As Dark Skies Season draws to end and we loose the darkness each day until we enter the twilight months of noctilucent cloud season. Looking forward to some summer nights trying to capture these in somewhat milder temperatures. However the last months of winter heading into spring in sub-zero conditions proved to be some of the clearest nights all winter. Also with the fantastic news of the North York Moors receiving official international dark sky status for the first time and one of only 18 dark sky reserves in the world! Hopefully this will spark more interest in astronomy and stargazers in the area as people are already starting to act on keeping levels of light pollution down.
I can honestly say myself I noticed lower levels of light pollution when out shooting the crystal clear skies over the North York Moors. Having much fun with my new Sony mirrorless A7Riii I was so pleased with the sharp results. I thoroughly enjoyed the details of all areas of the Milkyway it was able to capture from the Cygnus region right through to the Galactic Core. Spring is such a fantastic time to shoot horizontal panoramas of the Milkyway.
The first appearance of the Galactic Core is rising above the horizon before dawn (below). It was certainly worth the sleepless night and frozen up kit to be able to experience this. With much appreciation to the North York Moors National Park working hard to protect these important natural beauty spots with their beautiful dark skies!
I enjoy the summer months of noctilucent clouds but at the same time can’t wait to see what winter of 2021/22 has in store for us with protected skies becoming more visible and the sun is beginning to wake up from its sleep (solar minimum) we could be heading into one hell of an aurora season by the time autumn equinox arrives!
