Anyone moved house for astronomy?

[DaveS]

I looked at three houses on Saturday, and may make an offer on one, even though it doesn't really hit the target of 2 bed detached. I may have to accept compromises, and at least this one has a garden that's reasonably open and pointing in roughly the right direction. The other two were ruled out by bad orientation in the case of one and enclosing trees in neighbours' gardens in the other.

[NorrinRadd]

I didn't move specifically to get better skies, (I'm on the west of the Isle of Wight which is all pretty good) , but the new house had to have a good field of view , place for a shed obs and no trees in the East to South West View. Other than that the house was my partners choice ! ...new self made obs built in the first 6 months ...with the added "assistance " of 1 and 2 year old girls :-) So it was a no compromise factor in house choices.

[peter shah]

Ooooh, only 100km north from my place.

I have Calar Alto visible 50km to the south, perched on it's mountain (I can see the domes) and La Sagra 40km to the north hidden behind a mountain. So this does seem to be the place where the professionals choose to plant their scopes.  Don't think they'll get much competition from me, tho' 

You are very lucky to be at such a nice site

[Beulah]

You are very lucky to be at such a nice site

Hope your ship comes in one day... 

[Double Kick Drum]

Been in my village for over four years. Though not entirely for Astor reasons, it did have a bearing on the move.

[ollypenrice]

You bet I did! I moved house, I moved country and I moved job - to do astronomy full time. I never made a better decision in my life and have never been happier, despite the crotchety onset of old old age! I love being in touch with the night. Now that I've been here for nearly 11 years I find myself twitching with anxiety when I find myself back in the orange glow of the plastic modern world. I want none of it. It isn't natural and it isn't good for you.

If you lived next to a factory which churned out blaring noise 24 hours a day, nobody would call you crazy for wanting to move away. Likewise, if it churned out foul smelling gasses. So why not want to move away from equally polluting artificial light? Our eyes are probably our primary sense receptors as humans. Why subject them to gross abuse? Move.

Olly

[laser_jock99]

Another thing to add is that if you want the darkest skies then any neighbours are a no-no. Which could be a problem if you're living alone (Like me). I've been looking at the Avex-Asso site together with Rightmove, and the darkest locations (In Wales) are all miles from nowhere at the ends of dirt tracks.

Do you want to risk being cut off by 6' of snow in winter? I don't think so, therefore may have to sacrifice ultimate darkness for sensible location, which is why Dorset is looking nice, even though it doesn't really cut it as a dark-sky location.

Bother!

Isle of Purbeck is supposed to be dark-ish and probably has more clear nights than Wales!

[MND]

With my job at present most of my contracts are in London so I need to be nearby. Ive been looking at darker areas within 30 mins commute and if you want no neighbours this seems to add another 0 to the price.

I guess its wait until retirement (depressing thought) or do an Olly!

[DaveS]

Had another look at Purbeck on  Blue-Marble, Avex-Asso and Need-Less. All agree that it's not the darkest place. Need-Less says the coast near West Bexington is the darkest with a LVM of 5.7, most other areas come in at 5.6-ish and Purbeck at 5.44.

A lot of areas in Ceridigion come in at 6.8-6.9 and I did see one 7.0, Bortle 2, but I think that was on top of a mountain.

[laser_jock99]

Had another look at Purbeck on  Blue-Marble, Avex-Asso and Need-Less. All agree that it's not the darkest place. Need-Less says the coast near West Bexington is the darkest with a LVM of 5.7, most other areas come in at 5.6-ish and Purbeck at 5.44.

A lot of areas in Ceridigion come in at 6.8-6.9 and I did see one 7.0, Bortle 2, but I think that was on top of a mountain.

With out doubt Wales has the darker skies- but if you going to live there/retire then overall climate should be a consideration. 

Consider Swanage's climate record and the nearest station to the Cambrian Mountains centre- Cwmystwyth

The annual number of sunshine hours is 1792 in Dorset vs 1187 in Ceredigion.

The number of days with rain is 120 in Dorset vs 190 in Ceredigion.

The days with frost is 18 in Dorset vs 58 in Ceredigion (which might indicate a few clear nights?)

From a climate point of view the South Coast wins hands down. Unfortunately the south coast desirability is reflected in the property prices!

Worth Matravers vs  Cwmystwyth (the Cwmystwyth property is two houses!)

Worth the extra million quid.......?

[DaveS]

I did find this on Rightmove

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-40713145.html?backListLink=%2Fproperty-for-sale%2Fmap.html%3FlocationIdentifier%3DREGION%255E93470%26maxPrice%3D300000%26minBedrooms%3D2%26maxBedrooms%3D3%26viewType%3DGRID%23_includeSSTC%3Don%26auction%3Dfalse%26locationIdentifier%3DREGION%255E93470%26maxBedrooms%3D3%26maxPrice%3D300000%26minBedrooms%3D2%26previousSearchLocation%3DCeredigion%26radius%3D0.0%26searchLocation%3DCeredigion%26searchType%3DSALE%26secondaryDisplayPropertyType%3Ddetachedshouses%26useLocationIdentifier%3Dfalse%26viewType%3DGRID%26box%3D-3.93174%2C-3.69965%2C52.29493%2C52.45066%26popupPropertyId%3D40713145&fromMap=tr

Also in Cwmystwyth, but an example of "Miles from anywhere, up a dirt track". Fancy living there with 6' of snow on the ground?

