Beauty of the stars at night comes into sharper focus

Stars in the Milky Way were caught in clear skies over this weekend, at the Kielder observatory, Northumberland.

Moves are currently afoot to create Europe’s largest area of protected night sky. A bid to designate nearly 1,500 sq km of Northumberland as England’s first “dark sky park” is being considered by the US-based International Dark Skies Association (IDA) in Tucson, Arizona, and the effort to protect the night skies is an initiative that could soon also come to parts of Yorkshire.

The North York Moors Park Authority has said it remains interested in a bid to protect its skies and is in the early stages of working with others to formalise local proposals.

In the meantime, the decision about potentially protecting skies above Northumberland is expected before Christmas.

Officials working for the Kielder Water & Forest Park Development Trust, Northumberland National Park Authority and Kielder Observatory Astronomical Society have been involved with the scheme for the last two years.

Gary Fildes, founder director and lead astronomer at the Kielder Observatory, earlier said gaining dark sky status would: “ensure that we maintain the dark skies for future generations.”