A successful first Hertford Dark Skies event took place on the 22nd February 2024. The local community were treated to a tour of the night sky as clouds parted to reveal the stars, one by one. The event was conceived by Simon Thorp fom LAPD to raise awareness of light pollution and to provide people with the opportunity to come together as a community, experiencing the night sky without glare or local upward light within the centre of town. Hertford Town Council fully embraced the concept.
The event took place in Castle Park in the town centre with the intention to switch off all lighting for one hour in the park, on the castle, and as many lights as possible that are visible from the castle grounds. Removing light from people’s field of view meant attendees could fully appreciate the sky above.

Bayfordbury Observatory: University of Hertfordshire, welcomed the opportunity to take part, along with Hertford Astronomy Group who set up despite heavy rain all day with the forecast of clear skies at 7pm. The event was prepared for clouds: Bayfordbury Observatory provided their mobile planetarium. Hertford Astronomy Group had projections, demonstrations, virtual reality and slide shows inside the castle itself.

Educational talks took place inside too. Simon spoke about light pollution, what people can do about it, DarkSky International and the ecological effects. There were other talks such as an introduction to astronomy, amphibians and their nocturnal behaviour and Dark Matter Halos from the University of Hertfordshire.

Lighting before switch off was provided by Stoane Lighting in the form of miniature Tadpole spotlights to light vendor’s gazebos around the lawn. Mushroom luminaires on ground spikes were also used for external and internal areas with steps or uneven ground. These lights used CREE PC amber LEDs, 1830K to minimise their impact on surrounding wildlife. All lights were battery operated to avoid power cables across the site. Any other lighting was covered with red filters to limit their brightness and spectral distribution, whilst helping people adjust more easily to the darker light levels after the switch off.

The full switch-off was limited by the torrential rain but glare free views of the castle and the night sky were still achieved. Bayfordbury Observatory began their sky talk at 7pm at which point there was only feint visibility of the moon. As the talk commenced the moon brightened and Jupiter became clearly visible. One by one more stars were seen until a cloudless sky prevailed.

The switch off gave good visibility of the stars and real prominence to the moonlight across the lawn and onto the Castle façade. Visitors from London commented on the notable clarity of the night sky despite being so close to the capital.

The stellar magnitude of the sky was measured at a magnitude of 4.5, equating it to a Bortle Scale category of 7. Impressive for a location so close to London and something to be improved upon now that a second event has been confirmed next year!


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