Anyone moved house for astronomy?

[MND]

Im getting so fed up with LP and poor weather. Has anyone ever actually moved soley for better skies?

[JB80]

Well not soley for astronomy reasons but weather was a huge factor in our move to Spain. There were more pressing factors of course but it coincided nicely with the astronomical side.

[DaveS]

Not yet, but it's on the game-plan for when I retire.

Although not specifically for astronomy I'm in the early stages of moving house, mine's on the market and I'm doing the rounds house hunting (Saw a very nice house on Saturday, I may make an offer though I'm trying to get to see another)). When doing so I take a compass with me to check out sight lines and do a tour of the neighbourhood looking at street lights. I also look for the neighbour's insecurity lights, and will I have to screen them.

[pete_l]

Im getting so fed up with LP and poor weather. Has anyone ever actually moved soley for better skies?

Yes,

I swapped cloud covered, light polluted S.E. England for crystal clear Andalucian skies with 237 sunny days last year  (sunlight greater than 75% of the theoretical maximum), a 360° view and 14° "extra" visibility of stuff that's below the horizon in England.

Oh, and I should also mention: nights that are actually dark in the summer.

[floppygoose]

Im getting so fed up with LP and poor weather. Has anyone ever actually moved soley for better skies?

Not exactly, but our house is on the market now - one of the reasons we are looking to move is to get away from the neighbours (whose outside light one particular annoyance). Factors that we will be looking at when buying our next house will include:

• A noticeable reduction in LP, so away from our current location on the edge of a large town.
• An improvement on the amount of sky visible from the back garden, which is currently seriously restricted to the north and west.
• A significant increase in the garden size, and with a suitable location for the obsy I am planning to build.

Not sure how successful I will be though, I seem to recall a similar wish-list years ago when we moved last time, and that time I lost out because more boxes were ticked on the wife's list!

Phil

[Dave_D]

i'm going to dig a cave in the hill next to where Olly Penrice lives...

although i'll stop short of the prank i thought of by erecting a fake street light outside. that would be pushing an astronomers sense of humour beyond the pale 

[ronin]

It might be something to consider but would not be the domanent reason.

[Peter Drew]

I bought my first house on the strength of the astronomical view, subsequent ones were never as good. I now also have an apartment in Tenerife which makes up for it.  

[Beulah]

Im getting so fed up with LP and poor weather. Has anyone ever actually moved soley for better skies?

Yes, we are planning our escape.

[nitram100]

I'm moving country for Astronomy and better weather in general.

I went back to University just over 4 years ago and retrained. I completed my Adult Nursing degree and became an RGN with the intention of emigrating to Australia within the next 18 months. 

[Space Bat]

Moving from Luton to 8 miles west of Cambridge whilst not solely an astronomical move was a great move as much clearer skies lesser LP - and I can see this thick band of stuff especially in winter....forgot what that was for a long time...

[Beulah]

I'm moving country for Astronomy and better weather in general.

I went back to University just over 4 years ago and retrained. I completed my Adult Nursing degree and became an RGN with the intention of emigrating to Australia within the next 18 months. 

That is really exciting, I wish you all the best!

[Saganite]

I retired a year ago, and we sold up and moved to a small village. The plan was always to move to the countryside

and my plan was always to have a south facing rear garden and an Astro shed, and much darker skies, and that is where

we have ended up, and it is wonderful. After midnight the only  visible lamp goes out, and none

of my neighbours have outside lights that stay on. I can't really believe my luck, I need to touch wood.

I pretty much did what DaveS Is doing and I checked how much clear sky I had.

It is not perfect but it is 90% better that what I had before.

[gooseholla]

When I move into my first house, hopefully sometime next year, I will be doing detailed planning. Unfortunately, as I will be a young, first time buyer, I am going to be limited to lots of neighbours, lights, and little sky. But, plan I will. I'll probably be the only person to want to have my house viewing at night...

I shall be looking for neighbours who don't have outdoor lights, a place where streetlights aren't such an issue, and a place where I can set up an observatory... okay, my shed.

If I cannot find anywhere round here to suit, then I will consider moving elsewhere. I'm not too fussed about the house itself, as I'll hopefully only be in it for a few years until a family comes along. 1 bed, 2 bed, small, run down, whatever. If I can put a bed in it and eat, I'm fine with it!

[MND]

I'll most likely end up overseas but that is a good 10 years away from now. We looked at places on the Algarve last Summer but couldn't find what we were looking for. Be even harder now as one of us will be looking at the quality of the property while the other will be looking at the quality of the sky...

My next move here will be a change because of this damn hobby also. Always been a Townie but going to have to look in the sticks a bit!

[nucleardwarf]

Does divorce count?

[MND]

Does divorce count?

haha, I bet there have been a few of those!

[Velvet]

told my husband when he said he wanted to move that the garden must be south facing, have 360 degree unrestricted sky, and have no light pollution

and room for an obsy.  So far he has failed to get it all right so we have not moved

[nucleardwarf]

The wife said it was her or astronomy, by god I'll miss her.

[DaveS]

Yeah, this is really the wrong time of year to be house hunting. Need to view the house when it's dark.

Weird, aren't we? 

[laser_jock99]

When the opportunity came to move we headed straight for Mid Wales. Astronomy wasn't in the forefront of my mind at the time- it is an interest that has since been re-kindled by easy access to dark skies.

I did use the Avex Light pollution web site http://www.avex-asso.org/dossiers/pl/uk/index.html to check out various locations prior to viewings though. 

Pity we don't have the clear skies & sunshine to match Spain!

[philhas]

Just bought in Spain so looking forward to many warm clear nights

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[pete_l]

Just bought in Spain so looking forward to many warm clear nights

Clear? sure. Warm??? It depends entirely where you are.

By the coast the sea keeps the temperature moderate, but inland we regualrly get down to -5° in the winter when the sky is clear and -12° is not unknown.

[Umbraldot]

Not quite.  I wanted to move back to Scotland anyway so I looked for a house location that would suit astronomy.  Found it pretty much as the back garden faces South and looks onto fields and a golf course leading directly onto the Southern Uplands, so no light pollution.  There was plenty of room for an observatory and I can solar watch from early morning right through to sunset if I choose or if the clouds permit.  Down side: being in SW Scotland the weather is awful; far better over in the east which is my next destination. 

[JB80]

told my husband when he said he wanted to move that the garden must be south facing, have 360 degree unrestricted sky, and have no light pollution

and room for an obsy.  So far he has failed to get it all right so we have not moved

We have seen some absolutely great houses in the last couple of weeks only to discard them for similar reasons.

I'm starting to think maybe I'm being unreasonable.