How far will you go?

[Mr Flibble]

With the darker nights getting closer I'm assuming many of us will be heading off to our dark sky sites when the opportunity presents itself. The spot I usually visit is in the Brecon Beacons NP and is about a 50 minute drive. According to this simulator it allows stars of magnitude 5.5.

When the time is right I'm seriously toying with the idea of taking a tent and a 2 hour drive to a spot I know in the Cambrian mountains in mid-wales which is as dark as the Galloway Park in scotland. Obviously it will depend on the weather, moon and weekend all falling nicely into place so it may not happen very often!

Apart from organised events, does anyone ever do trips like this?

[swamp thing]

Hi

Every chance I have I load the van with scope, eyepieces, tent.....etc and I'm off to dark skies.

I Love dark sky observing in the middle of nowhere and will travel for hours to get to there.

When my overland camper is finished I will travel for days/weeks to get to the remotest skies I can.

Regards Steve

[Beulah]

Apart from organised events, does anyone ever do trips like this?

I'd like to and am planning to once I am able to. I would go to the same range of mountains - PM sent.

[Adamski]

That's a pretty cool simulator, suggests 5.38 magnitude from my location, the garden.

[StevieDvd]

I haven't found a dark site yet. Everywhere I went that looked promising was ruined by all those pesky stars and stuff up above.

[JoLo]

Here in the colonies, I am lucky enough to be 22 minutes from my front door to a wonderful dark site in south central Illinois. It is the parking lot for a boat ramp on Carlyle Lake, the nearest town is about 8 miles and has 10 houses....the glow from St. Louis (about 50 miles to the west) is still visible on the horizon. But, we routinely get to 5.5 / 6.0, depending on transparency...I discovered this place, now it is the only place our club meets, and I image here every chance I get.

I love packing up the camping gear for a weekend of imaging, and will travel several hours to do so. I was in Utah / New Mexico this summer, at Chaco Canyon, a pristine dark site....and there it was to the south, 90 miles away, a light dome from Albuquerque. Can't escape it!

[darkside]

hi david, i used to image from my back garden in nuneaton but now i drive about 2 1/2hrs to wales as well when i know the wether is going to be good and make a weekend of it. how i see it in say 2hrs of imaging in wales i would have to do 6hrs back home and because im into my landscape photography as well it suits me fine. ady

[davekermito]

Excellent simulator and pretty much bang on for my location (W Mids )

I've driven into the Cambrian Mountains before - about 15 miles west of Rhayader. Could see as much with the naked eye there as I could see with my 6" SCT at home!

[Darren from Tacoma]

I'm new to astronomy, but I have no problem driving 3 hours to the darkest skies. I love camping and the outdoors and I'm already going there, might as well grab the scope.

[Mr Flibble]

I must say the overland camper sounds fantastic. You could do some epic trips around the UK. First place I would head off to would be the Lakes and then north into Scotland. The Highlands would be incredible.

[iwatkins]

David,

My sister and fella have just bought a smallholding on the Northern foothills of the Brecons with a view to having a small holding plus some camping grounds (small groups, no large parties). Might be an ideal site for you.

Won't be ready until next year I would have thought, but it's a lovely spot.

Oh, and dark skies. So dark when I left the other night (well 1.a.m) I couldn't find the car

Cheers

Ian

P.S. I've already baggised a spot in one of the fields that has unspoilt views from the NE right around to the NW.

[JamesM]

Ian, I hear the start of another Star Party in the making! Let me know when we can book.

Clear skies

James

[Bumfluff]

Thats a great link thanks for sharing.... Will definately be using this to plan my next camping trip

I always thought my back garden was pretty good although this tells me my magnitude is 5.06!?

[laser_jock99]

I used to visit the Brecons about 15-20 years ago and the site I used near the Usk Reservoir was indeed quite dark. However, I hear rumblings that the Brecon Beacons National Park is not a dark as it once was (can anyone collaberate?) but not having been there for a while I can't comment. But I imagine the skyglow to the all important southern horizon could be the problem.

Mid Wales is where I currently live and it 'should' be darker there if you pick the right spot. Near the Claerwen Dam is good.

[philhas]

It would be good if it worked on postcodes, I live on the northern edge of Whitley Bay and the simulator looks a lot worse than what I actually see still its a good idea and as Kielder is only an hours drive away I can always go there......

