Summer solstice sunset: looking from Shee Lugh on Moytura. Sun is setting behind Knocknarea.

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Astronomical Features The Great Cairn of Knocknarea is the focal point of the extensive network of ancient sites in Sligo. Several astronomical alignments can be identified, even though the passage and chamber are hidden. Two stones, a large boulder and a flat slab mark a north/south line through the Cairn, and another great boulder lies 0.5 km north of the site. Several of the smaller monuments - two ruined monuments and a hut site also lie on this cardinal line. When you stand on the Cairn at sunrise on the equinoxes, the sun rises over Lough Gill in the east, which means 'The Lake of Brightness' in Irish. At sunset on the equinoxes, the observer standing on the western cairn at Cairns Hill, just south of Sligo Town, can watch the sun setting over Knocknarea, as shown above. The sun does not set directly behind the cairn on the equinoxes, but certainly hints at a kind of ritual astronomy associated with this area. The same will be true of any full moon near the equinoxes: they will rise over Lough Gill and set behind Knocknarea. Looking to Knocknarea from the shore of Ballisodare Bay. This is where Lugh of the Long Hand is said to have arrived in Ireland to lead the Tuatha Dé Danann in the Second Battle of Moytura. On the winter solstice the sun rises in the Lough Arrow region over the legendary ridge of Moytura with it's Cairn, Shee Lugh. It is possible that the alignment is to the Hill of Sheemor, which lies beyond Shee Lugh and is visible from Knocknarea on a good clear day, peeping out from the edge of the Arigna Mountains. Of course, the reverse holds true, and the summer solstice sun sets behind Knocknarea when viewed from Shee Lugh, as illustrated above. The lunar standstill is probably one of the most important Knocknarea alignments. The Moon's cycle takes 18.6 years to complete as it moves from it's most northerly to it's most southerly positions. At the southern summer rising position when viewed from Queen Maeve's Cairn, the Moon rises over the Carrowkeel sites in the Bricklieve Mountains, which happened last in 1987. Conversely, near the winter solstice in 2006, as the Moon sets behind Knocknarea, it will illuminate the chambers of four of the Carrowkeel Cairns. This makes some sense of the Irish meaning of Knocknarea, 'The Hill of the Moon'.

Looking west to Knocknarea from a ruined cashel south of Deerpark court cairn at Magheramush.