CPRE Star Count

CPRE (Campaign for Protection of Rural England) Star Count

What follows is extracted from the CPRE website. It may be a useful lockdown activity to break the monotony especially for younger families as well as assisting in establishing how much light pollution there is in our locality!

From CPRE:-
We think that nothing beats looking upwards to see velvety blackness, with twinkling constellations as far as the eye can see. Our buildings and streetlights emit light, though, and this can affect our view of truly dark skies. We want to make sure that we can all enjoy starlit nights, and we need your help in measuring what effect light is having on our views of the galaxy. Doing a count is simple – whether you live in town or country, just look to the night sky on a clear night from tonight until 14 February and tell us how many stars you can see within the constellation of Orion.

For the full details from the CPRE website, please click here

Key points are:-

-Remember that we're counting stars from now until 14 February 2021, so choose a night!
-Keep an eye on the weather forecasts for the week ahead.
-Remember: your safety and health are the most important things, so stay at home for your star counting this year.
-Pick the clearest night for your count, with no haze or clouds, then wait until after 7pm so that the sky is really dark.
-Turn off all the lights in your house, too, to make it easier to see the stars.
-Looking south into the night sky, find the Orion constellation, with its four corners and 'belt'.
-Take a few moments to let your eyes adjust, then count the number of stars you can see within the rectangle formed by the four corner stars.
-You can count the three stars in the middle – the belt – but not the corner stars.
-Make a note of the number of stars seen with the naked eye (not with telescopes or binoculars) and then submit your count to us here.
-Share your experiences (and any photos) with others on social media using #StarCount
-And don't forget to check back here in the spring to see the national results and how your area compares to the rest of the country.

The Orion Rectangle