“Searching For Light” follows ex-bricklayer turned professional astronomer Gary Fildes on his unlikely journey from the building sites of Sunderland in the North East of England to the darkest skies on Planet Earth in South America.
His odyssey takes him from the Kielder Observatory in Northumberland (which he founded) to the bustling metropolis of Santiago where he learns the history of astronomy in Chile, before heading North into the Atacama Desert to visit the most advanced astronomical facilities on the planet, including La Silla, VLT Paranal and ALMA to glimpse the future of mankind’s quest to understand the Universe.
On this expedition, Gary witnesses, for the first time, true dark skies, learning from leading scientists how the Chileans protect this most precious natural asset, in order to achieve his ultimate goal... Protected Dark Sky Park status for his home skies in Northern England.
Gary's Bio:
Gary worked as a labourer for almost three decades in working class Sunderland but always harboured a deep fascination with the cosmos. Eventually this passion led him to become the founder of the Kielder Observatory in Northumberland; Europe’s only true dark sky, public observatory. As a lifelong stargazer, Gary knows the importance of protecting dark skies so that future generations can look out at the universe, un-blighted by the scourge light pollution. Gary was successful in securing protection for the dark skies of the North with an area of nearly 580 square miles, known as the Northumberland International Dark Sky Park, now forming the largest Dark Sky Park area of protected night sky in Europe. The first of its kind in England and the fourth largest in the world, Kielder now joins the likes of Death Valley and Big Bend Dark Sky Parks in the USA.
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