Galloway Forest Park has been awarded ‘Dark Skies’ status, meaning that it is exceptionally easy to see millions of stars from within its boundaries. While there are even more remote locations in the UK in which to go star gazing, the park in south west Scotland has been given the status because of the large number of people who can reach it relatively easy.

People from Scotland’s central belt, the north of England and even Northern Ireland (it is near a ferry route) are within striking distance of Galloway Forest Park. The International Dark Skies Association has awarded it ‘gold status’ – the highest accolade available.

The United Kingdom and many nations with heavily populated areas suffer from a great deal of light pollution, meaning that much of the night sky is obscured. While there are measures that can be taken to prevent light pollution – such as having shields on the top of lights that prevent light shining upwards – large conurbations will always give off huge quantities of light.

With 6 billion people on planet Earth, and more on the way (unless we stop fornicating – stop reprodusing anyone? Stop reproducing? No, didn’t think so) our chances of seeing the galaxy clearly in a few hundred years are very low indeed. I suppose we have to cling on to these small pleasures – after all, few things jog profound thoughts more than seeing the light from millions of stars that is already many thousands of years old. The Galaxy or X-Factor? I know which stars I want to see.

The ones in X-Factor.