Tonight there's mist on the way to the moors. It creeps through the valley and blots out everything but Venus. But as the minibus climbs up the Sutton Bank escarpment, it begins to clear. By the time we arrive at the North York Moors International Dark Sky Reserve, we're high above the valley mist among heather moorland, low shrubs and stumpy trees. Above us is a big sky with only thin wisps of cloud between the bright stars. The open clusters within Auriga are naked-eye bright and so are the faint suns of Gemini, Taurus and Ursa Minor, all now so elusive from our towns and cities.
"Does anyone know, what is the furthest thing it's possible to see with the naked eye?" says astronomer Richard Darn, our host for the evening. "The Moon?" says a
