The Roe Valley News Browser January 2015

The comet Lovejoy

We know that some of our readers take a great interest in the night sky, so here is a view of the constellation Orion with the lights of the Roe Valley looking towards Dungiven on the right. Our photograph also shows the comet Lovejoy. As you need the eyes of an eagle and the patience of a sleepy rock to actually spot this faint object, we have provided a marker and an enlarged inset. On the inset look for a hazy blue object middle two thirds to the right. The night was clear but the moon was bright, hence the rather poor quality of our picture. During the next few days Lovejoy will rise in the sky and pass to the right of Orion. Given clear skies and no moon a pair of binoculars should easily reveal the distant visitor.

The first snows of Winter

The photograph on the left was taken on the 14th of this month after a somewhat snowy night. This had the usual effect of closing schools, interrupting bus services and thus giving youngsters plenty of time to make snowballs to pelt at passing cars.

Out in the countryside the snow was somewhat deeper than in the towns as our photograph of a lane on Benevenagh clearly shows. However, Jessie the news-hound reported that the lane was passable on ~~-foot~~ paw.

Have you seen this god?

A rather strange crime has been committed on top of Benevenagh mountain. Local readers will remember that the council erected various statues of mythological significance all around the valley. The rather nice statue on the right showing an ancient Irish sea-god with the rather complicated name of Manannan mac Lir was erected in 2013 and the Newsbrowser had an article about this of course. Well, it appears that this statue has been stolen. In its place was left a cross with an inscription that there should be no statue of gods other than the god the thieves happened to prefer.

Below is a picture of what said gentlemen left behind.

The missing god

Our tireless reporter went to investigate the moment the news broke. As can be seen from our final photograph, the thieves must have used a chainsaw to cut the legs and steel support Is this evidence?

of the statue and went from hence - leaving a rather forlorn looking half boat stranded high on Benevenagh mountain.

It is not known when the crime was committed. Benevenagh was covered in snow during the last few days and the road to the Gortmore viewing point was still very treacherous, so few people would have come by to enjoy the view.
Not on this day though. Our reporter met one local photographer and one reporter each for both radio and television.
It could only happen on Benevenagh!

The

Roe Valley Newsbrowser on-line since 1997

January 2015

The comet Lovejoy

The first snows of Winter

Have you seen this god?