DARK SKY PARK What is a Dark Sky Park - "A park possessing exceptional starry night skies and natural nocturnal habitats where light pollution is minimised and natural darkness is valued as an important educational, cultural, scenic and natural resource". In 2009, with backing from the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh, the Galloway Forest Park was designated the first Dark Sky Park in the UK and one of only two in all of Europe. The award has ignited everyone's imagination and created enormous interest.

In turn the Park received status as a Starlight Reserve and this means that it is a suitable site where a commitment to defend the night sky quality and access to starlight has been established. Its main function here will be to preserve the quality of the night sky and provide a base for educational and recreational activity.

It is an exciting development for the UK, for the South west of Scotland and particularly for the Doon Valley.

SCOTTISH DARK SKY OBSERVATORY To take advantage of the new found status, there are plans underway to establish, the Scottish Dark Sky Observatory on a rocky knowe in the hills above Loch Doon, in East Ayrshire.

The project is being led by Scottish Dark Sky Observatory Group and will be a landmark regeneration project that will: act as a catalyst for rural regeneration within the area as its new found status as an astronomical exemplar attracts visitors to this locale; help to create sustainable employment in an area which has witnessed the demise of a once thriving coal industry and the manifestation of severe levels of social and economic deprivation; create an excellent educational resource for schools, relevant to many parts of the curriculum and greatly increase young people's understanding of astronomy and other disciplines of science; be a positive addition to the landscape and complement the proposed, enhanced and extended bio-sphere reserve; provide a telescope which will be capable of providing live feeds (incorporating reciprocal worldwide exchange feeds), with all the additional opportunities which that will create; and inspire local communities, especially school children and attract visitors from across the country.

PLANETARIUM To complement and enhance the Scottish Dark Sky Observatory, plans are being taken forward to establish a mobile Planetarium and, to this end, an application has been made to the Jubilee People's Millions Competition, promoted by STV and the Big Lottery Fund, to secure the necessary funding.

The Planetarium proposal is one of two projects subject to a one-day-only public vote arranged by STV on Monday 27 June 2011, with a presentation being given by local pupil Kyle McCormick of Doon Academy on STV at 18:00. The project as a whole would be a fantastic boost for a deprived and remote part of East Ayrshire in the Doon Valley and would be an excellent tourism asset attracting more visitors and employment opportunities to the area. Moreover, the mobile planetarium will open up the wonders of the night sky to a wide ranging audience and will be transported to schools as well as to a variety of community locations.