Starry starry NIGHT

Amateur astronomer Stuart Atkinson shares his love of the night skies on á Star Camp in Kielder Forest

Iam an amateur astronomer and science writer living in Kendal, in the Lake District. This is a beautiful part of the world, but like many places in the UK, it has a serious light pollution problem.

On a (rare) clear night, I can barely see much more than the Moon, a couple of bright planets and perhaps a few dozen stars.

So when my partner Stella and I, and our cat Jess, go away on tour, we choose a campsite-based somewhere remote and as far away as possible from light pollution. Several times a year, we leave the crowds behind and head north, to a Star Camp.

These are special events held by and for amateur astronomers who want to get away just to look at the stars for a few nights.

Star Camps are usually at remote locations, as far from any light pollution as possible. Participants take telescopes, cameras and other equipment to use under a sky that is much darker than the one they usually observe at home.

During the day, there are lectures, presentations and workshops, and then after sunset - so long as it is clear - everybody heads outside, pulls the covers off their telescopes and spends the night enjoying stunning views of the stars, galaxies and clusters that they are normally unable to see in the bright mandarin-orange glow of the skies above their homes.

There are now many different Star Camps taking place during the year, but the one we visit most is held at our favourite location in the whole country - Kielder Campsite, in Northumberland. 

Kielder Star Camp

Kielder Campsite is one of the most remote sites to be found in the whole country – a narrow wedge of green squeezed in between a fragrant pine forest on one side and Kielder village on the other.