Stargazers in Teesside learning to make the most out of the dark skies
Tomorrow's the last day of the North Pennines Stargazing Festival
People in Teesside have been learning how to make the most out of some of the darkest skies in the country by spotting stars and constellations.
Tomorrow's the last day of the ninth edition of the North Pennines Stargazing Festival, where almost 30 events have been on offer.
Events are being organised by the North Pennines National Landscape team and a variety of other organisations and businesses – all with expert astronomer guides to help people enjoy the dark night skies in the North Pennines.
Organisers say the North Pennines is the darkest mainland National Landscape and is one of the darkest areas in the country. The festival has been running since 2017 to make it easy for people to celebrate the area’s dark night skies.
"About 86 percent of our skies are pristine, so it's one of the darkest places in England really. On a clear night you can thousands of stars from our landscape and the Milky Way, our home galaxy.
"You can see with your naked eye the next nearest galaxy to the Milky Way, so the Andromeda Galaxy which is 2.5 million light-years away, but you can also see things like the Plough which is part of the Great Bear constellation."