I came across a story in the Grauniad about the Kielder Forest Star Camp at which scores of amateur astronomers are gathering along with their tents this week to exploit the darkest skies in England. The skies are pretty dark above Cardiff right now, but that’s because of the thick cloud rather than lack of light pollution. I hope they have better weather in Kielder which, if you didn’t know, is in Northumberland. With an area of 250 square miles, Kielder Forest is England’s largest forest (although it’s actually more of a plantation, being man-made under the auspices the Forestry Commission) and it surrounds Kielder Water, the largest man-made reservoir in the UK. Anyway, as the time-lapse video shows, it’s a fine spot for astronomy when the clouds stay away; at the end you’ll see the excellent new Kielder Observatory too!
Good luck to all the participants (and, more importantly, clear skies…) .
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In the Dark 