Your ideal location ?

[Ptarmigan]

Imagine :

You are retired (or no longer need to work !),

Your birds have flown the nest,

You would like sun and warm days,

You would like clear skies at night (now we get to the point )

Where wiould you go ?

For example : a long time ago I used to read "Sky&Telescope" Variable Star section presented by John Isles

who, I think, lived in Cyprus at the time and reported 360 out of 365 clear night skies.

[PS Where is he now and was that true :) ]

Anywhere else that I should be thinking about ?

[badgerchap]

Chile, but with a decent helicopter to get to and from the VLT

[Ptarmigan]

Chile, but with a decent helicopter to get to and from the VLT

hehee, nice one,

I forgot to specify "all mod cons and a supermarket just down the road" !

[Qualia]

Somewhere in Spain

Personally, I'd stay away from the North because they get a lot of cloud and away from a big cities and the Med 'cos they get a lot of LP but apart from that, the skies really ain't that bad here. Furthermore, Spain is a very dry and a very mountainous country, so in general the quality of air, and of the atmosphere should be better than the UK and it doesn't suffer from problems of dew.

I live in a city which is about 90/120 minutes drive from the mountain ski slopes in winter. In spring it's the same drive to the beautiful, crisp clear air of flowering hills and waterfall mountains. In the summer, it's a similar distance to the warm blue seas and golden sands of the Med and about 30 minutes away from pitch black deserts which geologists say are comparable to those of Afghanistan! So you get the best of all worlds.

It's winter here in the city and I'm enjoying clear blue, sun-shining days and temperatures of around 12º C to 20º C. The sun really does make a difference to one's own well-being; too many grey days and one almost feels depressed! If the forecast is correct, my 45 days of cloudless, clear evening-night skies will be broken on Saturday afternoon but should be back to business by Sunday. That really isn't a bad innings for just the last 6 weeks.

Another plus point if you have the cash is that the economic recession has hit Spain hard (over 25% unemployment and still climbing), so in consequence house prices have dropped an awful lot. Many are going for almost half-price, or at least a third off the original asking price of about four years ago, meaning that you could pick up quite a good bargain.

[JB80]

Spain does seem like a logical choice although I have no real practical knowledge of it, the maps make it look enticing anyway. I'd gladly move there tomorrow given the chance.

Corsica looks good on the LP maps too but I can't see that ever happening.

Crete was amazing, the skies brilliant and the lifestyle seemed to plod along at an agreeable pace. I could easily see us living there.

Then I guess there is Australia, it's so big and you don't have to venture too far out to get great skies but frankly who wants neighbours, either a good track of land in the middle of nowhere or somewhere more in the mountains but that's a bit more populated.

[Kbramley]

I would go to the Alps,thus I could get up above a little bit of the murk and fog, I could enjoy my other hobbies of snowboarding in the winter and mountain biking in the summer and the clear crisp skies I between would be ideal for astro.

[pete_l]

hehee, nice one,

I forgot to specify "all mod cons and a supermarket just down the road" !

There's the problem.

You can't have "all mod cons" without a sizeable population to buy them (or be conned by them). Nobody would build a supermarket in the middle of nowhere as it wouldn't get any customers. Likewise, the bit about retiring ... you wouldn't get good modern medical care unless there were lots of other people the facilities could serve.

So, the nirvana: no light pollution and every facility and service (including power, sanitation and internet) require two conflicting sets of conditions. No people for the unpolluted skies and lots of people for the provision of services.

Fortunately it is possible to strike a balance with the loss of some comforts (such as dodgy water / electricity supply and occasionally cranky internet) AND still to live under dark and clear skies. My place in Spain is a good balance for this - though you really wouldn't want to bring up children in such a remote location, or to need work that isn't stoop labour.

Apart from the dark sky (21.3 - 21.5 on the SQM) there are also a lot of clear nights - 250 last year, the second clearest in the past 10 years. To find your own, just aim for the semi-desert locations in the south-east corner and look on the light pollution maps for the dark bits. Then try to find somewhere with a town nearby.

[ronin]

Somewhere in Australia. Cairns - Port Douglas area would be reasonable, Palm Cove, Yorkeys Knob or one of the other small places between the 2.

[Mzungu]

The Karoo in SA, good wine, no LP, close to Cape Town and no flies (The bane of Australia!)

[Mondlicht13]

Has to be the island of La Palma in the Canaries for me.

Check out some stunning timelapse footage on Vimeo. Crystal clear views in the darkest of skies.

Mike

[JB80]

there are also a lot of clear nights - 250 last year, the second clearest in the past 10 years.

