Where to go observing

[branigan]

Given the light pollution in towns and that all of the countryside is owned by farmers, where do people do their observing.

I am saving for a scope atm but feel it would get little use in my obstructed and light polluted back garden.

[bingevader]

Join your local club?

I can't see one on here, but there must be one relatively close by.

Cheers

[ronin]

You have to look for places as you drive round - assumes you drive.

In general nowhere will be "dark", you have to go to pretty specific places for this as Galloway, Exmoor, Dartmoor. Some bits of Lincolnshire will be dark and areas like the Peak District.

So that leave how far are you willing to travel for a couple of hours observing.

Where I live anything South is a waste of much consideration, although I have seen a couple of possibilities, posted somewhere on SGL. One I know of is a small RSPB reserve, sort of between 2 built up areas, Cambridge and N Herts towns, but not a lot there. The access is decent and public so no problems with farmers or landowners.

Another I know of and not mentioned is in an odd place. Just off the A1 close to a major A1 roundabout and 12-15 yds off a major road that is a link road to the A1. However it is fairly dark, quiet, excellent surface (concrete) behind a low hedge and very close to where I live, less then 2 miles.

Is there an astro club close to you that you would join? They often have reasonable observing sites known.

Anything around Hartlepool Golf course or further up towards Peterlee?

Along the A179 towards the A19.

The Elwick Rd looks fair.

Anywhere round Hurworth Burn Reservoir.

[JamesM]

Contact with your local astro club/society is a good start because apart from their local knowledge of good observing spots, contact with them will make it more likely that you will observe with one or two members who can offer you their experience and knowledge. Observing on your own in the countryside with your new shiny astronomy kit might, for some, seem a little risky given that are many 'adult' goings on in the countryside who also desire and most actively seek quiet, unobtrusive locations too. If no local club is available to you, then you will need to research a possible 'safe' location in the local countryside. In my experience of dealing with landowners and farmers in wanting to access their land for observational purposes, I can say that I have always been met with a good deal of interest and general positivity. Making sure you have an agreed protocol in place (confirming date and time of attendance/departure, numbers involved etc) which is arranged in advance by phone call helps both them and protects you should someone else witness your activities in the early hours of the morning and report you to the police. Enquiring locally who the landowner is and introducing yourself in person is the approach that I find works best (let them have a look at you! ) and I'm sure you will be able to locate a spot that will serve your purposes. Using Google Earth is a useful tool to narrow down the choice of possible locations with a quick drive round to check the topography of the area in case things have changed. One other key thing is to check your north/south orientation as a good southern sky will offer you plenty of targets to search for during your session.

I know for many the prospect of loading the car up with kit and then driving for at least half an hour to a chosen site can seem a little onerous, but if you're like me and live in a big city with a lot of light pollution, then there really is no alternative. Observing under a dark sky is the single most important thing you can do to help improve the capabilities of any scope you may choose to own and far more effective that any eyepiece or filter that you may have read about. Planets, the moon and double stars are of course not affected by light pollution and so can be viewed and enjoyed under any sky (...except cloudy ones! ) but there is certainly a lot more objects that you may wish to see further out in deep space that are interesting to both locate and read about and a dark sky will certainly help explore that interest further.

Clear skies

James

[branigan]

Thanks for the replies guys,

I have some hunting permission around Teesdale and Richmond, so see a few areas that could be of interest, they are however quite a treck out on a nightime, with a few hundred pounds of equipment, where theres a chance to encounter folk poaching (raggy lads with guns & knives).

I will have to join a club Washington or Durham, I think the latter meets somewhere at Wynyard.

[scarp15]

I think that all the comments are valid, and a mix is the way forward - that is join up with a club, but if like it seems you do, have knowlege and potential access to particular areas of your local countryside, then chancing solo trips should be fine, as is observing from home from time to time.

Best of all, try and get to attend regional star parties to.

[cosmological]

Google Earth is a usefull tool for hunting for locations.