UNDER LAKELAND STARS

Whether you're a native Cumbrian, living in a pretty little cottage in the leafy heart of the Borrowdale Valley, or a brief visitor to Cumbria, reading this in the plush lounge of your four star Lake District hotel, you'll already be well aware that our part of the world offers many beautiful and unique sights. Dramatic fellscapes, serene, mirror-smooth lakes and historic buildings and sites are all here to see and enjoy. Our sunsets are unbelievable, and a day's walk along high fell paths or through shaded forests is an unforgettable experience. But we can offer something else too, something you don't see advertised in any of the glossy brochures or on any of the tourist websites; something that amazes visitors and locals alike - an unspoiled view of Nature's Forgotten Wonder

The night sky.

Many visitors are amazed by their first view of the night sky from Cumbria, and no wonder - they've never seen a truly dark, starry sky before! For them, a "clear night" meant they could see a handful of stars glowing feebly through the orange murk, and the Moon if it was on view. But here in the Lakes, when the Sun has set the sky quickly darkens to the colour of squid ink and is soon sprayed with stars. It's quite a view - and, sadly, it's a view that many natives don't appreciate either, even though it's there all the time.

But why is the night sky so spectacular from here? Well, simple - it's dark. Here there are far, far fewer artificial lights to drown out the subtle glow of the stars. In contrast to more populated areas, illuminated advertising hoardings are, quite rightly, discouraged in the National Park; very few monuments and buildings are floodlit; security lighting is efficient and unobtrusive. The result? The sky is a dark canopy studded with stars, and not the muddy, murky dome which glowers over towns and cities.

"Okay then," I hear you thinking, "what is there to actually see up there then? Well, go out on any clear night and after a few minutes - once your eyes have adapted to the darkness - the first thing you will see is stars, many, many stars. You won't see "millions" of them though, even if you think you can. People often gush about how the sky was so clear they could see "millions of stars!" but that's a common misconception. It's also impossible. Our eyes are only sensitive enough to see around 3000 stars on even the clearest night, sorry! But that niggle apart, what are stars?

People have all kinds of funny ideas about stars. Some think they're tiny flames, flickering high above the Earth. Others think they're tiny planets, or moons, orbiting close by. Others have no idea at all. The truth is, stars are immense globes of incredibly hot gas just like our own Sun. Yes, our Sun is a star, simply the closest star to the Earth, and all the stars in the night sky are distant suns. Jump into the Starship Enterprise and zoom away from Earth and you'd see the Sun shrink to a tiny speck of light, becoming just one star among all the others

After a few moments staring at them you'll notice some stars are brighter than others. Why? Well for one thing some are simply closer than others, so they appear brighter, but of course it's not just as simple as that. Some stars are physically more powerful, or luminous than others, just like some lightbulbs are brighter than others. But distance can affect how we see them - a faint star might actually be a very luminous star a great distance away, just as a bright star might in reality be a weak source of light which only looks bright because it is very close to us. Look more closely and you'll notice there are different coloured stars too. This is because stars have different temperatures. Basically, blue stars are very hot and red stars are much cooler - a lot like flames here on Earth, i.e. a blue blowtorch flame is hotter than a yellow candle flame.

Even if you've never actually seen them for yourself you'll know that the stars make shapes and patterns in the sky, called constellations. Some of their names are famous - The Plough, Orion, the constellations of the Zodiac - but you may be surprised to learn there are 88 in total, and each constellation has its own story, its own mythology. The night sky is basically a huge join-the-dots story book, and learning the stories behind the stars is great fun.

So much for stars. What else is there to see? Ah. I know what you're thinking now: "There's no point telling me any more, I don't have a fancy telescope like you" Well, fair enough, I do have a telescope (though for the record, it's not "fancy" in the slightest, it's the same one I've had since I was 15!) and it can show me wonderful sights like Saturn's rings, Mars' ice caps, cloud bands on - and moons in orbit around - Jupiter, plus countles star clusters, clouds of gas and distant galaxies. But the best sights I've seen have been seen with just my own two eyes

I've watched Comet Hale-Bopp shining above Castlerigg Stone Circle, its twin tails glowing like a ghostly "V" over the ancient standing stones Halley's Comet rising up from behind the battered, crumbling turrets of Cockermouth Castle Leonid fireballs falling from the sky like distress flares, visible even through the clouds the planet Mars blazing like a flame over the snow-covered slopes of Skiddaw I've stood by a river under a sky ablaze with the northern lights, so bright their fluttering red curtains and beams were reflected on the surface of the water, turning it into red wine. Dozens of times I've watched the Moon turn a coppery-red as it enters Earth's shadow during a lunar eclipse, and I've lost count of the number of times I've watched the International Space Station or the Space Shuttle drift silently and gracefully over the roofs and church spires of my town

