The Perseid meteor shower peaks tonight – here’s where to watch it
Tonight offers a good reason to look up. The Perseids, a prolific meteor shower that dazzles every summer, is expected to peak, with as many as 100 meteoroids – or “shootings stars” – visible per hour from nightfall on August 12 until dawn on August 13. Read on for our complete guide to Britain’s darkest skies, where you’ll have the best chance of sightings, plus expert stargazing tips.
Britain is an island of star-seekers. We love gazing at the night sky, marvelling at countless glimmering pin-pricks whose light has travelled for hundreds – or even, in the case of the Andromeda Galaxy, millions – of years to reach our tiny planet.
Celestial spectacles have rendered Britons slack-jawed for millennia. Stonehenge, it’s claimed, may have been constructed 4,500 years ago as a Neolithic astronomical observatory.
The Covid pandemic, restricting our movements during a spell of fortuitously clear skies, lit a rocket under stargazing.
“Lockdown was incredible for getting people outside, looking up at the stars,” says Chris Bramley, editor of BBC Sky at Night Magazine. “We saw a 128 per cent increase in new subscribers in 2020, and a 250 per cent rise in website visitors.”
When freedom returned, staycations offered opportunities to discover the joys of domestic stargazing.
Kielder Park in Northumberland is a stargazing hotspot – Dave Monk
“Perhaps it’s not surprising that UK stargazing breaks are becoming popular,” adds Dr Ed Bloomer, astronomer at Royal Observatory Greenwich.
“Some of it is good old capitalism, creating something from literally nothing – making a virtue of being in an empty field miles from anywhere, beneath a really dark night sky.
But it’s also true that, though Britain is densely populated, we have lots of dark places and a very extensive coastline, where at least half of the sky is basically dark.”
Thanks to the efforts of National Parks and other authorities and organisations in tackling light pollution, the UK now has 19 accredited Dark Sky places.
Growing numbers of operators and accommodation providers are laying on tours, events and facilities for would-be sky pilots.
At its simplest, though, stargazing is easy, rewarding and essentially free. Just find the right spot at the right time, and look up.
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The best places to stargazeExmoor
Europe’s first Dark Sky Reserve, accredited in 2011, Exmoor is dominated by craggy coast and expanses of lonely, pony-grazed moorland, topping off at 519m-high Dunkery Beacon, forming the core area of deepest darkness – rating 1 or 2 on the Bortle Scale.
How to do it
Hire a telescope at one of the three National Park centres in Dulverton, Dunster and Lynmouth (£25/£10 for one/extra nights; exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk/enjoying/stargazing). Or join monthly stargazing experiences with the astronomy experts of Wild About Exmoor (£40pp; wildaboutexmoor.com/stargazing-and-night-sky/). The annual Exmoor Dark Skies Festival (18 October–3 November 2024) features astronomy talks, star parties and meteor-shower safaris. Allercabin is a new rustic-chic timber retreat sleeping four on a farm on the eastern moor; three nights from £435.
Galloway Forest Park
The UK’s largest forest park, sprawling across nearly 78,000 hectares, was also Britain’s first Dark Sky Park, designated in 2009. And if “forest” doesn’t seem to scream “great stargazing”, think again: the core zone of the Galloway Forest Park reserve is a lofty, lumpy expanse from which, it’s claimed, 7,000 stars and planets are visible to the naked eye.
How to do it
Dark Sky Rangers lead tours in the forest, while you can pedal beneath the stars on guided nocturnal mountain-bike rides from Galloway Activity Centre (£75).
Selkirk Arms in Kirkcudbright offers two-night stargazing weekends featuring talks and excursions with an expert astronomer (£299pp dinner B&B).
Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons)
Aside from a handful of settlements scattered along the Usk Valley, this mountainous swathe of south Wales is wild, rugged and blissfully dark – aptly bookended, in fact, by the Black Mountain in the west and Black Mountains in the east. The entire national park became Wales’ first Dark Sky Reserve – only the fifth in the world – in 2012.
Llangorse Lake, Brecon Beacons – Alamy
How to do it
Book a private two-hour stargazing experience (£225) or join a group session with expert astronomers (£25pp).
Guided nocturnal hikes run during the Dark Sky Festival each September, while Biannual Astrocamps in Cwmdu provide deeper dives into the cosmos.
New Scientist Discovery Tours’ Science of Deep Time three-day break features guided stargazing; from £799pp.
Moore’s Reserve, South Downs
An unlikely swatch of nocturnal inkiness lies sandwiched between Greater London and the semi-conurbation lining England’s south coast: the South Downs National Park, England’s youngest, largely encompassing sparsely inhabited ancient chalk downland. It’s now a Dark Sky Reserve named for legendary tele-astronomer Sir Patrick Moore, who lived for much of his life in West Sussex.
How to do it
Ten of the best stargazing spots have been designated Dark Sky Discovery Sites – including the Winchester Science Centre, which houses an excellent planetarium.
In February, the eight-day Dark Skies Festival encompasses a range of guided walks, talks and events at sites across the downs. Night Pastures has glamping yurts sleeping four from £100pn, minimum two nights.
Tomintoul & Glenlivet, Cairngorms
The most northerly Dark Sky Park in the world spreads across the north-eastern corner of the Cairngorms National Park. Three designated Dark Sky Discovery Sites, at Blairfindy Moor, Field of Hope and high, remote Carrachs, offer parking, interpretation and the best stargazing in the area.
