You don’t need an expensive telescope to go stargazing. Just find a place away from street lights and look up on a clear night, and you’ll see more than 2,000 stars in our Milky Way with the naked eye. Remember, it takes your eyes up to 20 minutes to completely adjust to the darkness, so avoid looking at bright lights.
Follow our simple tips below for an experience you’ll never forget.
Here are our top tips for enjoying your darkest local skies, whether exploring a town park or somewhere more remote.
Wear really warm clothes, hats and gloves and thick-soled shoes or boots. It gets very cold standing around at night, even in summer. Take a chair or a camping mattress to sit on or lie down on. A folding sun lounger is a great idea. Be patient as it can take 20 minutes for your eyes to get used to the darkness. To keep warm, take a thermos flask of soup or a warm drink. Some nibbles are always welcome too.
Your eyes are perfect for being able to map the constellations. However, if you want to invest in a pair of binoculars or a telescope, we recommend you buy a pair of 10×50 binoculars or get some further advice from your nearest astronomical society.
Don’t forget to take a torch, but be careful how you use it. The best option is to use a red light torch. These have the effect of not stimulating your eyes natural responses and help to maximise your night vision. You can buy cheap head torches that have a red LED option – these work well.
Stargazing is a year-round activity, but the best months are during autumn and winter when the evenings draw in early.
These heavenly Android or iOS apps that will help you appreciate the night sky.
Night Sky is a gorgeous app that takes full advantage of iOS 11 to deliver a really nice-looking augmented reality sky map. Users can view thousands of stars, satellites, planets and constellations.
Vito Technologies’ Star Walk 2 is an augmented reality star chart that displays the stars and planets in the heavens above you. In addition, the app includes detailed information on the history and mythology of the various constellations, stars and planets, as well as a coordinates viewer for easy reference.
Supported with a grant from the National Parks Protectors Fund from CLIF Bar, two helpful guides have been published to help you locate the best place to stargaze and to navigate your way around the constellations in the Northumberland International Dark Sky Park. Click on the links below to download our Northumberland International Dark Sky Park Guide and our Stargazing Guide.
