A Californian astronomer has praised a Northumberland exhibition that was directly inspired by her work.
Aparna Venkatesan, of the University of San Francisco, described the exhibition as 'magical'.
Noctalgia: Dark Skies Matter is being showcased at The Sill: Landscape Discovery Centre.
Ms Venkatesan, alongside John Barentine, astronomer and science communicator at Dark Sky Consulting, introduced the term 'noctalgia' which defines the sorrow experienced due to the loss of dark skies owing to light pollution.
Noctalgia, by definition, means 'sky grief'. This new term became the namesake for the exhibition at The Sill, aimed at marking the tenth anniversary of Northumberland International Dark Sky Park.
The exhibition is the creation of North East artist, Bethan Maddocks. Ms Maddocks discovered the term in a science journal while she was researching for the commission.
She said: "It is a poetic word, and it links to nostalgia, which a lot of people feel when they think of the night sky. They may reflect on the numbers of moths and stars we were able to see as children, that are not as visible now.”
Responding to Ms Maddocks' work, Ms Venkatesan said: “It’s just so magical. When one does scientific work, you don’t really know who it’s reaching or who will read it. It’s just incredibly moving that despite all the crisis and trauma in our world right now, people still care about the sky.
"And I’m so moved to know that Bethan created this installation to honour the anniversary of the Dark Sky Park but also to connect to this idea of shared grief at losing our dark skies.”
Noctalgia: Dark Skies Matter was opened in December 2023, marking the 10th year of Northumberland International Dark Sky Park.
The exhibition Noctalgia: Dark Skies Matter, which runs until March 10, and can be viewed for free every day at The Sill: Landscape Discovery Centre.
As well as the exhibition, the Northumberland International Dark Sky Partnership commissioned a film emphasising the significance of dark skies and stating required measures to safeguard them in the future.
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