Found a dark sky site (South-west Devon)

[benjii]

I've been doing some scouting lately for a easy to access dark sky site in the area and I reckon I've found one. There's no visable civilisation for a number of miles and the vilage just over the hill... has no street lights!

Here's the street view link incase any of you are curious/in the area.

Google Maps

I realise it's on a B road, however, it's really easy to access and depending on your scope you could always trek up to the tor next to the carpark. Plus, there isn't much through traffic on Dartmoor at night.

I'm looking forward to the next clear sky to try it out!

[Mike73]

Looks good to me!

Someday when I get my scope and if you'd like some company l"ll join you.

[benjii]

The moor the merrier!

[JamesC]

Pleased to see someone prepared to make a journey out to Dartmoor for observing. It's something I've did quite regularly when I still had my Dob.

I'm not convinced about your carpark idea, although it's remarkably difficult to find a good carpark. Ideally you want to be a bit off the road and screened from the lights of passing cars. You want a bit of shelter from the wind, but still with a good view of the sky. There just aren't many car parks like that. The road to Widecombe in the Moor is actually a remarkably busy road so I don't think you will like it there.

I reckon you need a range of car parks to choose from. You want some nearby sites that are not too much hassle to get to for those nights that you can't be bothered going any further. You want some Dartmoor sites for observing those really faint objects. You probably also need an alternative low level dark site that won't be as affected by snow / ice / frost as Dartmoor. I nearly got stuck on Dartmoor once when there was thick frost and a dusting of snow on the ground (my car is rubbish in slippy conditions). I now carry snow socks in my boot! You probably also want a good south coast site because there are a lot of interesting objects that are only ever low down in the south from our latitudes - this is a bit tricky for you. Actually the NLO is well sited for looking south, but that is quite a journey for you. Keep in mind that you don't want to be bang up next to the sea because quite a lot of salt (not to mention sand) can be blown in with an onshore wind.

Here are some car park suggestions.

[4lefts]

I'm not convinced about your carpark idea, although it's remarkably difficult to find a good carpark. Ideally you want to be a bit off the road and screened from the lights of passing cars. You want a bit of shelter from the wind, but still with a good view of the sky. There just aren't many car parks like that. The road to Widecombe in the Moor is actually a remarkably busy road so I don't think you will like it there.

this is what i was thinking. dartmoor is really nice to observe from, but you only need 2 or 3 cars an hour to ruin a site like that. the problem, like james says, is you need a spot near a car park so you don't have to car your gear far, but you don't want other cars passing. i dunno. i really like the nlo. shame about the tree line mean sagittarius and scorpius just poke their heads up in the summer.

i know this sounds quite negative, and i don't mean it to. by all means give it a try and see. the other option is bins and a bit of a walk?

[JamesC]

Yep. I used to have a 12 inch Dob, so walking more than a few metres wasn't really an option, but perhaps with an 8 inch you could go a bit further.

If I'm honest I used to shun the NLO and observe from the Peak Hill car park on the other side of Sidmouth from the NLO. You can see quite low from the West part of the car park. Perhaps I should have shown up at the NLO. I guess I wasn't sure if you were allowed to just show up! Weak excuse I know. Actually the Peak Hill car park was popular with meteor watchers.

[benjii]

Thank you James and 4lefts. I'd considered the volume of traffic as a B road, but perhaps I underestimated it. I know the Hound and Wind Tor car parks, they're a good call, thanks again! Street view doesn't stretch all the way to the Hound Tor car park and I've never looked at it from an astronomy point of view; are the views to the NE - NW blocked by the trees?

[JamesC]

If you set up near the road, you still get a decent view to the NE/NW. How low do you want to look in that direction anyway? You can always wait for the sky to turn and for stuff to come around. The view to the South is slightly blocked by Hound Tor, but how low do you want to look? If you are really scraping the horizon you might be better at a south coast site. The shelter provided by the trees is really important. Stops your scope wobbling, stops your charts flapping, stops your freezing, plus I find a wind scary because I can't hear the bogey man creeping up on me! These photos are from Hound Tor looking NW and S.

About the Peak Hill car park there is a lot of light pollution to the SSW (and west), but it is dark towards the SSE. NLO is better positioned a little further E along the coast, but I don't know about the tree situation there.

[JamesC]

P.S. Forecast is looking interesting for Saturday night at the moment, but it could easily change. I'd guess the precip during the day will fall as rain. Hopefully the cloud will clear south in time for nightfall. Could be ice/frost later, especially after the rain.

P.P.S. I really don't know what I'm talking about so check elsewhere.

My favourite links are:

BBC weather

Daytime Dartmoor webcam

Haytor observations

Amateur weekly forecast - check the date!

Met Office South West/Dartmoor forecast

Visible satellite imagery

Rainfall Radar

Flakey IR animation

IR but with hour long gaps

[Kedvenc]

The car parks at Bonehill rocks might be better as that road is a lot less likely to have any passing cars. I've bivvied on the rocks a few times and never had any one turn up or drive past after around 9pm.

[JamesC]

Couple more links to bookmark:

7Timer

meteoblue

Looks like Saturday will be transparent but with poor seeing.

Not that I think you will be going this far, but I have been out on Okehampton Range - dark but oh so exposed... plus I fancy it is a bit of a cloud magnet when the wind is from the N or W.

Firing Notice

[benjii]

Thank you for your help James, there are some great links there. I'm not that fussed about the horizon at the moment, I was just curious as to the views. The next clear night I have, I'll head up there for a session. I'll take some pictures of the area incase anyone is curious. I don't really fancy treking up to Okehampton, plus I wouldn't want to be frosted over that far from home, it would be a nightmare!

[JonnyP]

I used to live around the hill from that first link - just down below Haytor. Pity I didn't have a scope back then!

Interestingly my first thought reading the above was the Hound Tor car park! Do they still have the trailer 'Hounds of the Basket Meals'?

[Kedvenc]

I remember 'The hound of the basket meals'. Not been to hound tor for years now so no idea if it's still there.

[benjii]

It would seem Sunday will be the night to check it out, it's meant to have no clouds and high visability. I wouldn't trust the weather more than 24 hours in advanced though, so we shall see!

[4lefts]

I remember 'The hound of the basket meals'. Not been to hound tor for years now so no idea if it's still there.

was last time i was there. that was a little while ago (18 months? i dunno)

[acey]

Site looks lovely - good luck with it. You'll just have to try it to see how it goes, though like others I'd be concerned about passing traffic, also since it's an obvious car-park you never know what sort of nocturnal use it gets.

Other thing I'd suggest is to take a windbreak: it looks like it could get pretty windy.