INQUISITR.COM / Science & Tech

Loch Ness Meteor: ‘Irish Miracle’ Captured In Shooting Star Image

By Dustin Wicksell
Published on: 03:46 PST, Mar 17, 2015

A tour guide from the Scottish highlands has captured a stunning image of a meteor falling over Loch Ness, and though he modestly asserts that the breathtaking photograph was nothing more than a “fluke,” some observers are seeing an “Irish miracle” in the shooting star’s reflection.

John Alasdair Macdonald captured the meteor on film around 9 p.m. on Sunday night, according to the Independent. Macdonald hails from Drumnadrochit, which is located on the western side of Loch Ness, an area famed for its mysterious inhabitant, as the Inquisitr has previously reported. Though Nessie wasn’t to pay him a visit that night, Macdonald set about photographing the stars, unaware that a unique meteor was about to cross his path.

“It had been such a lovely weekend and the sky was so clear, I thought I would nip up the loch and take some photos using by little compact camera which I just point and shoot. I started after eight in the evening taking shots of the night sky with the stars. It was lovely. I had been there for about an hour and was just taking my last shots when this wonderful meteor appeared up the loch.”

As he snapped away, he managed to capture the meteor while it streaked across the loch, lighting up the water with its reflection.

“I’ve never seen a shooting star before, I couldn’t believe it. I quickly checked to see if my camera had picked it up, and it had. My wife called it sheer dumb luck,” he noted. “I wasn’t out looking for it, it was completely unexpected. It was a total fluke.”

Macdonald, 42, operates a tour company, The Hebridean Explorer, and posted the image on the outfit’s Facebook page. The meteor photograph quickly gained traction online, in no small part due to the colors reflecting off the loch below. As the Irish Examiner points out, the meteor reflected three colors on the surface of Loch Ness: green, white, and orange.

In light of the colors in the image, the meteor’s proximity to St. Patrick’s Day wasn’t lost on fans of the holiday, many of whom expressed their surprise on social media.

Despite all the attention the meteor falling over Loch Ness has garnered, Macdonald asserts that he’s strictly an amateur photographer who got lucky, pointing out that he will “never take as good a photograph again no matter how long I try.”

[Image: John Alasdair Macdonald via the Daily Mail]

Share this article: Loch Ness Meteor: ‘Irish Miracle’ Captured In Shooting Star Image
More from Inquisitr