16th November 2009

Galloway Forest Park becomes Britain’s first Dark Sky location

Galloway Forest Park was named Britain’s first Dark Sky Park by the Dark Sky Association. This marked it out as one of the best locations in the world for observing the stars. The Forestry Commission Scotland had bid for the honour in October 2009, when there were only three dark sky parks in the world – all of which were then in the United States.

Quality of darkness

The Park was only granted its status after tests were conducted to gauge the quality of the darkness. These were so successful that the park was granted Gold Tier status, which is the highest rank possible.

Galloway Forest Park was established in 1947. It covers a very lightly populated area of 300 square miles, across which the absence of light pollution means it’s possible to see 7000 stars and planets on a cloudless night, with just the naked eye.