North York Moors National Park International Dark Sky Reserve

The North York Moors in North Yorkshire, England, became a national park in 1952. DarkSky International, then the International Dark-Sky Association, designated it an International Dark Sky Reserve in December 2020, in a joint announcement with the Yorkshire Dales. Together the two parks cover more than 3,500 square kilometers of northern England. DarkSky lists the North York Moors reserve at 1,436 square kilometers. It describes some of the darkest skies in the country, with large areas of unpolluted night sky and a chance of the Northern Lights. Our own estimate is Bortle 4 at the coordinates we use.

The park has three Dark Sky Discovery Sites rated Milky Way class: the National Park Centres at Sutton Bank and Danby, and the Dalby Observatories in Dalby Forest. They have parking and are easy places to start. The park and its partners run an annual Dark Skies Festival, with stargazing events at the Nature and Star Hub at Sutton Bank and in Dalby Forest. DarkSky's own photo for the reserve shows the Milky Way over Ravenscar on the coast.

Plan carefully for the galactic core here. This far north the core rises only about 7 degrees above the southern horizon, and our data finds a usable window mainly in April, before dawn. You need a clear, flat southern horizon, such as a moorland ridge or a coastal view. The longer dark nights from autumn to spring suit the wider Milky Way and the winter sky better.