Poloniny Dark-Sky Park

Poloniny Dark-Sky Park protects the night sky over northeastern Slovakia, along the borders with Poland and Ukraine in the Bukovske vrchy range of the Eastern Carpathians. Established on December 3, 2010 over the territory of Poloniny National Park and its buffer zone, plus five municipal territories, it covers about 485 square kilometers and was created to inform the public about the exceptionally preserved night environment and to encourage light pollution protection. It was Slovakia first dark sky park and the 20th in the world, benefiting from very low population density of about 6 people per square kilometer and offering views of nearly 2,000 stars to the naked eye, supported by an on site astronomical observatory. Placed here as Natural Monument or Feature, a disclosed closest fit: it is a light pollution protection overlay on an existing national park rather than its own IUCN managed area. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/