Dark Skies Cumbria

Light up February with a spectacular array of online events celebrating the wonders of our night sky

Live events over 17 evenings in February give you the opportunity to explore our dark skies with astronomers, astrophotographers, authors, filmmakers, lighting and design professionals, performers, poets and outdoor adventurers.

Book Now for individual event information and booking options. We've also produced this handy little leaflet which you can download as a reminder of what's in a line-up which we think is out of this world!

(View / Download Festival Line-Up - pdf)

Saving Our Night Skies

Cumbria's dark skies allow us to see the natural wonder of the stars, but are also critical for the health wildlife and our own natural well-being. Sadly light pollution in Cumbria is increasing each year, threatening to obscure our view of the stars and blinding and confusing animals so they can’t feed or find a mate. We need urgent action now to stop light pollution. Stargazers, photographers, wildlife lovers and local communities… please help.

Or you can give by text to 70085. Just message DARKSKIES along with your chosen donation amount (eg DARKSKIES 5 to donate £5). Standard message rates apply.

The Lake District and Cumbria offers some of the most spectacular and precious skyscapes in England and we want you to join us on an interstellar adventure. Download our Dark Sky Discovery Pack and get started today!

Dr Martin Kitching: Creatures of the Night

7pm Saturday 13 February

In this event Martin will talk about some of the nocturnal wildlife, both large and small, that occupies the twilight zone and beyond into the darkness, as well as looking at the challenges that are posed by light pollution. What are the impacts for the natural world of the night being blighted by light?

Martin is the director and senior guide, of Northern Experience Wildlife Tours and a director of Astroventures; wildlife guide, photographer, astronomer, poet, and deeply in love with the sea, sky, and moorland – preferably turbulent and awe-inspiring, dark and cloudless, and bleak and exposed respectively.

This will be a live online presentation via Zoom. Please sign up using the booking button below and we will email you links and instructions for joining the session. (Please check your spam email box if you don't receive a confirmation email).

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Latest

Virtual Dark Skies Festival to Light Up Your Screens

The Cumbria Dark Skies Festival promises to light up our February evenings with a spectacular array of online events celebrating the wonders of the night sky.
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Phoebe Smith: Explorations Under the Stars

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Adults' Planetarium Show

The grown-up version of our children's planetarium show! Ever looked up and wanted to know more about the stars and planets that make up our night sky? In our 30-minute virtual planetarium show, we will be exploring what you can see from the UK skies! We’ll take a detailed look at some of the most famous objects in the sky, the history of constellations and tips for how to see them yourself.
Jonny Randall Heavens Above: Encounters with the Dark through Film and Performance

Jonny Randall explores working with darkness through film: both in capturing the night as moving image and the metaphorical possibilities of the dark. He will talk about our relationship with the night, and about his creative collaborations, which have invited people to experience and dwell in the dark.
Children's Planetarium Show 2

LUniverse is excited to bring you a COVID-safe version of our full-dome experience via a live-stream planetarium show, which will take you on a whistle-stop tour of our night sky, giving a detailed look at the planets and constellations.
Tiffany Francis-Baker, Dark Skies: A Journey into the Wild Night

Tiffany has explored nocturnal landscapes and investigated how our experiences of the night-time world have permeated our history, folklore, science, art and literature. In this Q&A session, she will talk about our connection with wildlife and the landscape after dark, as well as how artificial lighting is affecting nature and our own natural rhythms.
Prof Nick Dunn: Rethinking Places After Dark

We know our dark skies are special. Yet to connect with them in urban areas, we need to rethink the way we design for such places after dark. Nick Dunn explains why a move to ecology-centred rather than human-centred design is key to protecting our dark skies.
Prof John Stott: International dark skies for astronomical research

Prof John Stott presents the history and state-of-the-art of using dark skies for astronomical research. The search for the darkest skies takes astronomers to far flung places such as the Canary Islands, Hawaii and Chile. These dark sky locations reveal very distant galaxies and otherwise unseen features, allowing astronomers to explore the workings of the Universe itself.
Good Lighting – Ask the Panel Q&A

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Harriet and Rob Fraser: Under a single sky, our spirits are starlight

Be transported to a nocturnal world of mountains with photographs and poetic reflections from nights under the stars. Rob and Harriet Fraser regularly camp out in high and isolated places. It’s always worth it, even on the coldest of nights. Their love of witnessing the night sky has filtered into many of their art and poetry projects.
Ellen Jeffrey: Moving Nightscapes: Choreographing Nightfall with Cumbria’s Dark Skies

Dance artist Ellen Jeffrey explores what we can learn of the night by dancing in the dark: what we can encounter of the nocturnal world by venturing out and moving with it. Ellen will share her research into creating night-time choreographies and movement workshops beneath Cumbria’s dark skies.