BY THE LIGHT of the moon

GLIMPSING THE Northern Lights dancing across the sky, the Milky Way in all its glory or the sheer brightness of the moon and stars is an awe-inspiring sight. This wasn’t unusual to our ancestors – the vivid beauty of the sky, and the nocturnal noises of trees rustling or animals passing by, was part of daily life.

Nowadays, most people have never seen a truly dark sky. We live in towns and cities where streetlights, illuminated buildings, lit windows and advertising hoardings have created excessive light pollution. So great is the problem that The World Atlas of the Artificial Night Sky Brightness shows that 99% of the population has never experienced a naturally dark sky.

But head out into the countryside and the situation