The islands’ small population means lower light pollution, so everyone there is aware of the vastness of the heavens in a way that fewer and fewer people around the world are every year.

Recent research suggests that the sky is brightening by around 10 per cent every year and that locations where 250 brighter stars can be seen today will, in less than 20 years, only offer views of at most 100.

Densely packed and highly illuminated city dwellers now usually only see dark skies as an accidental side effect of a holiday to somewhere remote.

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But astrotourism is taking off. I don’t mean space tourism – that popular pursuit of multibillionaires such as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos – but rather the international travel to often remote locations boasting skies filled with myriad points of light of different colours and brightness, giving the heavens texture and depth beyond the brilliant speckled band of the Milky Way.

Dark skies are not just those that are devoid of natural light, but also of the afterglow of habitation. In a dark sky the cosmos is vividly visible; beneath it you can find your way by starlight alone.

North Ronaldsay (population about 60), the northernmost of the Orkney Islands, has recently been certified as an International Dark Sky Community by the International Dark-Sky Association. Its nighttime blackness has been officially added to the list of reasons to visit, which includes Iron Age sites, the UK’s tallest land-based lighthouse, and a unique breed of seaweed-eating sheep.

As the farthest-flung island on the archipelago, North Ronaldsay receives only a small proportion of the Orkneys’ total visitors. That share, however, is now expected to increase, and its new designation is partly an attempt to extend its tourism season into winter.

“I think it taps into new trends in tourism,” Chapman says. “Covid, cost-of-living, climate change – we’re asking ourselves big questions about meaning and value and purpose.

“And if you’re standing out there looking at the stars, it makes you feel very insignificant, but also makes you think about your place in the universe.”

In the last two years, the Orkneys have also seen spectacular displays of the aurora borealis, also known as the “northern lights”, although its appearance can never be guaranteed.

“If you are going to offer dark skies for tourists, you’ve got to have other things going on in case the lights don’t appear,” Chapman says. “But there are some good apps now that can tell you if it’s likely to happen.”

Mike Gere is owner-operator of Jasper Photo Tours, in the Canadian province of Alberta, which offers photography tours in Jasper National Park, the largest national park in the Canadian Rockies. He thinks apps are playing a role in the increasing interest in dark skies.

“It’s the more recent jump in technology with regard to forecasting both weather and auroras, and anybody being able to know what’s going to be in the sky at any time of night just by looking at their phone,” he says. “It makes it a lot easier for people to come out on any given night and just enjoy the sky.”

Jasper National Park is one of 27 “Dark Sky Sites” in the country designated by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, and is the second largest dark sky preserve in the world.

Gere and I are standing on a frozen lake – a slightly unnerving novelty in itself to most visitors – and experimenting with a new app that allows photographers to leave the shutter open as the picture develops on the screen, and close it when ready. I’ve brought a tripod and a remote control so as to avoid blurring.

The moon is well up and rather bright, so the skies are not as cavernous as they might be, and the Milky Way is fainter than hoped for. But there is still grandeur in the vast night sky, which is significantly more a-twinkle than in the nearby ski resort town. As a bonus, there happens to be an unusual conjunction of five planets.

Gere is an example of what Chapman means by having “other things going on”. He’s ready to instruct novices in the peculiarities of long exposures under different conditions, whether using an SLR camera or camera phone. He has equipment to lend, and knows the strengths and weaknesses of different sky navigation and photography apps.

He’s able to indicate sky features with the aid of a laser pointer, can tell star from planet and nebula, can suggest shots that frame the twinkling sky with the outlines of bridges and peaks to give a sense of scale, and he knows the best locations from which to shoot.

An extra thrill at Jasper can be the nightlife.

“Occasionally we run into ungulates,” he says, which in this area means deer and elk. “We could also run into wolves, foxes or coyotes. Usually you just shine a bright light at them and they go away.” He adds that running into wildlife is not too big a concern during winter.

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If the skies are not quite so spectacular that night or children become restless, Gere has equipment for trick photography and glow sticks for light painting.

“I’ve seen in the last 10 years alone that the appeal of stargazing and night-sky activity has increased tenfold,” he says. “It used to be that I would go out and shoot at night as I’ve done for decades and wouldn’t encounter a soul.”

Stargazing has become an important part of Jasper’s appeal. Gere is busiest in the summer and autumn, and particularly during the Jasper Dark Sky Festival (October 13-23 in 2023), when the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra comes to play under the stars and many other activities related to the night sky are held.

While Jasper is certified by Canadian authorities, North Ronaldsay’s choice to seek recognition from the US-based International Dark-Sky Association was for the body’s globally recognised standards.

When I speak to Ruskin Hartley, the association’s executive director, he is just back from the opening of the organisation’s first certified dark-sky community in China, at Xichong, a scenic spot east of the city of Shenzhen, in Guangdong province.

The physics of light are the same whether in northern Scotland or Shenzhen, Hartley points out. Also the same are the human psychological and emotional needs to see a dark sky; the damage a bright nighttime environment wreaks on wildlife; and the energy wasted lighting up the night sky.

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“For a dark-sky park, reserve or sanctuary, the one common element is that these are places where you can continue to see the Milky Way, and we quantify that,” Hartley says.

“We ask people to record visually what’s going on, but we also ask them to use a sky-quality meter, which is an objective measurement of the brightness of the night sky.”

As early as 2016, Italy’s Light Pollution Science and Technology Institute reported that 60 per cent of Europeans and 80 per cent of North Americans could no longer see the Milky Way because of artificial lighting, and it was already invisible to perhaps as much as a third of the world’s population.

Some scientists are fearful of the consequences to human health that this cosmic vanishing act may bring, although for now the impact remains unknown.

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For Hartley’s organisation to designate a location an International Dark Sky Place, the sky-quality meter reading must be at least 21.2 magnitudes per square arc second depending on the site type. A general dimming of public light is usually required, too.

Also required is a commitment to highlighting the value of dark skies, and the story of light pollution, to the public, “be that with star parties, night walks or trips to see the bats fly out – we’re not prescriptive”, he says.

Hartley reports growing global interest in astrotourism. It seems for this part of the travel industry, things are looking up.