Dark Sky Reserves

I come from a little town in Southern Africa. There are not many street lights, no industries, and very little traffic. So when you look up at night you see millions and millions of stars. And I love it because you can see the Southern Cross and stars that you cannot see in the northern hemisphere. It is so peaceful just looking at them and I am happy to say that I did spend a large part of my childhood lying on the grass and looking up at the stars.

Living as I do now, in a large city in a developed country, you don’t see stars. I miss them. And when you think about it, stars were what people used to navigate by – so called celestial or astronavigation.

So I was interested to read recently about Dark Sky Reserves, where artificial light is limited so that the night sky can be seen in all its natural beauty. You can read more about it on the site of the International Dark Skies Association.