It’s International Dark Sky Week (April 22-30th). Stargazers around the globe are enjoying the peaceful, spiritual and annual experience that was initially designed to raise awareness of light pollution and encourage celebration of the beauty of our night sky.
With that in mind, PsychicWorld.com wanted to discover the UK’s best secret spots for stargazing.
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UK’s top spots for stargazing
| Rank | Place | UK Location | Stargazing Quality Score (/100) |
| 1 | Tresco, Scilly Isles | England | 99.38 |
| 2 | Glen Brittle, Isle of Skye | Scotland | 99.33 |
| =3 | Loch Lomond | Scotland | 95.26 |
| =3 | Lindisfarne Castle, Northumberland Coast | England | 95.26 |
| 5 | Llanddwyn Island | Wales | 93.17 |
| 6 | Tintagel Castle, Tintagel | England | 93.13 |
| 7 | Portmeirion | Wales | 91.09 |
| =8 | Stratford-upon-Avon | England | 89.05 |
| =8 | Giant’s Causeway | Northern Ireland | 89.05 |
| =8 | Fort William | Scotland | 89.05 |
| =8 | East Sussex | England | 89.05 |
| =8 | Durdle Door, Jurassic Coast | England | 89.05 |
| =8 | Bowness-on-Windermere, Lake District | England | 89.05 |
| =8 | Bourton-on-the-Water, Cotswolds | England | 89.05 |
Coming in top is Tresco on the Scilly Isles with a rank score of 99.38 out of 100. The remote island location is ideal for stargazing as it has a Bortle Scale classification of 1. This rating allows stargazers to see the Triangulum Galaxy, 2.73 million light-years from Earth, with the naked-eye.
Second on the list is Glen Brittle on the Isle of Skye (with a rank score of 99.33) which is an area of the famous remote Scottish island well known for its natural beauty. Glen Brittle has a SQM reading of 22.00, the highest possible score for this metric, meaning the area has no light pollution at all.
In joint third place is Loch Lomond and Lindisfarne Castle both with a rank score of 95.26.
Following is Llanddwyn Island (rank score of 93.17),Tintagel Castle (rank score of 93.13) and Portmeirion (rank score of 91.09), respectively ranking fifth, sixth and seventh.
Measurement information:
The Bortle scale is a classification system which uses astronomical observations to measure light pollution. The scale runs from 1 (best) to 9 (worst).
SQM (Sky Quality Meter) is an instrument used to give a reading on the luminance of the night sky. A rating of 16.00, is the lowest and thus the brightest sky. 22.00 is the highest and thus darkest.
Artificial Brightness measures sky brightness against natural brightness, which is set at 174 µcd/m2. A rating higher than 3,000 µcd/m2 is known as ‘Very high light intensity’ and at this level the human eye does not need to adapt to the dark to see.
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