Dark Sky Park
Yorkshire Dales Dark Sky Reserve
- Darkness
- Bortle 2–3
- Designation
- Dark Sky Reserve — DarkSky, 2020
- Size
- 2,179 km²
- Location
- North Yorkshire & Cumbria
The Yorkshire Dales gained International Dark Sky Reserve status in 2020, jointly with the neighbouring North York Moors. The remote dales have very low populations and little road lighting, giving observers across Yorkshire, Lancashire and the North West some of their darkest accessible skies.
The best areas reach Bortle 2–3. High, open viewpoints around Ingleborough and Whernside sit well clear of distant town glows, and Dark Sky Discovery Sites at Scar House Reservoir and Buckden are set up for group observing — ideal for the winter constellations and the Perseid and Geminid meteor showers.
