How far would you go....?..for a dark sky?

[Bart]

Just wondrered how far (time/distance) folks go to get to dark skies.

Think I may have one about 50-6o mins away. Seems long but its dark and elevated.

Bart

[sanmatt]

When Ive been out with Melsky et al, I have driven probably 45 mins. Well worth it.

[DOBBY]

45mins to 90 depending on traffic

[Graham Darke]

30 minutes west for me takes me onto the North Pennines. I'm lucky to be on the Western edge of Tyne & Wear so the skies just get better the further west I go.

[acey]

I do all my observing from a dark site that's about 25 miles away, a forty minute drive.

[swamp thing]

My nearest dark sky site is just over an hours drive away.

But I will drive much further afield for really good sites.

Regards Steve

[LongJohn54]

For group observing sessions I travel 35 miles to get south of Glasgow or 43 miles to get south of Edinburgh. Just depends which site has the better weather. Both sites take about 50mins travel time.

Othewise I'm on my own in the back garden.

John

[callisto]

Mine is about 20 minutes west into Northumberland

[Ags]

I went to Nepal!

[ollypenrice]

After an initial drive of 800 miles I no longer need to take more than three steps to get to a perfect site: I emigrated!

Olly

[Bart]

After an initial drive of 800 miles I no longer need to take more than three steps to get to a perfect site: I emigrated!

Olly

800 miles, eh? Yeah, kinda hoped on something nearer. Mind you, from other posts, I hear yours is great, and in France, which can't be bad. Nice.

[Thirdway]

I went to Hawaii. Mauna Kea must be one of the best, if not the best dark sites in the world. The mountain is 15000 ft high and they have a very good star party at 10000ft. The sky is incredible. Later we persuaded the poor old car to tackle the final 5000 ft of dirt track to the summit. It has several large telescopes on the top firing laser correction beams into the sky. Strangely you can see less stars at 15000 ft than 10000ft because of the lack of oxygen affecting the brains perception, I also felt quite drunk from it. The intoxicated feeling makes the stars seem brighter and larger, really grippy. Below us were clouds, the starlight was so bright, the clouds glowed neon blue....incredible. If I ever get the chance I'm going back.

[Bart]

I went to Hawaii. Mauna Kea must be one of the best, if not the best dark sites in the world. The mountain is 15000 ft high and they have a very good star party at 10000ft. The sky is incredible. Later we persuaded the poor old car to tackle the final 5000 ft of dirt track to the summit. It has several large telescopes on the top firing laser correction beams into the sky. Strangely you can see less stars at 15000 ft than 10000ft because of the lack of oxygen affecting the brains perception, I also felt quite drunk from it. The intoxicated feeling makes the stars seem brighter and larger, really grippy. Below us were clouds, the starlight was so bright, the clouds glowed neon blue....incredible. If I ever get the chance I'm going back.

I bet you would, sounds amazing.

[Spica]

Usually in my backyard which provides lim mag 10.7 at darkest portion of the sky with the 5". Have abt 10 min drive to mag 12.4 with the same scope. Thats good enough for me. Wheon graze alert now though, and willing to drive a hour at most for this.

[Proto]

I can get to the Ashdown Forest in Sussex in 20/30 mins depending on traffic

[Nexus 6]

Well the back garden is not bad but a 10 minute walk and I have some reasonably dark skies, especially when looking south. A bonus for sure as when we bought this place I had not taken up astronomy.

[J.Steve]

The rational and the right required time is 60 minutes.How can you reach in just twenty minutes friend ?

[Mike73]

I drove 1 1/2hr last Saturday. Bit of a mission but well worth it.

[JamesF]

I'm not in that much different a situation from Olly, only he probably gets much nicer weather thanks to the initial 800 mile step that I neglected. The natives speak English here though, after a fashion

James