On a clear night, this is a great place to admire the Orion Nebula and the Andromeda Galaxy, and its northerly latitude means it’s among Britain’s likeliest spots to enjoy the celestial light show of the aurora borealis. For the same reason, though, summer nights are long, so stargazing is best in spring and autumn.
The Northern Lights in Cairngorms National Park – Alamy
How to do it
Dark Sky Rangers such as Hillgoers offer guided walks and events, and the Tomintoul & Glenlivet Discovery Centre provides helpful information. Arbor Bothy is an attractive, timber-clad two-person cabin tucked away in the northern Cairngorms near Nethy Bridge, costing from £150p; minimum two nights.
Northumberland
Two hefty chunks of England’s northernmost county comprise a Dark Sky Park with an equally expansive name: Northumberland National Park and Kielder Water & Forest Park, together spanning some 150,000 hectares with minimal light pollution, beneath officially England’s most pristine dark skies.
Kielder Water & Forest Park offers a wealth of dark sky opportunities – Mark Bromham
How to do it
A dozen Discovery Sites scattered across the region offer spectacular stargazing, but to immerse yourself in the mysteries of the cosmos, visit England’s largest public observatory at Kielder where nightly events probe exoplanets, the secret life of stars and the origins of the universe.
The Star Barn, a family-friendly cottage in the Ingram Valley, offers bespoke dark sky safaris with an expert, featuring talks, guided stargazing and a star-themed picnic, from £767.50.
What to look forThe Milky Way
“In summer, the angle of the Earth means you get that classic view of the Milky Way streaming up overhead, perpendicular to the horizon,” says Chris Bramley.
The moon
“Perhaps counter-intuitively, full moon is not best, because surface details are bleached out,” says Chris. “Instead, look for a crescent, half or gibbous moon, when the ‘terminator’ line between light and dark is sharp. Focus your binoculars or telescope on that line to pick out detail and dramatic lunar landscapes as the shadows cast by the craters and mountain ranges stretch for miles across the surface.”
Planets
“At night, you can see Mars, Saturn, Jupiter and Venus with the naked eye – even Mercury, though that’s harder because it’s never very far from the sun,” says Ed Bloomer.
“Later in the year we’ll enjoy close approaches of the moon with planets,” Chris reveals. “Venus, as an evening star, looks beautiful paired with a crescent moon.”
Sligachan, on Skye in Scotland, has beautiful views of the Cuillin Mountains – Getty
Asterisms & constellations
“Look for the Summer Triangle, an asterism visible to the naked eye,” suggests Ed. “Each star in the triangle is actually in a different constellation, but they’re bright and super easy to see.”
Of 88 recognised constellations – groupings of stars that look close to one another but may actually be millions of light-years apart – the most obvious and familiar include Ursa Major (Great Bear, within which is the Plough or Big Dipper), Orion (the Hunter), and Cygnus (the Swan or Northern Cross).
Shooting stars & meteor showers
Material frequently falls from space into Earth’s atmosphere, creating shooting stars, though annual meteor showers produce more reliable spectacles. Appearances, including colours and positions in the sky, vary according to the origins and chemical composition of the meteors.
Lyrids – mid to late April: Bright, fast-moving meteors, some leaving long-lasting trails, peaking at around 18 per hour. View in the very early morning.
Eta Aquariids – mid April to late May: Fast-moving meteors, some leaving glowing trails, reaching about 50 per hour. Associated with Halley’s Comet..
Perseids – mid July to late August: Fast-moving, reliable meteors peaking at 60–100 per hour at peak, creating bright streaks.
Orionids – October into early November: Reliable and fast, with wispy trains; also associated with Halley’s Comet. Perhaps 25 per hour.
Leonids – November: Fast, bright meteors with fine trains. Perhaps 10 an hour.
Quadrantids – late December to mid-January: Strong and consistent showers of bluish- or yellowish-white meteors with fine trains, peaking at about 110 per hour.
Geminids – mid December: Bright, colourful streaks, often over 100 an hour at peak.
Expert tipsDon’t wait till nightfall
“Look at the moon during the day,” suggests Ed. “Note where it sits in terms of compass points. Observe changes in astronomical seasons, too – think about the solstice, the changing lengths of night and day, and so on – to learn how the mechanics of the solar system impact the stargazing experience.”
The darker, the better
For stargazing, dark, clear skies are best – aim for the week before the new moon, as late at night as possible. In high summer it never gets totally dark, but astronomical twilight – typically starting a couple of hours after sunset, when the sun is between 12° and 18° below the horizon – is good enough for most.
Use your eyes
You don’t need a telescope or even binoculars to get started. “First, spend at least half an hour outside in the darkness, to allow your eyes to become accustomed,” Chris advises. “Your pupils expand gradually, taking in more light.”
Leave the phone at home
“Don’t ever use a stargazing app outside,” suggests Ed. “Looking at a screen will ruin your eyes’ adaptation to darkness, and you’ll need to readjust again.”
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Be patient
Take time to just peer around, admiring the constellations. “Chances are if you spend half an hour or 45 minutes looking, you’ll see at least one meteor, even when there isn’t a shower,” Ed says.
Avert your gaze
“Your eyes are more sensitive in the corners – not to colour, but to light, thanks to the distribution of rods and cones on the retina,” says Ed. “If you’re looking for something quite dim, turn your gaze sideways to admire the recent aurora, for example, or something like the Andromeda Galaxy. Averted gaze takes a bit of practice, but can be very useful.”
Learn from the best
To admire the best astrophotography, and read tips from top photographers, Ed advises visiting AstroBin.
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