Interesting you say that, I was just checking the local data for here and last year saw 246 days of rain, and that's without cloudy days added on top.

Somewhere in Australia. Cairns - Port Douglas area would be reasonable, Palm Cove, Yorkeys Knob or one of the other small places between the 2.

The problem with that area is as lovely as that area is it would limit you to six months view a year when the wet season hits. I suppose you could always take up storm chasing.

[Lorne]

I wouldn't go too far, Caithness in the north of Scotland. Best skies I've seen, Aurora sightings from your doorstep, close enough to reasonably sized towns for my "mod cons" only downside is the sun and warm days you mentioned.

[Rumpelstiltleg]

Mt Teide on Tenerife. 8000 ft up, clear stable air and no LP. One of the best places on earth for stargazing.

Mike

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[JamesF]

I would be quite happy to live without quite a few "mod cons" (in fact in some cases I'd prefer it). My wife however...

James

[foundaplanet]

Where I am with better weather!

[Naemeth]

Hawaii or the Atacama.. or just about any desert.

I'm so far away from retiring though.

[AstroTux]

I wouldn't go too far, Caithness in the north of Scotland. Best skies I've seen, Aurora sightings from your doorstep, close enough to reasonably sized towns for my "mod cons" only downside is the sun and warm days you mentioned.

Very close. My personal preference would be just a step away in the Northwest Highlands. Not going ot name the place 'cos you'll all want to go........................... :evil:

[Ludd]

I might have been tempted to say NZ but then I've not been there in no-see-um season so don't know whether I'd get eaten alive while observing in the summer. More realisitically, somewhere in France that's far enough south to have nice weather and less twilight, maybe Ardeche or Drome areas where there are decent hills but not too far from the motorway back to GB. Or Bavaria? I was told last night that many German towns switch off their street lights at 10pm and limit people's outside lights to 75W.

[James]

I would be quite happy to live without quite a few "mod cons" (in fact in some cases I'd prefer it). My wife however...

Therein lies the problem. I'd happily decamp permanently to either Chile or Namibia (Australia a close second but the spiders seem a wee bit dangerous...) but it wouldn't be fair on Kate and the kids...

I'm afraid the best I can hope for is to persuade them to go somewhere dark on holiday - so far they've agreed to Cardigan in Wales, darker than dark but not clear often, the Lizard, nearly as dark but also not clear often... I'm working on rural Spain/Portugal as a compromise...

James

[Beulah]

Portugal is a stunning country with great people. Used to go there a lot backpacking.

However we did try living in Southern Europe and for some bizzarre reason, missed the British culture so came back...

If the opportunity arose to get a property out there and a job, I don't think I'd protest...

But then looking at this animated gif of light pollution in Europe (1992/2010) it becomes apparent that Portugal may not be condusive to dark skies...

http://www.esa.int/v...e_large_gif.gif

So for me, it's got to be Mid-Wales. I don't mind the rain as I live near the border and am used to the climate!

[ronin]

ronin, on 11 January 2013 - 09:18 AM, said:

Somewhere in Australia. Cairns - Port Douglas area would be reasonable, Palm Cove, Yorkeys Knob or one of the other small places between the 2.

The problem with that area is as lovely as that area is it would limit you to six months view a year when the wet season hits. I suppose you could always take up storm chasing.

Maybe, but even the rain is warm as is the sea, and I would go fishing not storm chasing.

[Peter Drew]

I'm very happy with my place on Tenerife at sea level, good facilities, supermarket within walking distance, great beach, warm and sunny all year round. However, these days I'm mainly a solar observer.

[Sam]

I might have been tempted to say NZ but then I've not been there in no-see-um season so don't know whether I'd get eaten alive while observing in the summer. More realisitically, somewhere in France that's far enough south to have nice weather and less twilight, maybe Ardeche or Drome areas where there are decent hills but not too far from the motorway back to GB. Or Bavaria? I was told last night that many German towns switch off their street lights at 10pm and limit people's outside lights to 75W.

I'm not sure what you'd get eaten by, cannibalism is illegal and there's no dangerous wildlife.

[JamesF]

I'm not sure what you'd get eaten by, cannibalism is illegal and there's no dangerous wildlife.

I think it might have been biting insects that Ludd had in mind...

James

[symesie04]

Are we talking as they are now or in an ideal world? If ideal anywhere from Turkey to Iraq would be nice, plenty of places for dark skies and when not observing so much history to check out. But then Iceland could be cool for a few months of the year but not all year. Or how about a place perched on the mountain tops overlooking the bays of Bora Bora Think I would need several homes to be honest.