[Mr Flibble]

My sister and fella have just bought a smallholding on the Northern foothills of the Brecons with a view to having a small holding plus some camping grounds (small groups, no large parties). Might be an ideal site for you.

That sounds excellent Ian. You'll have to keep us informed :-)

I used to visit the Brecons about 15-20 years ago and the site I used near the Usk Reservoir was indeed quite dark. However, I hear rumblings that the Brecon Beacons National Park is not a dark as it once was (can anyone collaberate?) but not having been there for a while I can't comment. But I imagine the skyglow to the all important southern horizon could be the problem.

Yes I find the glow due to the heads of the valleys towns such as merthyr ruin the lower part of the southern sky, but once you cross to the northern side of the beacons to areas such as the usk resevoir its much darker. I know a good spot there which I'm hoping to try this winter the only problem being that its a little further away at about a 75 minute drive.

[ScubaMike]

Nice simulator.

Gives my backyard skies as Mag 4.35, Bortle 8.

Was on west coast of Islay last week. Mag 7.84 Bortle 1

Unfortuantely I didn't take my scope with me because

[jabberwocky]

the best dark sky site ive ever been to was in Egypt, the road from sharm to cairo, there were so many stars i couldnt recognise anything, there was more white than black.

i was camping just outside the massai mara NP a couple of years ago and the stars there were pretty amazing as well.

unfortunately this was before my interest in astronomy was sparked so ended up being wasted opportunities.

first on my packing list when i go back to africa(the best place on earth) will be a pair of 15 x 70's.

[Hypernova]

According to the site I have LM of 4.47, bortle 8, from my back garden in Crewe which just about ties in with what I can see on an average night. I'd say I can a few tenths of a magnitude lower if the sky is really crisp and clear, especially in Winter.

Unfortunately I am limited to how far I can physically car the dob, unless a bike trailer can be retrofitted to carry it. That wouldn't be much use anyway as there are no good dark sites within cycling distance that are worth the effort.

[Minet]

I'm very tempted to do something like this but am concerned that anywhere which is secluded and has parking facilities is also likely to attact people with interests other than astronomy. Stargazing in the back garden is for the moment adequate for my level of interest but in the future I'm going to need to travel because the house in inconvieniently located in the way of the moon and planets at the moment.

[pete_l]

Nice simulator.

Gives my backyard skies as Mag 4.35, Bortle 8.

Was on west coast of Islay last week. Mag 7.84 Bortle 1

Unfortuantely I didn't take my scope with me because

I'm highly skeptical of a lot of the websites that map VLMs to Bortle descriptions. For a start, the VLM readings/calculations are only for zenith values. I know from my house I can see a little over Mag 5 straight up, but anything in Sagittarius that's dimmer than Mag 3 is invisible, as the constellation is so low. And the closer stars get to the horizon, the more they are obscured by LP (as well as extinction, but LP is the predominant factor).

The Bortle scale/VLM tables fails to take this into account and seems to me to presume that a sky of (say) Mag 5 is uniformly that dark.

I also think the Bortle scale doesn't deal too well with urban/suburban areas. Since I am on the outskirts of a small town, with fields and woods about 100m away I reckon that counts me as Class 4: Rural/Suburban transition, which by rights should havea VLM of something over 6 - in my dreams! My personal experience of a city sky is nowhere near a VLM of 4.5. Maybe seeing Vega, Sirius, Venus and a few others - that's if the view isn't obscured by buildings

[mikinio]

i would love to but i dont drive and its hard to get someone to drive that is interested

[ollypenrice]

My own trip to a dark site was a once-and-for-all affair! I have never, quite literally, had so much as one second of regret.

Olly

[laser_jock99]

I'm highly skeptical of a lot of the websites that map VLMs to Bortle descriptions.

I agree they should be used for 'indication only' e.g. if planning a trip somewhere or just checking out a potential observing site. They cannot take account of local conditions such as some t0sser with 5kW searchlighs in their back garden. There's no substitute for a site visit. That said- they are still very useful on larger scale.

[Stu]

Olly, did you move to France with the intention of doing what you are doing or did it just develop once you realised the potential?

On the subject of campers, when finances permit, a decently restored VW camper van will find its way into my drive. To be able to head off into the wilderness with everything I need for a couple of nights under some really dark skies, and to have some comfort too is very appealing.

Stu

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