Do Look Up!
It’s true! The Andromeda Galaxy is hurtling towards us at 25,000 miles per hour!, but don’t worry, it won’t collide with our galaxy, the Milky Way for another 4 billion years. In the meantime, why not just enjoy the view by attending some of the events included in this year’s programme for the Northumberland Dark Skies Festival in the Northumberland International Dark Sky Park, England’s first and largest Dark Sky Park.
The Northumberland Dark Skies Festival will take place between 12th – 28th February and comprises events from all five observatories in Northumberland: Battlesteads, Kielder, Stonehaugh, Twice Brewed & Allenheads. There will be a wide variety of things to see and do – from beginner events for families, to more specialised astrophotography workshops on how to photograph the Aurora.
Coinciding with the Festival, the National Park Authority will be hosting its own Northumberland Dark Skies exhibition at The Sill National Landscape Discovery Centre, between the 19th February and late April 2022. The free exhibition is aimed at families with children (8 – 11) and beginners with little or no knowledge of astronomy and will include a gallery of night-time landscape photography, displays on what to see in the night sky and how to conserve our dark skies, with hands-on activities and a showcase of telescopes and meteorites on display.
Once again, the CPRE Star Count will take place between the 26th February – 6th March, an opportunity for us all to count how many stars we can see in the constellation of Orion from our own back yard, to help monitor the effect of light pollution on our dark skies.
We will continue to update this page with new events and full details on offer. We hope you will be inspired to visit Northumberland International Dark Sky Park in the near future and experience our incredible dark skies at one of the many amazing observatories and venues dotted around Northumberland.
