Shropshire Star

International Astronomy Day: 4 unexpected places to go stargazing in Europe

You don’t have to go all the way to Chile or New Zealand for incredible starry skies.

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Supporting image for story
(Owen Humphreys/PA)

For thousands of years, people have looked to the stars to find greater meaning in the celestial objects above them. Ancient civilisations relied on the stars to guide their travel, using them to develop calendars and even named constellations after people from their cultures.

According to the International Astronomical Union, wherever in the world you are, the 88 constellations are the same as those seen Plato, Cleopatra, William Shakespeare and Leonardo Da Vinci, when you’re looking at the night sky.

So, as it’s Interntational Astronmy Day, look to the heavens and join the world’s stargazers. Here are Europe’s best spots to sit back and enjoy the some of the most impressive performances the natural world can produce.

1. Northumberland, UK

A view of the Milky Way near Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland (Owen Humphreys/PA)

While many of us rarely see the night sky without the orange glow of urban living, visitors to the area can enjoy uninterrupted views of the Aurora Borealis, the Milky Way, ‘zodiacal light’ (where sunlight scatters over space dust), meteors and shooting stars.

Of the 2,000 stars you can see at any one time, the furthest object you can spot with your naked eye is the Andromeda Galaxy, a vast island of stars not too dissimilar to our own Milky Way, except 2.5 million light years away.

When to go: If it’s the the moon you’re after, go during its first quarter and be rewarded with views of its craters and mountains. The mid-summer months are a great time for planet watching, and the spring and autumn are the best times to see the starriest views.