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Dark sky spot near Reading

en51nm

By en51nm
in The Astro Lounge

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skybadger

skybadger

Posted
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Hi all

I live in Riseley, near two other astronomers I know. Two of us have our own domes so we do our observing there from about mag 4.5 skies.

Riseley has no street lights but for the tennis pitches on the recreationn ground so its not a bad place to start from., to the East is Wokingham, to the North, Reading. To the south, about 6 miles away is Basingstoke.

I fI was to get out for a look I would head to Alice Holt forest, Burghfield common or the local forestry commission site dowen the road.

Dinton tends to be the accessible and safe location for public Reading Astro meets, not sure I can would say its that dark due to its location.

Basingstoke astro meet at a village school just south of the M3 by Basingstoke which has good Southern views and the countryside gets dark again pretty rapidly.

Be very happy to meet up with every one though.

Hope some of this helps

Mike

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en51nm

en51nm

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If I was to get out for a look I would head to Alice Holt forest, Burghfield common or the local forestry commission site dowen the road

I live in Burghfield Common and I wouldn't say it's the best place to go, however, there are a couple of spots a few miles down the road towards Tadley. They make for okay viewing if your're only interested in the S or SW sky. E and NE are London and Reading.

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SamAndrew

SamAndrew

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I used to live in Didcot, and could never understand why the Abingdon Society used the Ridgeway crossing at Bury Lane because you get a lot of light pollution from the Harwell complex below. I used to go on to West Ilsley, turning right at the foot of Bury Lane then left past the cricket pitch towards the woods at High Robins. Less than 3 miles farther on and right out in the sticks. Just before you get to the hamlet of Catmore there's a public footpath on the left where gthere's plenty of room to set up. HTH - Hugh

The sky to the south of the ridgeway was great; north towards Harwell was bright, so I just didn't image anything in that direction. I will have to investigate this other site tho :D

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Dunkster

Dunkster

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I know how frustrating that feels... I've been stuck at work the last few Saturdays :(

Going to head off out in about an hour to look at the area arrowed earlier in the thread if anyone else is about... depending on how eerie it is, I might not stay long unless anyone else is interested. I'm used to light pollution, so darkness might be too much :D

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jfox61

jfox61

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Took the grandson last year for a day out. I'm not too sure what it's like at night. You have to bear in mind they have animal farms there. So I would suspect there's some sort of lighting. Also I would imagine there'd be security lights throughout the park , especially near the attractions. Because of the nature of the park it has opening and closing times too, so not sure on the accessability of the darker parts of the site.

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Dunkster

Dunkster

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I drove past there on an exploratory mission a while back, from Google maps it looks like a great location and the area seems pretty dark - but the gate was closed.

I did stop by the road a couple of miles further south and it was dark unlike anything in eastern Berkshire :)

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PapaPlanets

PapaPlanets

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I'm not a member of either of the astrological soceities (Basingstoke or Reading) but perhaps if someone contacted them, they'd be happy. If they have a campsite, there must be access at night and surely there's a dark site area somewhere on the site. I'm certain if there was cash money involved, they'd be all over it. Perhaps we could tempt them with the reasoning that if they made it available for a couple of evenings a month, then they could set up weekend parties where people would pay to camp?

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skir

skir

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A bit of thread resurrection here but this thread fits exactly what I'm looking for. Dark sky sites near reading and Perrault some folks to observe with for the social and security aspects.

Any ideas on both fronts?

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skybadger

skybadger

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For the sake of putting all the info in one place...

Wellington Country park isn't well lit but does have a camp site so maybe late night access is possible. I've been for numerous boinfire occasions and so the only issue I have is late access.

Reading Astro soc now use Farley Hill Cricket club ground as their dark sky observing site. This is between Eversleigh and Arborfield and away from most lights but has a high horizon due to the trees.

It might be worth considering Bramshill forest which overlooks Hartley Wintney. again problems of access.

Happy to meet up with anyone wanting to come and peruse.

Mike

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inkpen

inkpen

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Another shout for Combe Gibbet or the hills around there. Good views in all directions. I live close (hence the user name) though my scope isn't the most portable. I might go up there with the bins to look for pansarrs

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skir

skir

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For the sake of putting all the info in one place...

Wellington Country park isn't well lit but does have a camp site so maybe late night access is possible. I've been for numerous boinfire occasions and so the only issue I have is late access.

Reading Astro soc now use Farley Hill Cricket club ground as their dark sky observing site. This is between Eversleigh and Arborfield and away from most lights but has a high horizon due to the trees.

It might be worth considering Bramshill forest which overlooks Hartley Wintney. again problems of access.

Happy to meet up with anyone wanting to come and peruse.

Mike

How often are RAS at Farley hill? They make no mention of this information on their website that I can see.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

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AndyWB

AndyWB

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Yeah, I've recently been having a bit of a look at their website - they don't actually talk much about observing. I thought I might go along to their next meeting to meet them - and the talk looks quite interesting (It's about the Zooniverse project, including things like the Exoplanet hunt).

There's also a few people who meet up at the 'Astro Pub' event; at least that way if it's cloudy, there's beer. http://astropub.co.uk . I went to the last one - it was quite fun, even if we did only manage to observe for about 15 minutes.

Oh, and I've the same problem - how to find somewhere dark near Reading. I thought I had it sussed - but it turns out I need to look further afield...

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skir

skir

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Yes, the RAS site is a bit odd in that respect. It does mention they pop outside at the astro basics sessions but heavily plays down the observing element. I know that site too as its where I first went to school and if anything the lp would be worse than where I am now.

I didn't realise the astro pub stuff involved observing too, but do they tend to go to pubs where darker skies are more likely?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

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bendiddley

bendiddley

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I've been to both astro pub and the farley hill site with RAS and have enjoyed both. You have to be a member of RAS to go to their dark site, they probably don't mention it because they don't want people turning up who aren't members, although the gate is locked so would need to know the code which only members have. The site is a lot darker than around reading, i live in woodley and the sky definitely looked darker and stars brighter at farey hill. i'm thinking of becoming a member just to use their dark site, their meetings look interesting too, i've been going to the astro basics ones which are open to general public but you have to be a member to go to the main meeting. the astro pub is open to anyone with or without a telescope and for the last couple of meet ups have been at a pub near burghfield common i think, sky is fairly dark, not as much as farley hill though and they only meet up once a month at the moment which may or may not turn out to have a clear sky. this is an interesting post though as i'm also interested in finding a darker site, although i think i may have it sorted by joining ras. still on the look out for other options too though.

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skir

skir

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Shame about ras's site being for members only, but I can completely understand why. Thing is I'm only temporarily in reading (though my family live here and I'm considering moving back down here) so joining at the moment isn't an option. Astro pub is possible but as you say with it being one day a month the chances of clear skies are slim.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

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bendiddley

bendiddley

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Shame about ras's site being for members only, but I can completely understand why. Thing is I'm only temporarily in reading (though my family live here and I'm considering moving back down here) so joining at the moment isn't an option. Astro pub is possible but as you say with it being one day a month the chances of clear skies are slim.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

might not be as slim as you think, there's been observing on every one they've done so far, although not as much on the first and last. you can always join them for an astronomy related chat in the pub if it is a cloudy night though. i've just come across a light pollution map which you might find useful, it shows in great detail how different areas are affected, see this link...

http://www.avex-asso.org/dossiers/pl/uk/index.html

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