Stargazing Hotel Breaks And Cruises 2015

In 2015 I’m delighted to be hosting a range of stargazing events, from stargazing weekend breaks under some of the UK’s darkest skies, to a cruise to one of the most remote islands in the world, steeped in astronomy history.

Steve Owens’ contribution was perfect. We liked how he joined in with the guests at meals etc and held the group together. He has a gift of being able to convey his knowledge in terms easy to understand.His lecture with slides was really informative and interesting as was the enthusiasm he put into answering our every question or listening to our accounts of minor brushes with stars!!

Here’s a list of the hotels I run stargazing breaks at:

Glenapp Castle, Ballantrae, Scotland (Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park)
Kirroughtree House Hotel, Newton Stewart, Scotland (Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park)
Selkirk Arms Hotel, Kirkcudbright, Scotland (Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park)
Yarn Market Hotel, Dunster, Exmoor (Exmoor Dark Sky Reserve)

And here’s the cruise I’m hosting:

Stargazing and astronomy cruise, 4-22 May 2015, Cape Town to St Helena. On this stargazing tour you will have the opportunity to stargaze from a truly unique place – St Helena. The island is steeped in astronomical history, and you’ll visit the sites of Halley’s observatory (he of comet fame), as well as those of the other astronomers who have visited St Helena over the centuries. Its location near the equator means that virtually every constellation in the sky is visible at one time or another from St Helena, and visitors from the UK will be amazed to see a whole new collection of stars in the southern hemisphere that simply aren’t visible from Europe: the famous Southern Cross, the Magellanic Clouds, and the galactic centre of the Milky Way.

Here’s a list of the weekends I’m running throughout the year. Click the links for the hotels above to find out more or to book!

Stargazing weekend break, 20-22 February 2015, at the Yarn Market Hotel, Dunster, in Exmoor International Dark Sky Reserve

Stargazing weekend break, 13-15 March 2015, at the Selkirk Arms Hotel, Kirkcudbright, near Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park

Stargazing weekend break and Solar Eclipse Special, 20-22 March 2015, Kirkcudbright, near Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park (this weekend break can be extended to a three night stay to watch the partial eclipse of the sun at sunrise on Friday 20 March!)

Stargazing weekend break, 9-11 October 2015, at the Selkirk Arms Hotel, Kirkcudbright, near Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park

Stargazing weekend break, 4-6 December 2015, at Kirroughtree House Hotel, Newton Stewart, in Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park

Stargazing weekend break, 11-13 December 2015, at Kirroughtree House Hotel, Newton Stewart, in Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park

 

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International Dark Sky Week 20-26 April

Sunday marked the start of International Dark Sky Week 20-26 April 2014, a global initiative to get people out of towns and cities and seeing a night sky as it’s meant to be seen, unspoiled by light pollution.

City Lights To Dark Skies from Mark Gee on Vimeo.

Most of us live in urban environments these days, with the ever-present orange glow lighting the night sky. From my garden in Glasgow I can see only a few hundred start on a clear night. But if I traveled south by car for an hour down to Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park, or north by the same distance to Loch Lomond National Park, I’d count thousands of stars.

And then if I made more of an effort to get to the very darkest parts of our country (the heart of Galloway Forest, or Northumberland Dark Sky Park, or up to Coll Dark Sky Island) the number of stars would be overwhelming, too many to count.

At this time of year in the UK (especially in Scotland) you’ve got to wait until quite late to see the sky free of twilight (2230 in Exmoor Dark Sky Reserve for example, 2330 in Coll, and after midnight up in the Orkney Islands), but it’s worth making the effort if it’s clear.

If you do head out this week here are a few things to watch for:

 

The Lyrids meteor shower will reach its peak on 21/22 April but you might catch some early Lyrids in the days beforehand, and some after the peak; the darker your skies the more you’ll see.

Cygnus the Swan, and the other stars of the Summer triangle will be rising high in the east after midnight. In the right wing of the swan is the star Kepler-186, with the new-found twin Earth, known as Kepler-186f. The star is far, far too faint to see, even with a very powerful telescope, but you can still look in that direction and give a little wave.

 

Stargazing Weekend Breaks 2013-14

There’s a great piece in Guardian Travel today about stargazing breaks in and around Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park. The article was written by Kevin Rushby, who visited the park earlier this year, and who I took out stargazing on a beautiful night.

It really is an amazing place, and on a clear winter’s night you can see thousands of stars, the Milky Way, shooting stars, nebula, galaxies, satellites… and much more.

