Last month we reported on Light Pollution. This month we see that there is an award for a UK island.
The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) has designated Sark as one of the world’s best places to see the night-sky. It is the first island in the select few places throughout the world with this award.
Sark is the fourth largest of the Channel Islands, and has no cars, paved roads or street lights. This means that the constellations, the Milky Way and any meteor showers are extremely visible in a way they would not be in towns and cities on the mainland.
Both the government and the community of Sark were behind the application to the IDA, and businesses and households altered their lighting to spill less light upward. It is hoped that many more tourists will visit Sark in the winter months, as the sky is at its best between September and April.
01/02/11