Skip to content

North Yorkshire’s best spots for stargazing

When was the last time you saw a truly dark, star-filled night sky? There’s something very special about standing beneath the hundreds of points of light with their subtly different shapes and colours, the gently glowing Milky Way suspended above the landscape.

 

We think everyone should have the chance to experience the full wonder of the night sky, free from light pollution. That’s why we’ve created the most detailed ever maps of dark skies in England, and why we run an annual Star Count, helping to find the best stargazing spots in the country.

Here are some of the best places in England to enjoy our starry skies.

When was the last time you saw a truly dark, star-filled night sky? There’s something very special about standing beneath the hundreds of points of light with their subtly different shapes and colours, the gently glowing Milky Way suspended above the landscape.

We think everyone should have the chance to experience the full wonder of the night sky, free from light pollution. That’s why we’ve created the most detailed ever maps of dark skies in England, and why we run an annual Star Count, helping to find the best stargazing spots in the country.

Here are some of the best places in England to enjoy our starry skies.

 

North York Moors National Park

It’s said that the north east’s drier climate means clearer skies for stargazing, and the uninterrupted views from clifftops between Saltburn and Scarborough certainly provide panoramic views of the night sky. Other great sites for stargazing include Danby, Sutton Bank and Dalby Forest.

 

Yorkshire Dales National Park

There are four Dark Sky Discovery Sites in the national park: Tan Hill Inn, Buckden National Park car park and Hawes and Malham National Park Centres, so there’s no excuse not to look to the skies and get constellation spotting. Yorkshire Dales National Park is aiming to achieve International Dark Sky Reserve status by 2021.

Did you know?

Dark Sky Discovery Sites are places where you can get great views of the stars on a cloudless night, and they’re open to everyone! They are chosen by the UK Dark Sky Discovery Partnership if they’re away from the worst light pollution, give good sightlines of the sky and are accessible by the public, including wheelchair users.  The partnership rate them as either ‘Orion sites’, where the seven main stars are visible, or ‘Milky Way sites’, in more rural areas where this spectacular sight is visible to the naked eye. Find your nearest at: www.darkskydiscovery.org.uk 

Watching the sky at night Chantal Scurr