Northern Lights: All you need to know about Yorkshire's stunning natural light show - and when you might see it again
And on October 10th, it felt like the whole of Yorkshire stepped out of their front doors to look up at the sky in wonder.
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Hide AdIf you have any form of social media, you’d have likely been inundated with ethereal images of the Northern Lights - not streaking across the Scandinavian skies but above our very heads in Leeds, York, the coast and the countryside, here at home.
It was hard not to be moved and astonished, even if you could only see the magical swirls of greens and purples through a phone lens.
And it was a reminder too - that in parts of Yorkshire, we’re lucky to enjoy some of the darkest skies in England and that the joys of the countryside shouldn’t stop when the sun sets.
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Hide AdThat’s the message too from organisers of the Dark Skies Fringe Festival, which takes place later this month across both of the region’s national parks.
The Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors are both designated Dark Sky Reserves - an international accreditation mark recognising efforts made to protect their skies from light pollution.
And, as one Yorkshire-based astronomer explained, there’s few places better in England to enjoy the wonders of the stars.
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Hide AdRichard Darn, from Barnsley, worked closely with both National Parks to achieve their accreditation and runs regular stargazing events across the region.
He explained why Yorkshire is suddenly enjoying something of a “run” of Northern Lights events, with two in the past six months.
“We’ve had two really powerful auroras. The first was May 11 and that was a good one that you could see from the suburbs of Sheffield. When you can see it from light polluted areas, you can tell it’s a powerful storm.
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Hide Ad“On the night of October 10, I was doing a stargazing dinner at a hotel in the Dales. And somewhere before the main course I said ‘I think we’d better go outside, the aurora is kicking off.’ And sure enough it put on a fabulous show.
“What causes the Northern Lights is the sun. The sun can - let’s call it ‘sneeze’. It sets off a lot of energetic particles. If it blows out enough, and they come in our direction, what protects us from their radiation is the magnetic field that channels into the North Pole and South Pole. You’re seeing these particles come down and pass their energy to oxygen and nitrogen. So when you see those streaks of green, that’s oxygen. It’s all a very scientific explanation for something which is just amazing.”
“Why we’ve got more of them is that the sun is on a cycle. It’s not always running at full pelt and it reaches a crescendo of activity where you see a lot of ejections of particles. We’re just at a peak of that 11-year-cycle. This has been a particularly active solar maximum.”
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Hide AdSo there’s every chance that we’ll see more returns of the aurora over the coming months - and with that, more interest in stargazing. There’s no jealously guarding his hobby now that it’s becoming popular, Mr Darn insists. “You need something like a comet or an aurora in the sky, and in the pub the next day, people will be chatting away about it, showing each other pictures. It really excites people. It’s a very pure joy, and that’s one of the great things about living on planet Earth - we get to see these amazing spectacles. My word, what a show.”
It’s a show that no doubt visitors to events at the Dark Skies Fringe Festival will hope to have replicated. But, even if it is not, there’s plenty to keep even the most amateur stargazer entertained - from an evening exploring the history of lights in festivals at The Dales Countryside Museum in Hawes to canoeing under the stars in Nidderdale, plus, of course, stargazing walks in Sutton Bank, Rievaulx Abbey and Mallyon Spout.
The Festival isn’t just fun, explained Mr Darn, but a vital example of how stargazing can boost the tourism economy of the National Parks. Aurora tours are big business overseas, worth over £600m annually to countries that regularly see displays including Norway, Iceland and Finland and Mr Darn helps businesses understand how they can capitalise on interest in our skies.
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Hide Ad“People forget just how much light is cast on a rural environment by moonlight, and it’s primordial,” he said. “So take the Moors - you can see the heather and the ruins in the day, but when the sun sets it’s just fantastic.
“It’s making sure people know it’s another attraction. It’s definitely something businesses can key into. Some people will go into areas based on knowing they’re going to see some beautiful starry skies. In Northumberland they’ve developed astro-tourism and a report found dark sky tourism was worth about £25m a year and supporting 450 jobs.”
The National Parks offer some of the darkest skies in the country from where to spot constellations and comets.
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Hide Ad“You don’t have to travel. Let’s just say you’re in Leeds - you don’t have to travel to the furthest corner of the Dales to see the Milky Way looking lovely, you could go the countryside near Otley or Skipton,” Mr Darn said. “But if you’re very strict about this, which I’ve got to say I am, the darkest bits of both reserves, you’d be looking at Hawes and upwards which is one of the darkest parts of England.
“In the moors, you’re looking at Dalby Forest and Ravenscar. If you want the ultimate experience, you search out these remote areas and I can vouch for them. You don’t wish for much under that sky when you’ve got the Milky Way.”
And for those who missed the Northern Lights last time? “I wouldn’t bet against having another big event this year. If you’re one of the few that hasn’t seen them - the message is: patient. There’s still a very good chance.”
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