Buying a hugely expensive piece of kit

[rfdesigner]

Hi

Just thought I'd mention I'm planning on buying the most expensive piece of astro kit going.

A dark sky.

Value.. several £100k.

yup.. buying a house with almost half an acre, no street lights, just north of the New Forest.

Next astro purchase after that will be a chain saw

Derek

[Psychobilly]

Sounds like a plan...

Lets hope there are no TPO's in force...

Personally at some stage I am hoping to do an "Olly" and head "south" to get away from the UK's dire weather as well...

Peter...

[pete_l]

head "south" to get away from the UK's dire weather as well...

Yes, that's the other major issue. There's little point in moving to a dark location if the sky is only clear one or two nights a month. It would be interesting to run a poll to see how people would balance darkness against the number of clear nights.

You can filter out the LP, but you can't filter out the clouds

[ollypenrice]

You're doing the right thing and the output from down that way (Greg Parker's for instance) is pretty plentiful for the UK. I would hate not to be in regular touch with the night sky.

Careful with that chainsaw, they are lethal ruddy things!

Olly

[rfdesigner]

Thanks Olly

We have Sparsholt Colledge nearby, they do horticulteral teaching, so I'm planning to doing a chainsaw course there prior to attacking anything.

TPOs are not known to be in force.. that's still to be formally confirmed.

DErek

[rfdesigner]

What I didn't say was that I live nearby at the moment, but in rented.. so I'm happy with the number of clear skys I get.

The weather is relatively fast changing so ideally you need an obsy, I've tried driving out to the Forest only to be clouded out after setting up enough times to put me off. An obsy means I can make use of just an hour of clear sky, which does turn up often enough to satisfy.

So.. plan:

1. move in

2. Chainsaw course

3. ATTACK!

4. obsy

In the mean time, my OAG has turned up and I'm just wating on an adapter.

Might not be all ready for the February clear skys.. but should be all go for the usual clear skys in September next year.

[Marmite]

It would be interesting to run a poll to see how people would balance darkness against the number of clear nights.

You can filter out the LP, but you can't filter out the clouds

Exactly right! Apparently the pro astronomers rate clear skies higher than dark skies. Best not to argue with their opinions - When someone's spending millions or billions they want to be sure to get the right site!

[rfdesigner]

If family factors and work weren't in the mix then somewhere like selsea might be an option... or even hop over to somewhere with much clearer skys.

As it is, some cloud is good for my marriage.

Derek

[pete_l]

As it is, some cloud is good for my marriage.

Derek

Cloud is natures way of telling us we need to spend more time processing those images

[jimmyjamjoejoe]

I live on the edge of the new forest, and venture in there for viewing. You'l love it

[ollypenrice]

If family factors and work weren't in the mix then somewhere like selsea might be an option... or even hop over to somewhere with much clearer skys.

As it is, some cloud is good for my marriage.

Derek

...as is the regular re-appearance of the moon for mine!

Olly

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Moving to a dark site seems really nice, but I will have to make do with forays into dark areas by flinging the C8 into the car, and setting it up outside of the city. Since yesterday we have a much bigger car (Renault Espace), ostensibly to be able to drive my parents places, but of course the main motivation is to take the C8 on holidays rather than the 80mm travel scope.

Wait, make that the C8 and the 80mm travel scope :D

Have fun and clear skies in the New Forest!

[rfdesigner]

You could get a C14 in a Renault Espace

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

You could get a C14 in a Renault Espace

Don't tempt me

[lukebl]

Cloud is natures way of telling us we need to spend more time processing those images

Are you sure? I thought that it was about reconnecting with our friends/families/spouses/children who might have otherwise forgotten we still existed.

[bish]

I moved from a dark sky to the worst light pollution you can imagine..

[nightfisher]

Good luck with the move

[x6gas]

Sounds like a great plan...

And as to TPOs... I hear there is a lot of tree disease down that way, and if you find your trees have any problems it's best to chop them down and burn the evidence... errr... I mean burn the diseased wood... as soon as possible and sometimes, regrettably, that means that there isn't time to inform the council.