But for most people the night sky is a confusing place, and having a guide to lead you around is an ideal way to begin stargazing. (Ahem! A good guide book is handy too…) I run regular stargazing weekends and evenings at a number of hotels near Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park (and one down in Exmoor!) over the course of the winter. Here are the dates for the weekends I have planned for this coming winter:

1-3 November 2013 Selkirk Arms Hotel, Kirkcudbright
29 November – 1 December 2013 Kirroughtree House Hotel, Newton Stewart (SOLD OUT)
6-8 December 2013 Kirroughtree House Hotel, Newton Stewart
31 January 2013 – 2 February 2014 Yarn Market Hotel, Exmoor
28 February – 1 March 2014 Kirroughtree House Hotel, Newton Stewart
28-30 March 2014 Selkirk Arms Hotel, Kirkcudbright

I also run bespoke stargazing nights at Glenapp Castle, Ballantrae.

International Dark Sky Places

The global family of International Dark Sky Places – areas with stunning night skies and exemplary lighting controls to preserve those skies – has grown again recently, with the addition of some huge parks and reserves. There are currently (as of June 2012) 18 places around the world that satisfy the International Dark-sky Association‘s (IDA) requirements.

The Church of the Good Shepherd, Aoraki Mackenzie IDSR Image by Fraser Gunn

I’ve been lucky enough to visit 12 out of these 18 incredible places, including the two most recent additions to the IDA family, NamibRand Nature Reserve in Namibia, and Aoraki Mackenzie in New Zealand, both of which have been awarded International Dark Sky Reserve status this year.

The IDA has three different designations: International Dark Sky Park (IDSP), International Dark Sky Reserve (IDSR), and International Dark Sky Community (IDSC).

IDSPs are areas of public land that are near-empty wildernesses, and which have enacted strict controls of outside artificial lighting throughout the entire park. There are currently ten IDSPs.

IDSRs are large areas centred on a dark sky core, a significant area – an observatory, say – in need of protection against light pollution, and a 15km-minimum buffer zone around that core, encompassing surrounding communities. The communities in the buffer zone have lighting controls that help minimise light pollution in the core area. There are currently four IDSRs.

IDSCs are communities – cities, towns, villages, islands – that have enacted exemplary lighting controls to limit the spread of light pollution into their night skies. There are currently four IDSCs.

The following table has some information about the various International Dark Sky Places:

Name	Location	Park Area	Designation	Year Designated
Aoraki Mackenzie	New Zealand	4300 km2	Reserve	2012
Big Bend National Park	Texas, USA	3242 km2	Park	2012
Borrego Springs	California, USA	110 km2	Community	2009
Cherry Springs State Park	Pennsylvania, USA	4.3 km2	Park	2008
Clayton Lake State Park	New Mexico, USA	1.9 km2	Park	2010
Exmoor National Park	England, UK	692 km2	Reserve	2011
Flagstaff	Arizona, USA	255 km2	Community	2000
Galloway Forest Park	Scotland, UK	780 km2	Park	2009
Geauga Observatory Park	Ohio, USA	4.5 km2	Park	2011
Goldendale Observatory State Park	Washington, USA	0.2 km2	Park	2010, provisional
The Headlands of Emmet County	Michigan, USA	2.2 km2	Park	2011
Homer Glen	Illinois, USA	58 km2	Community	2011
Hortobagy National Park	Hungary	800 km2	Park	2011
Mont Megantic	Quebec, Canada	5000 km2	Reserve	2008
NamibRand Nature Reserve	Namibia	1722 km2	Reserve	2012
Natural Bridges National Monument	Utah, USA	31 km2	Park	2006
Sark	Channel Islands, UK	5.4 km2	Community	2011
Zselic Landscape Protection Area	Hungary	90.4 km2	Park	2009

 

Dark Sky Defender

I was lucky enough to attend the excellent International Dark-skies Association conference in New Jersey, USA, last weekend, and meet many of the amazing people who work to set up Dark Sky Places and combat bad lighting around the world.

I was very chuffed to be awarded the IDA’s “Dark Sky Defender 2011” award for my work in setting up Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park, and Sark Dark Sky Island, as well as helping others (such as Exmoor National Park, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, and North Ronaldsay in Orkney) move towards Dark Sky status.

Me (middle) receiving my Dark Sky Defender award from IDA's Executive Director Bob Parks (R), and President Robert Wagner (L)

At the conference I was particularly impressed by the work being done in Geauga Park, Ohio, in their Dark Sky Park:

Galloway Stargazer Ale!

I’m heading south tomorrow to visit the Selkirk Arms Hotel in Kirkudbright, and to meet with the manager Chris Walker who’s looking to run some astronomy weekends for his guests. A great idea!

While there I’ll be able to sample some of his Galloway Stargazer Ale, brewed and made especially to celebrate the announcement of Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park last November.I’ll be driving of course, and so won’t be able to have any more than a wee half…

Galloway Stargazer Ale

So far the ale is only on tap at the hotel, but let’s hope it might be bottled and sold further afield so that I can buy some and enjoy it in my own home. I’ll report back tomorrow on how it tastes.