Dark Skies
"I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream" - Vincent Van Gogh.
See more with a Dark Sky
North Yorkshire is blessed with some of the darkest skies in the country, with several Dark Sky Discovery Sites and an International Dark Sky Reserve.
Possibly one of the most universal human experiences is to look up at the stars. There are more than can be counted, more than we know about, more than we could ever comprehend. The stars in the night sky make us stop, wonder, ask questions or just find a peaceful harmony.
Since childhood, everyone on the planet has looked up to them - in awe, to spot and pick out a constellation, see the face on the moon or just watch and wait in the hopes of seeing a shooting star and making a wish.
How much you can see when you look up depends on the levels of ambient light around you, from streetlights, roads, advertising hoardings and surrounding buildings.
For the best stargazing experience, you need a truly dark sky, like those you will find at a Dark Sky Discovery Site where light pollution is at its lowest. Here, when you look up into the sky you can see more than you might have ever thought was there.
In a dark sky location, it is possible to observe the Milky Way scattered diagonally across the sky, the finer details of popular constellations, such as the Orion Nebula, visible just below the stars that make up his belt. You can see just with binoculars how the second star from the left on the Plough (Mizar) is actually two stars (Mizar and Alcor) orbiting one another, and you can pick out the red colour of Mars or the blue of Rigel, the right foot of Orion.
More than stars
Since 1957, when Sputnik became the first man-made satellite to orbit the earth, mankind has taken advantage of the benefits space can offer. From global communications to scientific advancement, there are more and more satellites orbiting the planet every year, and many are visible in the night sky.
The easiest of these to spot is the International Space Station, which stands out due to the visible speed and the serene smoothness with which it crosses the sky.
Useful Tools
Stargazing is easier than ever to get into, with a number of helpful apps for mobile devices available to help you find out what you can see.
More about North Yorkshire Dark Skies
