wedding plans

[Forum Cat]

I have just posted this in "welcome" and it was suggested I repost here.

Hello everyone.

I have just found a wonderful lady to whom I am about to get married.

She loves all things astronomical and reads the magazines and such like. She points out to me the names of planets and stars and I am starting to get a bit of a taste for it all.

Recently we paid a visit to Jodrell Bank and had a wonderful romantic weekend together.

Now to my request.

Despite her interest, my fiancé has not as yet seen a really dark sky.

So…

Can the members here please suggest for me, any place on the planet where.

1) I can take her to get married (just the two of us)

2) See a really dark sky

3) Maybe visit a telescope of some importance.

4) The weather will be suitable for a "beach" wedding.

5) There are some attractions nearby to visit in daylight hours.

Hope that you can help. I really really want to make her happy.

Forum Cat

[John]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Hawaii ?

Some big scopes there, lots of beaches, nice temperatures all year round and dark skies away from the big resorts.

[Forum Cat]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Hawaii ?

Some big scopes there, lots of beaches, nice temperatures all year round and dark skies away from the big resorts.

I thought of that as a possible choice, but it is a very very long way from the uk.

As I said in another place, I want to be able to enjoy the honeymoon without being jet lagged.

[Digz]

La Palma - a little closer to the UK. Me and the wife are hoping to go there for our anniversary thus year.

[laser_jock99]

Teneriffe I suppose? Some of the 'traditional' wedding destinations are too near the Tropics and have high humidity/cloud. Would be worth checking out local weather patterns before spending your hard earned cash. And do avoid the big holiday howler- DON'T BOOK DURING FULL MOON.

[Fivost]

Greek islands can give you most of that. The smaller it is, the better the sky will be. I have a thing for Samothraki and its perfectly dark skies, but it's kind of remote and hard to get there.

1) Get married in a small Greek church.

2) Get to see amazing dark skies.

3) Cannot be done really in Greece unless you intentd to visit the local observatory in Athens with an old Newall refractor.

4) The weather will definitely be suitable for a "beach" wedding.

5) There are of course several attractions nearby to visit in daylight hours.

[ronin]

If you go to Google, then Maps, zoom out quite a lot and enter "astronomical observatories" in the search box it will pointers to the various observatories in the displayed area.

To move area simply drag the map one way or another.

Usually it redoes the observatories but if not just click on the blue search button again.

Realistically it looks like The Canaries or Hawaii.

Few in California, the one in Kenwood north of SanFran looks as if it has star parties and you can rent the observatory www.rfo.org

Also the one West of Sacramento.

Couple in Florida, fair few in Australia, few on the North Island of New Zealand (that is a killer flight!)

Have a search it makes interesting reading, well I suppose it is viewing, not reading.

Google will just list observatories, how accessable they are to the public you would need to look into.

Google

[rowan46]

congratulations and welcome

[planetdnb]

Hawaii +1

[pete_l]

La Palma - a little closer to the UK. Me and the wife are hoping to go there for our anniversary thus year.

That would be my suggestion, too.

I spent a week there (rented a house in the south of the island) and the skies were very, very dark. Also, being closer to the equator a lot of the more interesting stuff, that is never very high in the british sky was much more visible and some of the stuff we never get to see could be spotted.

I did drive up the mountain to the observatories. The drive was one of the most demanding I've ever made: very steep, very twisty roads and some sheer drops that made it more "interesting". When I got to the top, I drove past the obsys as they didn't appear to be open to the public, and arrived at the car-park. Some spectacular views, but no facilities whatsoever. There was what looked like a wooden shack for touristy stuff, but it was closed. Some great daytime views to the other islands, but otherwise not much to do up there - except look forward to the drive down

I don't know if there are any direct flights to La Palma. I had to go via Tenerife. And if you're in Tenerife for the airport, it might be sensible to just enjoy that island, instead.

[Hobbes]

Congratulations!

I would have thought the La Palma would be a good choice.

It looks like there is a company that does an Astro Experience package http://www.lapalmanatural.com/en/excursions

[Dan Watts]

Hawaii +1

We are going there for our honeymoon - Can't wait to go up Mauna Kea for stargazing some of the darkest skies in the world! Congrats and I hope you find somewhere nice

[Forum Cat]

Thanks for the input everyone.

I think La Palma it will be. Only problem will be the legal stuff regarding a wedding. Spain has a trickier set of rules than most.

Thank you Pete_1 for your input, very very helpful.

Mr Cat