There are plenty of amazing things to see up in the dark skies, and there are plenty of amazing scientific mysteries just waiting to be observed - once you know where to look!
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Just use a star chart or a smartphone app to help you find them (remember to turn your phone’s screen red).
6 things you can see with the naked eye from any dark-sky site.
Solar system planets
Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and even – technically – Uranus can all be seen with the naked eye. Find out when Mars, Jupiter Saturn and Uranus are at ‘opposition’ and use a mobile phone app to help you locate them
Meteor showers
Meteor showers occur at the same time every year, because they’re caused by Earth passing through the debris stream of comets (and sometimes asteroids) on its journey around the Sun. The Perseid (in August) and Geminid (in December) meteor showers are particularly active
The Milky Way
Believe it or not, you can see the bulge of our galaxy with your own eyes, appearing as a thick band of stars stretching across the night sky.
Bright stars
There are many prominent, bright stars to be seen. During winter, look out for red star Betelgeuse, the left should of Orion the hunter. The North Star, Polaris, is visible all year round in the Northern Hemisphere. Or try and find Aldebaran, the red ‘eye’ of Taurus and bluish star Vega in the Lyra constellation.
The Pleiades
The Pleiades is a beautiful, blue star cluster that can be seen high in the sky with the naked eye during winter. You can find it up and to the right of the Orion constellation and it looks spectacular even through modest binoculars.
The Andromeda Galaxy
The most distant thing that can be seen with the naked eye is the Andromeda Galaxy, our nearest major galaxy located 2.5 million lightyears away. But you’ll need good eyesight and very dark skies to see it.
The Moon
It might sound obvious, but when was the last time you really looked up at the Moon? A full Moon is big and bright and spectacular, but observe it when it’s in its crescent or gibbous phases and the ‘terminator’ (the line dividing the lit and unlit portions of the Moon) will accentuate the mountains and craters on the lunar surface.