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Progenitor (red star) of SN 2025pht

Progenitor (red star) of SN 2025pht

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Jordan Staal in 2013

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Pope Martin I

Pope Martin I

Map of Orkney

Map of Orkney

There are more than 70 islands and skerries in Orkney, an archipelago located 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) north of mainland Scotland. Twenty islands are permanently inhabited. In addition to the Mainland, there are three groups of islands. The North and South Isles lie respectively north and south of Mainland, and the Pentland Skerries are a group of small islands in the Pentland Firth, a dangerous stretch of water between mainland Scotland and the larger islands of Orkney, through which run the strongest tidal streams in Britain. The islands of South Ronaldsay, Burray, Lamb Holm and Glimps Holm are connected to the Orkney Mainland by a series of causeways known as the Churchill Barriers. Most of the islands have bedrock formed from Old Red Sandstone, which is about 400 million years old, and was laid down in the Devonian period. The archipelago has been continuously inhabited for thousands of years, and is home to the World Heritage Site of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney. The islands all fall within the Orkney Islands Council area and have a total population of 21,958 (as of 2022). (Full list...)

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