Two national parks in Yorkshire—the Yorkshire Dales and North Yorks Moors—have earned a designation as international dark sky reserves, free of the light pollution that makes it hard for many of us to see stars and for astronomers to study them. The designation makes it the largest dark-sky reserve in the UK.
International dark-sky reserves are designated by the Arizona-based International Dark-Sky Association, which requires both a large enough area of core darkness, and a surrounding population committed to the project and to development of dark-sky activities.
Yorkshire has hosted an annual Dark Skies Festival in the area for the past few years, encouraging 'astrotourism' and other star-gazing activities; last year almost 8,000 participated.
Worldwide, there are now sixteen designated dark-sky reserves, five of them in England.
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