Following its success in 2024, our Dark Skies event returned to Hertford Castle on Saturday 1st February 2025. 

This community event, recognised by Dark Sky UK, celebrated the night sky by switching off artificial lights to allow the stars to be seen without glare or local upward light. Groups of experts and enthusiasts, including LAPD Lighting Design, The University of Hertfordshire: Bayfordbury Observatory, Hertford Astronomy Group, Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust and Herts Amphibian and Reptile Group, all came together to raise awareness of the effects of lighting at night, both on humans and the surrounding ecology. They provided an enjoyable evening of stargazing, educational talks and activities including a mobile planetarium, which exhibited an immersive video of the constellations and the beautiful night sky.

Alongside the event, BEAM showed ‘The City Dark’ - a feature documentary about light pollution and the disappearing night sky, which premiered at the 2011 South by Southwest Film Festival. This was followed by a talk by lighting designer Simon Thorp, from LAPD Lighting Design, who provided further insight into the effects of artificial light at night and the steps we can take to minimise our impact, he commented: “It was great to see so many people coming together to enjoy the night sky and share knowledge about nature and light. I’m already looking forward to next year!” 

Hertford Town Council are most grateful to all those who attended and we look forward to expanding this popular event further in 2026.

Councillor Ann Woodward, Chair of the Development and Leisure Committee commented: “We were so incredibly lucky that the skies were so clear on the night and that we got to see actual planets! We are most grateful to all our stargazing experts, and BEAM, for working in partnership with us on this event – yet another example of our community coming together to share both wonderment and learning.”

Notes:

It is challenging to convey the magic of the night sky by photograph, but we hope that the image above reflects the ambience of this wonderful event. The image has been kindly supplied by Stephen Heliczer, from Hertford Astronomy Group - who are pictured below at the event.

The Hertford Town Council full events programme is available to view online at www.hertford.gov.uk/events-listings