Dublin, Ireland (Photo: Sean Fagan).

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A great nocturnal activity is astronomy - which can be done in urban, rural and wilderness areas.

In the photo above, is the planet Venus and the moon. Both these celestial objects can often be seen during the longer nights of winter - they are also reliable, night-time navigational markers and well worth using with a map and compass - when navigating at night.

A reoccurring attitude I often come across is that the long, cold nights of winter are not an enjoyable time to be outdoors.

I couldn’t disagree more.

There is a magic to winter and a large part of its allure is the night sky.

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