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Dark Sky Site Locations in Exmoor

Mattjohnson1978

By Mattjohnson1978
in The Astro Lounge

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JamesF

JamesF

Posted
Posted

The area around WInsford is supposed to be good, I believe. That's (roughly) where the south west star party was last year. There's also Wimbleball Lake, and I'd not be surprised if it was quite good over towards Exford and Simonsbath.

I think ideally you want to be somewhere reasonably close to the B3224 or B3223 where they run east-west across the moor so you're as far as possible from the larger towns to the north and south.

James

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nephilim

nephilim

Posted
Posted

Map of the likely light pollution around Exmoor as derived from the Avex website.

exmoorlightpollution.jpg

As might be expected- avoid areas that are populated, people = light pollution.

The iteractive map is here:

http://www.avex-asso...l/uk/index.html

I've been looking for this for a while now but never knew what it was called and get forgetting to ask.Thanks for posting it. :smiley:

Steve

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springbok

springbok

Posted
Posted

The area around WInsford is supposed to be good, I believe. That's (roughly) where the south west star party was last year. There's also Wimbleball Lake, and I'd not be surprised if it was quite good over towards Exford and Simonsbath.

I think ideally you want to be somewhere reasonably close to the B3224 or B3223 where they run east-west across the moor so you're as far as possible from the larger towns to the north and south.

James

Yep, The South West star party was held at Halse Farm, near Winsford.

http://halsefarm.co.uk/

It was nice and dark on the one night that we had clear skies. Should be some B&B accomodation around the area.

HTH,

Grahame.

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Mattjohnson1978

Mattjohnson1978

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More information than I expected back, thank you very much everyone!

I was trying to use the Google Maps Night view but it was nothing like that image posted......incredible detail. It will serve me well!

Now, does anyone know a dance that guarantees no cloud??

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JamesF

JamesF

Posted
Posted

Map of the likely light pollution around Exmoor as derived from the Avex website.

The one thing that doesn't seem to work very well on that LP map is small villages. These are often completely unlit and have minimal LP but show up as a blob on the map purely because they're a centre of population. It can be a bit misleading.

James

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laser_jock99

laser_jock99

Posted
Posted

www.leyscottages.co.uk

i've just booked a week in the smallest one in march. Saw it on a report saying it was a good area for astronomy but haven't stayed there before.

Richard

Looks good- the opening photo of the cottage features no less than three 'security' lights though!

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laser_jock99

laser_jock99

Posted
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Good Spot, thanks for that, I'm looking into it, hopefully there's an accessable switch somewhere. I've found the report I referred to, its a couple of years old.

http://www.telegraph...-locations.html

richard

I'm sure if you speak to the owners they'll sort something out.

Have you looked at the Stargzing section on the Exmoor National Park website:

http://www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk/visiting/things-to-do/stargazing

Loads of information there.

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  • 2 months later...
Scooot

Scooot

Posted
Posted

This is my last night in Foxtwitchen cottage on Exmoor. The forecast for tonight was very poor so when we came out of the pub after getting something to eat I was amazed to see the sky awash with stars. The milky way was very clear. 5 minutes to get back to the cottage, 5 minutes to put some warm clothes on and then a quick check on the skies before I put my scope out but Oh No the mist had descended and I couldn't even see Orion.

I've had one good night which was last Saturday. This is the first time I've used my scope in a truly dark site and this area is very dark. Although I was slightly disappointed tonight I'm grateful I had 1 good night given the wall to wall cloud we've had recently. This is a great area for astronomy. Although I didn't drive on to the moor for star gazing it is only a short drive and would be easy to find a decent spot in one of the parking areas. Dunkery Bridge would be a good example. It's quite exposed so could be a bit windy.

The cottage is situated on a steep hill. I was able to turn off the security lights and I set up in the parking area above the cottage which gave me a slightly elevated view. I had one tall tree to navigate around and the parking area was on a slight slope but apart from this it was a good place for astronomy, very dark and isolated. After the views of the sky I had this night it will be hard going back to Essex.

Overall this is a very central position on Exmoor and a great area for stargazing. To give you an idea this is the view from the bedroom window of the cottage.

post-20507-0-60992300-1362786930_thumb.j

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laser_jock99

laser_jock99

Posted
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This is my last night in Foxtwitchen cottage on Exmoor. The forecast for tonight was very poor so when we came out of the pub after getting something to eat I was amazed to see the sky awash with stars. The milky way was very clear. 5 minutes to get back to the cottage, 5 minutes to put some warm clothes on and then a quick check on the skies before I put my scope out but Oh No the mist had descended and I couldn't even see Orion.

I've had one good night which was last Saturday. This is the first time I've used my scope in a truly dark site and this area is very dark. Although I was slightly disappointed tonight I'm grateful I had 1 good night given the wall to wall cloud we've had recently. This is a great area for astronomy. Although I didn't drive on to the moor for star gazing it is only a short drive and would be easy to find a decent spot in one of the parking areas. Dunkery Bridge would be a good example. It's quite exposed so could be a bit windy.

The cottage is situated on a steep hill. I was able to turn off the security lights and I set up in the parking area above the cottage which gave me a slightly elevated view. I had one tall tree to navigate around and the parking area was on a slight slope but apart from this it was a good place for astronomy, very dark and isolated. After the views of the sky I had this night it will be hard going back to Essex.

Overall this is a very central position on Exmoor and a great area for stargazing. To give you an idea this is the view from the bedroom window of the cottage.

post-20507-0-60992300-1362786930_thumb.j

Great to see that it was nice and dark there- pity about the cloud, the price for living in the UK and not in the Namibian desert!

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DaveS

DaveS

Posted
Posted

Good info there, and it's good to see national parks taking astronomy seriously.

Did you see this link?

www.weatherweb.net

They give specific astro weather forecasts including seeing and clarity.

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Scooot

Scooot

Posted
Posted

Good info there, and it's good to see national parks taking astronomy seriously.

Did you see this link?

www.weatherweb.net

They give specific astro weather forecasts including seeing and clarity.

Thats a good weather link, I couldn't see a key to the seeing and clarity anywhere though. What's good a 5 or 1?

i also like the chance of a clear sky over the next 24 hours summary. Needless to say its red everywhere ie No Chance

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