There is hardly a better place in Europe to stargaze than at The Exmoor Centre, we are within the Exmoor Dark Skies reserve and on clear nights the night sky is staggering. The photo above was taken in early August 2012, using a slow shutter speed of several minutes star trails form around the Pole Star, the big beech tree is lit up purely from candlelight in the bunkhouse!

You simply won’t believe how busy the night sky is, satellites race overhead, lapping the world at a staggering rate. When we took the photo above we could often see four satellites at a time passing over. Even though we were a week or so earlier than the peak of the Perseid meteor shower we were seeing shooting stars regularly that night.

For more information on Exmoor’s Dark Sky Reserve status look here:

http://www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk/environment/landscape/dark-skies

http://www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk/visiting/things-to-do/stargazing