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How dark skies are classified domestically

There are nine IDA-designated Dark Sky Places in the UK, spread across England, Scotland and Wales, plus two more in the Republic of Ireland. There’s also a separate scheme run by the home-grown Dark Sky Discovery partnership (DSD; www. darkskydiscovery.org.uk). Led by organisations such as the Royal Observatory Edinburgh, the Royal Astronomical Society and the British Astronomical Association, the DSD partnership recognises over 150 areas as Dark Sky Discovery Sites, where quality views of the night sky persist. These are divided into two categories: Milky Way class and Orion class sites. Milky Way class means the Galaxy must be visible to the naked eye, while Orion class requires that all seven stars in the Orion constellation can be seen unaided.