Yes, the Universe has treated me well, and I'm grateful - and determined to introduce Cumbria Life readers to the wonders which are just above their heads, if they'd only take a moment to look. I think I'm pretty well qualified: I've been looking at the stars since I was knee-high to R2D2. In fact, one of my earliest memories from school is being made to sit in front of The Big TV and watching one of the Moon landings. Unlike my classmates I didn't mind, I somehow sensed This Is Important, and three decades later I'm still entranced and enthralled by the mysteries of the Universe and our efforts to unravel them. I have written seven books about space for children, and worked on many more. Two hundred years after a poor Cockermouth weaver's son, Fearon Fallows, travelled to South Africa to found the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope I founded the town's first Astronomical Society, which now has almost 40 members. I regularly give talks and presentations in local schools, and to community groups and organisations.

But I'm no Stephen Hawking, I don't "do" (or even have an interest in!) the blackboard-spanning equations of modern astrophysics. No, I'm an observer, pure and simple, and whenever the sky's clear you'll find me standing under it, head tilted back, taking in the view, marvelling at the most unforgettable sights. And I promise you, if you take a little time and trouble and lift your gaze skywards you'll be rewarded with sights you'll never forget either.

All you need to get started is a dark place to observe from and your own two eyes - you absolutely don't need a telescope. (Having said that, if you have a pair of binoculars take them along; they'll enhance the colours of stars and other, fainter objects in the night sky without magnifying them so much that you can't see all of them at once.) Wrap up warmly, and above all, Be Patient, you won't see everything in one night. In fact, you can't. Because Earth rotates around the Sun, each season has its own sky, which means many of the most fascinating objects in the heavens are only visible for a couple of months each year

But on any clear night, regardless of the time of year, you'll be able to see stars of many colours clusters of stars, shining in the sky like tiny spills of salt shooting stars, which aren't stars at all but are actually tiny grains of space dust burning up as they streak through Earth's atmosphere. You'll be able to see the Moon going through its phases, and see the light and dark features on its surface which make-up the Man In The Moon. On most nights there's at least one planet on display in the sky, sometimes even two or three - and no, you really don't need a telescope to see them, they look just like bright stars, and are clearly visible to the naked eye. Venus can often be seen before dawn or after sunset, blazing in the sky like a beacon. Jupiter shines with a steady blue light, while Saturn glows with a pale lemon hue. When it is at its closest to Earth - as it will be next August - Mars clearly deserves its "Red Planet" nickname, shining in the sky like a garnet or a ruby

and that's just for starters!

But in the end, why bother? After all, looking at the night sky means tearing yourself away from Eastenders or the latest episode of Corrie, and going outside, into the cold and dark is it worth it? Well, only you will know that once you give it a go, but I promise you, once you start you won't want to stop. Once it all starts to make sense, you'll wonder why you never did it before, and maybe even feel a little ashamed that you didn't. Because once you learn the names of a few stars and constellations they become friends, as familiar and as welcoming to you as the faces of your own friends. Not only that, but you'll have a deeper appreciation of Nature and our place in the world, and in the larger Universe too. It's exciting, and humbling, to stand under a starry sky and let your imagination soar upwards and outwards, to force youself to consider just how tiny we are in the Big Picture

And there is always something exciting to look forward to! Skywatchers, amateur and professional, use computers to accelerate time and see in advance when things worth watching are going to happen. We can predict, to the minute, when meteor showers, eclipses and planetary groupings are going to visible; next May we'll be able to see a total eclipse of the Moon, and the planet Mercury moving slowly across the Sun's disc during a so-called "transit". We'll also be able to see something very special - a partially eclipsed Sun rising, looking like something has taken a bite out of one side imagine watching that from the top of Skiddaw or the shores of Windermere. Well, you don't have to just imagine it, you can do it, if you make the effort.

If you're still not convinced it's worth it, if you still think that skywatching is a hobby for geeks and sad loners, then I want you to do something for me. Imagine you're standing outside with me right now, on a frosty, grass-crunching night. The stars of the Big Dipper shine to our left, those of Orion twinkle icily to our right. Thousands of others are shining and scintilating inbetween. If we understand the Universe as well as we think we do, then we're not alone, because we now know that many of those distant suns have solar systems of their own. By even the most pessimistic calculations, hundreds of those faraway worlds are Earth-like, and the homes of other civilisations, with their own stone circles, fells and lakes

Look up at the stars, and chances are, someone, or something, is looking back at you. And they're seeing our Sun as just a tiny star in their night sky

Something to think about.

© Stuart Atkinson 2002