Editing Sark (section)

====Dark Sky Community status====
In January 2011, the [[International Dark-Sky Association]] designated Sark as Europe's first Dark Sky Community<ref name="IDA">{{cite web|url=http://www.darksky.org/assets/documents/PR/2011/PRSarkHortobagyFINAL.pdf |title=Sark Island and Hortobágy National Park Earn Dark Sky Status From the International Dark Sky Association|last=Anon |date=31 January 2011 |work=IDA Press release |publisher=International Dark Sky Association |access-date=22 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130819151755/http://darksky.org/assets/documents/PR/2011/PRSarkHortobagyFINAL.pdf |archive-date=19 August 2013  }}</ref> and the first Dark Sky Island in the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-guernsey-12323505|title=Sark named world's first dark sky island|last=Anon|date=31 January 2011|work=BBC News Guernsey|publisher=BBC|access-date=22 February 2014}}</ref> This designation recognises that Sark is sufficiently clear of [[light pollution]] to allow naked-eye [[astronomy]]. Although Sark was aided in its achievement by its location, its historic ban on cars and the fact that there is no public lighting, it was also necessary for local residents to make adjustments, such as re-siting lights, to cut the light pollution.

The designation was made in January 2011, following an audit by the IDA in 2010. The award is significant in that Sark is the first island community to have achieved this; other Dark-Sky Places have, up to now, been mainly uninhabited areas, and IDA chairman Martin Morgan-Taylor commended Sark residents for their effort.<ref>{{cite news |author=Ian Sample |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/jan/31/sark-first-dark-sky-island |title=Sark is world's first 'dark sky island' |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=31 January 2011 |access-date=7 December 2012}}</ref> After the designation was granted, Sark Astronomy Society worked to secure funds for an astronomical observatory on the island. In October 2015 Sark's observatory was officially opened by [[Marek Kukula]], public astronomer from the Royal Observatory Greenwich.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-guernsey-34495607|title=Sark's astronomical observatory opens|last=Anon|date=11 October 2015|work=BBC News Guernsey|publisher=BBC|access-date=28 June 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sark.co.uk/sarks-very-own-observatory-11472/|title=Sark's Very Own Observatory|last=Anon|work=Sark Island|publisher=Sark Tourism|access-date=18 September 2017|date=3 October 2015|archive-date=14 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180714055352/http://www.sark.co.uk/sarks-very-own-observatory-11472/|url-status=dead}}</ref>