Dark skies feature on the Weather Channel

[Martin Meredith]

When checking the weather forecast here in the US (cloudy!) I came across this stargazing feature which shows some stills and videos of the skies from some of the darkest places on the planet. No surprises, but useful if you're loaded and planning your next holiday or retirement move 

Martin

 

 

[faulksy]

1 hour ago, Martin Meredith said:

When checking the weather forecast here in the US (cloudy!) I came across this stargazing feature which shows some stills and videos of the skies from some of the darkest places on the planet. No surprises, but useful if you're loaded and planning your next holiday or retirement move 

Martin

 

 

that is brilliant martin. thank you very much

[Expat_tony]

That's absolutely mouth-watering; but if, like me, you're not loaded, how about south-west France?

Locate Rocamadour, Figeac and Cahors on Google maps. They make a triangle. The northern half of that triangle is the darkest part of the "Parc naturel régional des Causses du Quercy", and is known and marketed throughout France as the "triangle noir" or even the "trou noir". And yes, it's really dark.

I only spent one amazing night's observing in the park, but even staying at a hilltop home some way west (near a small town called Monpazier) was an observing treat. Imagine swimming in a pool naturally heated to 26C by day, then setting up your scope by the same pool on the first night, looking up, thinking "Oh, curse that cloud!" then realising the cloud was the Milky Way. After that, looking at the horizon and thinking, "Well well well - M6 & M7, with the naked eye!"

And that's even before you get your eye to your scope.

The great thing about the area is that you, and your non-astronomer spouse, can have a fabulous French country holiday by day. And if you're very unlucky and it's cloudy, well there's always the vin rouge to send you to sleep.

I'd recommend going to see the Perseids there, and staying into late August when the French kids are already back at school, so prices dip and the roads get emptier.

[Martin Meredith]

Thanks for the suggestion Tony. I like the sound of SW France (close enough to me for a weekend trip probably). You make it sound like a very attractive package all told...

Where I live in Spain the weather is Atlantic-influenced like in the UK and rather cloudy for much of the year as a consequence. We do have great Rioja wine though.

Martin