MORE INFO
Kielder Observatory.
kielderobservatory.org
Battlesteads Observatory.
battlesteads.com/observatory
International Dark-Sky Association.
darksky.org
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information). gostargazing.co.uk
Light pollution map.
lightpollutionmap.infoyears away. So up there,” he says,
gesturing skywards, “there’s no
real ‘now’.”
The following night at Kielder,
the facts keep coming. Four of my
favourites: if you pinch a grain of
sand in your fingers and hold it up
to the sky at arm’s length, the area
it covers is large enough to obscure
10,000 distant galaxies from view;
there are more than 400 active
volcanoes on Jupiter’s rocky moon
Io; the middle star of Orion’s belt is
around 80,000 light years further
away from us than the two either
side; and the average shooting star
is the size of a pea (no, really).
My presence here is timed to
coincide with the new moon,
which in darkness terms is the
best time of the lunar cycle for
stargazing (some astronomers
even refer to the moon as ‘the
Devil’s lightbulb’). But there
remains a big, murky elephant
in the dark sky tourism room.
Namely, what happens when
it ’s cloudy? The telescope that
can see through thick cumulus
cloud is sadly yet to be invented,
which makes for a very simple
prognosis: no clear skies — no
stars. According to Jesse Beaman,
another of Kielder’s science
communicators, attendees
are able to stargaze at 49% ofsessions. But even a no-star
session still feels out-of-this-
world, thanks to presentations
that showcase the stupendous.
A new radio telescope unveiled
in November, meanwhile — able
to pick up radio waves from deep
space — will heighten this further.
Opened in 2008, the complex
includes cosy rooms built from
local spruce and larch, as well as
two rotating telescope turrets.
Here, and indeed when gazing
to the heavens anywhere, several
basic rules apply: the best time
to do it is generally late autumn
to early spring — so don’t skimp
on hats, gloves and thermals; and
keep phones and torches out of
sight, as our eyes take up to half an
hour to adjust to the darkness.
Back under the glittering
Milky Way, at 2.30am, some of the
guests are wondering aloud about
life on other planets. Ellie tells
us about the Arecibo message,
a 1974 radio broadcast beamed
towards an outlying star cluster
in an attempt to contact ET. So,
someone asks, did it work? “Well,
it won’t reach its target for 25,000
years. And if there’s a response,
we won’t receive it for another
25,000 years after that. So, it ’s
a bit too early to tell,” she says.
“Space is big.”ATACAMA DESERT, CHILE
Its combination of high altitude, dry
air and clear skies makes the Atacama
Desert one of the best stargazing spots
on the planet. The Paranal Observatory
is home to the famous VLT (Very Large
Telescope) and is generally the preserve
of professional astronomers, but it also
offers daytime tours.PIC DU MIDI, FRANCE
Located almost 9,500ft up a mountain
in the Pyrenees, the Pic du Midi
observatory has been here in some
form since the 1870s, and even has a
whopping great asteroid named after it.
Its evening experiences involve dinner,
cocktails, stargazing and a bed for the
night (you’d be wise to rise early for the
mountain sunrise, too).AORAKI MACKENZIE INTERNATIONAL
DARK SKY RESERVE, NEW ZEALAND
The largest Dark Sky Reserve in the
Southern Hemisphere can be found
in the heart of New Zealand’s South
Island. Stargazing activities range from
astronomy tours to night-time hot pool
visits, where you can marvel at the skies
>ÃÞÕy>Ì°NATURAL BRIDGES NATIONAL
MONUMENT, USA
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iÜÀ`½ÃwÀÃÌ
International Dark Sky Park in March
2007, Utah’s Natural Bridges National
Monument is famed for its stargazing
potential. Photos showing the Milky
Way spread behind the natural arch of
Owachomo Bridge have become iconic.KIRUNA, SWEDISH LAPLAND
Tucked away north of the Arctic Circle,
the town of Kiruna offers some of the
clearest skies in Scandinavia, complete
with the opportunity to gaze not just
at the galaxy but at the ghostly dance
of the Northern Lights. The village of
Abisko, 65 miles north east, is home to
the much-lauded Aurora Sky Station.FIVE OF THE WORLD’S
BEST DARK SKY SPOTSPic du Midi Observatory, French Pyrenees IMAGE:^AWL^ IMAGESDARK SKIES
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