Great news for Scotland and for Galloway is that Galloway Forest Park is to see the develoment of Europe’s first Dark Sky Park. The 300 square-mile forest park can offer views of the heavens uncorrupted  by light pollution.

2009 is the Year of Astronomy and registering Galloway Forest Park as a Dark Sky area will be one of the highlights of the year – for Europe as well as for Scotland. On a cloudless night there you can see a sky-full of stars invisible in areaas with ambient light – and you don’t even need a high-powered telescope to see more. Keith Muir, the Park’s Recreation Manager says a pair of binoculars will do the business

There are only two other Dark Sky Parks in the world, both in America, one in Pennsylvania and one in Utah.

Dark Sky Park development has three key aspects:

• using light with more regard for need and volume
• keeping developments that would create light pollution away from areas with dark sky potential
• opening up new resources for unique tourism

With increasing urbanisation, few people realise how magical a really dark sky is and even fewer ever see one. In 1989 the British Astronomical Association set up the Campaign for Dark Skies. Estimates suggest that the amount of light that leaks unnecessarily into space costs the UK economy £110 million each year. Outside the Central Belt, Scotland has huge resources of dark sky which need – now – to be protected and harvested for the contribution they can make to the economy.

For Argyll has asked the question – who is batting for Argyll in this? Who is out there seeing the opportunities, getting the light tests done, exploring and evaluating possible initiatives? This sort of development is perfect for this place. It’s in tune with Argyll’s unrivalled spectrum of natural resources and it’s non-invasive.

With our long sea lochs cutting into the mainland we may not have a single landmass as large as Galloway Forest – but we have areas little different in dark sky potential. Some offer access already – in underpopulated areas on both sides of Loch Awe – Inverlieven Forest and Eredine Forrest; in Kilberry, Glen Aray and Glen Orchy. Some others would need a little access development – like the north end of Jura and the north west of Islay around Gortantaoid.

One imaginative option would be to develop small dark sky centres in appropriate places around and connected to Argyll – like Glen Etive – offering amateur and professional astronomers a series of viewpoints to the stars. With Glasgow Airport as a hub and smaller airports already around Argyll, we have the advantage of relative accessibility.

VisitScotland has announced its intention to create Dark Sky Parks in Scotland. It is always important to get involved in such initiatives early and this means that funding will be available to energetic and well-found proposals.

To earn Dark Sky status you have to submit digital photographs taken at night with a fish-eye lens and readings taken from light meters at different points of the area under consideration.

There is advice and help available. Through its International Dark Sky Places programme, the International Dark Sky Association and its partners certify locations with exceptional nightscapes as International Dark Sky Communities (IDSC), International Dark Sky Parks (IDSP), and International Dark Sky Reserves (IDSR).

The darkness of a night sky is gauged on the Bortle Scale. This light pollution scale was devised by John Bortle for the February 2001 issue of Sky and Telescope Magazine. To give you a sense of the scale:

• the night sky illumination over London rates a 10
• an oil rig in the Pacific Ocean is a 1
• Galloway Forest scores a 3

For Argyll has done this initial spadework to show what’s possible and to indicate routes for those interested to follow. Initiatives like this would be very good news for Argyll.