One of the UK’s best stargazing spots is less than a two hour drive from Greater Manchester. Kendal, located on the edge of the Lake District in Cumbria, has been named the fifth best place in the country to see stars.
International Dark Sky week begins on April 15 so it’s the ideal time to look up at the night sky and try a spot of stargazing. A study into light pollution led by BestGamblingSites.com revealed the areas in the UK with the best star visibility scores.
St Davids in Pembrokeshire came first with a score of 74.4 out of 100, taking into account light pollution, luminance of the night sky and sky brightness. This was closely followed by Uckfield in East Sussex with a score of 73.8, with Wells in Somerset coming in third with a score of 73.2.
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Kendal received a score of 72.9 with a brightness score of just 477 μcd/m2, guaranteeing a low light intensity and dark sky. This is almost a three times lower score for artificial brightness, which impacts the ability to see stars, than in nearby Lancaster, in Lancashire, England — which scores 1,220 μcd/m2.
The town has a Sky Quality Meter reading of 20.50 (mag./arc sec2), which is just 1.50 points from being the darkest reading possible, making it the perfect location to stargaze.
The best places in the UK to see stars are:
- St Davids, Pembrokeshire
- Uckfield, East Sussex
- Truro, Cornwall
- Wells, Somerset
- Kendal, Cumbria
- Ripon, North Yorkshire
- Winchester, Hampshire
- Eastbourne, East Sussex
- Haverhill, Suffolk
- Elgin, Moray
- Chippenham, Wiltshire
- Ely, Cambridgeshire
- Salisbury, Wiltshire
- Folkestone, Kent
- Hastings, East sussex
With the lowest score of all 82 areas analysed, the UK’s capital, London, has the lowest star visibility score of 28.93/100.
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