[laser_jock99]

Fancy living there with 6' of snow on the ground?

Yes !

Winter 2011

You might need to budget for a 4x4.

[DaveS]

I *could* budget for a 4x4. Perhaps a series III Land Rover?

[IanWatkins]

I moved to a place that was worse for astronomy.

Moved from the perfect house in the countryside (no street lights, south facing level ground garden with power, nearest town about 8 miles away) approx. 3 months before I got into astronomy. I moved to somewhere with a north facing, sloping  garden on the edge of a town and street lights. (to be fair, it isn't that bad LP wise).

Does that count?

Cheers

Ian

[kirkster501]

When I next move then a good astro spot to build a permanent setup will be high on my list of priorities.

[DaveS]

On this move all I can hope for is somewhere that's not actually inimical to astronomy, so garden aspect and street lights only together with a size and price that's do-able for a single bloke.

When I retire however.....

[ollypenrice]

With my job at present most of my contracts are in London so I need to be nearby. Ive been looking at darker areas within 30 mins commute and if you want no neighbours this seems to add another 0 to the price.

I guess its wait until retirement (depressing thought) or do an Olly!

It's a curious feature of the French housing market that having no neighbours removes a zero from the price! Although our house is perfectly accessible year round, and the big supermarkets are twenty-five minutes away by car, it would considered too remote by those living in the town. Despite its practicability most buyers would prefer to pay twice as much for a small, characterless new build than consider ours. This is fine because it ain't for sale!

Olly

Another thought, though. A friend in the UK works as a Peak Park ranger part time and, to save repeated trips out to the park from his home in town, he negotiated a deal with a farmer whereby he leaves a caravn on the farmland and uses it when he needs to. Such an arrangement might work well for astronomers, too. The problem with regular campsites is that they are often lit up.

[Beulah]

Another thought, though. A friend in the UK works as a Peak Park ranger part time and, to save repeated trips out to the park from his home in town, he negotiated a deal with a farmer whereby he leaves a caravn on the farmland and uses it when he needs to. Such an arrangement might work well for astronomers, too. The problem with regular campsites is that they are often lit up.

I think that's a great idea and have often thought about it.

We were recently trying to create a temporary solution to a difficult situation at home by looking into a bolt hole in the shape of a static caravan but was horrified that a lot of them, including ground rent and bills cost as much as a 2 bed terrace up north!!

[JB80]

It's a curious feature of the French housing market that having no neighbours removes a zero from the price! Although our house is perfectly accessible year round, and the big supermarkets are twenty-five minutes away by car, it would considered too remote by those living in the town. Despite its practicability most buyers would prefer to pay twice as much for a small, characterless new build than consider ours. This is fine because it ain't for sale!

Olly

It's the same in Spain too, probably worse. You end up with rows and rows of ugly terraced housing in some really lovely locations and people flock to them. I think it's a draw back to the Franco days where he relocated everyone from he country into flats in towns.

It's good for us in our house hunt though as nothings selling and people tend to want contact with other people so that leaves what we are looking for to be dirt cheap.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Ive been in my new house for nearly a week now. I moved mainly to get a nest egg in the bank. Even though i'm only 30Km from my old place,i have miles upon miles rural countryside to my north,south,east and west. My back garden is south facing (with a couple of BIG trees), and i am not overlooked on any side. Its been raining every night since i got here, but a couple of nights ago i got a few minutes window of clear skies and i went out to the garden to investigate. The skies here are so much darker than in Dublin (my old place). I looked up and i was blown away by how much bigger and brighter the stars looked. I spotted Saturn (i think) and it was bigger and brighter than ive ever seen it before. I probably wont need to venture out of the garden in search or a dark sky location as it appears to be one in itself.

Glad i made the move, even if it did take til today to get the tv,phone and internet reconnected. 

[DaveS]

Result!

[DaveS]

As an example, I looked at a house yesterday, and although the garden pointed in the right direction, and was fairly open, I could see at least three street lights, and further away tall poles with floodlights, which I later identified as being a football pich. I'm coming to hate football.

Bother

Back to the search.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I confused our estate agent when we were first looking for a house, by checking out the southern horizon for lights and obstructive trees, first from the garden, then from the little park just behind that particular house. She thought I wanted to have enough sunlight in the garden for growing things, or sunbathing. When I told her it was for stargazing she was rather baffled. That particular house was struck off the list not because of the garden or park, but because of the kitchen, which was pitifully small.

The house we finally chose has a very dark garden by suburban standards, the trees to the south are a bit taller than I would like, but at least it is fairly dark. I would like to retire to a dark area, so astronomy will govern my  choice then (and the size of the kitchen, cooking is the other hobby that takes up a lot of time)

[JB80]

It doesn't seem to be something they understand. I mentioned it to one and the very next house she said "and the lovely mountain views will be great for your astrology".

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

It doesn't seem to be something they understand. I mentioned it to one and the very next house she said "and the lovely mountain views will be great for your astrology".

Astrology!  :angry4: :BangHead: :BangHead: