Sardón de los Frailes is a Spanish municipality located in the province of Salamanca, not far from the border with Portugal.  The municipality hosts a tourist resort that lies near the large Almendra Reservoir, an area with a semi-arid climate typical of the Spanish Inner Plateau and generally dark skies that average class 3 in the Bortle scale.  A stargazer that is familiar wirth the area told EarthSky the following: “It has a wide field with nothing blocking the horizon and no lights around it. It’s near a lake.”

Deborah Byrd

Deborah Byrd created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Today, she serves as Editor-in-Chief of this website. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. "Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says.