Dark Skies

Dark Skies

Ael y Bryn has an exceptionally dark sky, and for those interested in the night sky this gives excellent conditions to observe the stars, planets and the cosmos.

The Preseli Astronomy Group measured the sky quality using a Unihedron SQM-L meter, and this gave an average reading of 21.07 magnitudes per arcsecond; this is on a scale of 0 to 24 where 24 represents the pitch black of a photographer's dark room.

There are also two darkness ratings in use:

• "Orion" sites where the seven main stars in the winter constellation Orion are visible to the naked eye.
• "Milky Way" sites where the Milky Way is visible to the naked eye. They are much darker sites found only in more rural areas.

On a clear moonless-night the garden at Ael y Bryn is a superb location to see Orion and the Milky way with the naked eye and has good sightlines of the spectacular night sky and the stars.

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