When you can see meteors from the North York Moors

The North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales National Parks’ Fringe Dark Skies Festival runs from October 21 to 30 showing visitors to make the most of one the night sky.

And with no full moon affecting the starry skies, there’s a greater chance of seeing shooting stars as the start of the festival coincides with the peak of the Orionids meteor shower on October 21.

Festival-goers can enjoy a star safari in the company of astronomy experts like Astro Dog at Dalby Forest; the Whitby & District Astronomical Society at the Fox and Hounds in Ainthorpe; or Large Outdoors at Danby in the North York Moors to increase their chances of watching this night time wonder.

Read more: WEATHER WARNING: Met Office issues alert for North East this week

In Hawes on the October 25, Go Stargazing will be providing a guide to those witnessing one of astronomy’s rarest events, the partial eclipse of the sun by the moon.

Perseids Meteor Shower above Skelton Tower North York Moors Picture: Richard Horsman (Image: Archive)

There are light spectacles of a different kind at some of the best-known historic landmarks.

For instance at Bolton Abbey near Skipton, artist Luke Jerram’s acclaimed Museum of the Moon installation will be suspended in the Priory Church enabling visitors to admire the 7-metre diameter sculpture which features detailed NASA imagery of the lunar surface.

Meanwhile at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway visitors can hop on-board a steam train adorned with thousands of lights for an energetic, music-filled trip between Pickering and Levisham.

Over on the coast Whitby will have a distinctly Halloween theme with the gothic Abbey ruins dramatically illuminated and Dracula’s 125-year history brought to life.

The Halloween theme continues with fearsome thrills along the spooky trail at Dalby Forest; a creepy cosmos immersive show in the newly opened planetarium at the Lime Tree Observatory in Nidderdale; and fancy dress cycle rides near Hawes.

Nocturnal wildlife plays a starring role during the Festival with Tees Valley Wildlife Trust, as well as rangers at Keldy and Cropton Forest showing nature lovers why dark skies are so important to the likes of hedgehogs, bats and deer.

There’s also the opportunity to have close-up encounters with owls as well as learning how to photograph them at the National Centre for Birds of Prey in Helmsley.

Walking at twilight and night time provides a fresh perspective on the countryside and festival-goers can walk under a canopy of thousands of stars within the International Dark Sky Reserves of both National Parks including the Cleveland Hills, across Sutton Bank, in the foothills of Ingleborough in the Yorkshire Dales and in Dalby Forest.

This will be the third year that the Dark Skies Festival has been a biannual event, reflecting the continued popularity among visitors.

Despite some adverse wintry conditions during this February’s main Festival, more than 5,000 people still attended the 100-plus events, many of which were sold out.

The National Parks estimated that the Festival had generated more than £200,000 of valuable income to the businesses and organisations involved.

Further details about the festival events can be found here.

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