To gaze at the glittering night sky is to look into the past. We see stars not as they are now, but as they were thousands, maybe even millions, of years ago. And long winter nights are made for cosmic time travel. Astronomers call this ‘the observing season’.

From prehistory, humans saw pictures hidden in these celestial fields, sown with billions of stars. Constellations are sparkling puzzles, hugely rewarding to decipher. With the help of an astronomy chart even novice stargazers will spot patterns and distant planets.

Strong moonlight washes out all but the brightest stars, so choose a cloudless night just before, during or after a new moon. Get well away from the light pollution of street lamps and neon signs. The human eye can see incredibly well in the dark but it takes about 30 minutes for our vision to adapt so be patient, take a hot drink, dress in lots of warm layers and wear a hat to keep your ears cosy! You can bring binoculars or a telescope but they’re not essential. In fact, at Kelling Heath’s Dark Sky Discovery Site the Milky Way and seven stars of Orion are visible to the naked eye. Norfolk is very proud of this officially designated ‘two star’ site, one of only 150 in the UK.

In spring and autumn you may even catch a glimpse of galaxies outside our own. Andromeda is 2.5 million light years away but you can see it from Kelling, Norfolk’s porthole of spaceship Earth.