The importance of Dark Skies

I am fortunate to live in a small Norfolk village, which has few street lights, and those that are tend to be switched off to save money once it gets to midnight. When I return home late, if the skies are free of cloud, I have the most glorious views of the night sky. Even here though, the sky is not on the darkest level of what is called the Bortle Scale.

Not everyone is as fortunate, and not everyone is able to see the night sky at all, particularly those who live in cities, where light pollution prevents the stars from being seen.

Occasionally, there are stories about Dark Sky Tourism and I have visited a  few Dark Sky Resorts such as Kielder Forest, and the wonderful Dark Sky Alqueva in Portugal.

This article in Conversation has a useful summary of the development of a tourist industry around dark skies and why they matter, and issues related to light pollution in cities. It is written by Nick Dunn of the International Dark-Skies Association

The International Dark Skies Association has a number of places which they have identified as places to visit to explore the absence of light pollution.

I also have several books about walking at night, including ones by Horatio Clare and Matt Gaw.

One of the recent pieces of vandalism to be allowed has been the first phase of Elon Musk's low orbit Space-X satellites which will eventually number in the hundreds,

Image: Alan Parkinson, shared under CC license