Star trekking: a quest for darkness

Astronomer Steve Owens is heading to Saint Helena in the south Atlantic to see if the remote island is dark enough to qualify for 'international dark sky place' statusThe small south Atlantic island of Saint Helena is about as remote as any place on earth gets. It lies 2,000km from Africa and 3,000km from South America, and I'm heading there for eight days this month to carry out a dark sky survey.This survey will allow me to determine the quality of the night sky above Saint Helena – the darkness of the sky, but also the clarity of the stars – in anticipation of the island becoming an "international dark sky place", a designation awarded by the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA).Light pollution is a common problem for astronomers living near cities; a familiar orange glow drowning out the light from all but the brightest stars in the night sky. With...

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