UPP-INT MOODLE READING-Bright Future For Dark Sky Sites

Upper Intermediate Moodle Reading Material: Bright Future for ‘Dark Sky’ Sites
Bright Future for ‘Dark Sky’ Sites as Astrotourism Grows in Appeal
Read the text and answer the following questions.

On the top of a hill, looking down on Northumberland’s beautiful Kielder Water reservoir, a group of
people wait in a car park next to a strange wooden building. They are looking for darkness and this is
Kielder Observatory, the centre of Britain’s latest industry – astrotourism. The people waiting outside
are the lucky ones. Many more apply for a night of stargazing at the observatory but numbers are
strictly limited.
Inside, under a dim light, the observatory’s founder and lead astronomer, Gary Fildes, delivers a
speech to his colleagues and volunteers. The team discusses the prospect of seeing the northern lights
but Fildes is doubtful. Instead, they decide to use their powerful telescopes to observe Jupiter and
Venus and, later, to pick out stars such as Capella and Betelgeuse. An additional attraction is the
appearance of the International Space Station.
Fildes, 49, is at the forefront of the UK’s growing astrotourism industry. The key moment for
Northumberland came in 2013 when the entire national park, about 1,500 square kilometres in area,
was awarded Dark Sky Park status, the only one in England. Dark Sky Parks are rare. The 2013 Star
Count revealed that only 5% of the UK population can see more than 31 stars on a clear night.
The Arizona-based International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) awards the status of Dark Sky Park
only to places that take major steps to avoid light pollution. And those areas must also prove their
night skies are dark enough. In Northumberland Dark Sky Park, as the area was renamed, it is so dark
that Venus casts a shadow on the Earth.
Duncan Wise, visitor development officer for the Northumberland National Park Authority, helped to
lead the campaign for dark-sky status. “We tend to look at landscape as everything up to the horizon,”
Wise said. “But what about what’s above it?” Wise and others spent years preparing their application
to the IDA, collecting thousands of light readings and producing an exterior lighting master plan that
influences the construction of new developments in the area.
Their efforts have been rewarded. Many of the 1.5 million who visit Northumberland each year are
now aware of its Dark Sky status. “We get a lot of people coming here to see the sky now,” says the
man at the car-hire firm in Newcastle. “They come in autumn and winter, when it’s darkest. It’s good
for the local hotels because they get business all year round now.” Local hotels now give guests night-
vision torches and put out deckchairs at night.
Wise agrees that Northumberland needs to do more to take advantage of its scarce resource. He
believes the region needs a couple more observatories to ensure that visitors will see what they came
for. A new £14m national landscape discovery centre will have an observatory when it is completed in
a couple of years.
Fildes has big ambitions. He is planning Britain’s first “astrovillage”, one that would contain the
largest public observatory in the world and have a 100-seat auditorium, a 100-seat planetarium, a one-
metre aperture telescope, and radiomagnetic and solar telescopes. The multimillion-pound project
Upper Intermediate Moodle Reading Material Taken from the Guardian newspaper & Updated in
June 2017 by Ebru Ecer
would also have a hotel and draw in 100,000 people a year, four times the number currently able to
use the observatory. Fildes believes the astrovillage will be a reality by 2018.
However, Northumberland has competition. Galloway Forest Park in Scotland also has Dark Sky Park
status. Since Exmoor was designated Europe’s first International Dark Sky Reserve – one level below
Dark Sky Park – in 2011, a range of local businesses offering stargazing breaks and safaris has sprung
up. The UK has a long way to go to rival northern Chile, which has more than a dozen tourist
observatories and some of the clearest skies in the world. The Teide National Park in Tenerife is also
becoming a major astrotourism destination.
So, why do people want to look up into the night sky? The media have helped. TV presenters like
Brian Cox have attracted a new generation of stargazers. “Brian Cox has made astronomy accessible,”
says Wise. “It’s no longer seen as something just for professors with telescopes.”
Technology has also made astronomy more popular. Apps such as Stellarium now turn smartphones
into pocket-size planetariums. But Fildes believes that, most importantly, people are starting to
appreciate what lies above. “If you had to build a visitor attraction from scratch, what could be better
than the universe?”
Jamie Doward
12 April, 2015
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
Are these statements true (T) or false (F) according to the text?
1. There are a lot of Dark Sky Parks around the world. ____
2. A lot of people visit Northumberland to enjoy stargazing. ____
3. About 100,000 people a year are able to use the Kielder Observatory. ____
4. There is a Dark Sky Park in Exmoor. ____
5. The new national landscape discovery centre will open in 2016. ____
6. TV presenters have helped to make astronomy accessible. ____
FIND THE INFORMATION
Find the following information in the text as quickly as possible.

1. When was Northumberland awarded Dark Sky Park status? _______________
2. How big is the Northumberland National Park? _______________
3. How many Dark Sky Parks are there in England? _______________
4. What percentage of the UK population can see more than 31 stars on a good night?
_______________
5. What is the IDA? _______________
6. Where is Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park? _______________
WORD BUILDING
Complete the table using words from the text.

verb noun
attract
pollute
develop
apply
discover
complete
ANSWER KEY
T/F QUESTIONS
1. F
2. T
3. F
4. F
5. F
6. T
Find the information

1. in 2013
2. 1,500 square kilometres
3. one
4. 5%
5. the International Dark-Sky Association
6. in Scotland
Word-building
1. attraction
2. pollution
3. development
4. application
5. discovery
6. competition

UPP-INT MOODLE READING-Bright Future For Dark Sky Sites

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

UPP-INT MOODLE READING-Bright Future For Dark Sky Sites

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

UPP-INT MOODLE READING-Bright Future For Dark Sky Sites

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Upper Intermediate Moodle Reading Material: Bright Future for ‘Dark Sky’ Sites

Bright Future for ‘Dark Sky’ Sites as Astrotourism Grows in Appeal

Read the text and answer the following questions.

FIND THE INFORMATION

Find the following information in the text as quickly as possible.

Complete the table using words from the text.

Find the information

You might also like