The view from my site this week

[JamesF]

This week my Photoline 72 and Star Adventurer mount have a temporary new home.  Here's how the view looks during the day:

We're 500m above sea level up some "Oh my god, we're gonna die" roads, but it is quite stunning.  There's a shocking level of murk out to sea below us, but the clarity above is lovely.  At 36N I've never seen Scorpius and Sagittarius up so high and have had good views of Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn this evening.  Shame about the phase of the Moon, but it's a small price to pay.

Amazingly when we arrived we discovered an ST102 on an AZ3 parked in the hallway.  It's clearly seen a fair bit of action as the anodising has faded badly, but now needs some attention to stop the drawtube flopping about in the focuser.  I suspect a screw or two has gone missing.

James

[paul mc c]

Where is it.....Teneriffe

[michaelmorris]

Holland surely. ?

[JamesF]

Southern Spain, near Arenas, about 30 minutes or so east of Malaga.

Odd place by comparison with home in some respects.  No potable water supply, but internet access three times as fast.

The view out to sea is very hazy again today, to the point where it's impossible to distinguish the horizon.  I've no idea if that's just a weather effect or pollution from the south coast of Spain.

James

[Gina]

Thought it looked like southern Spain or somewhere similar.

[JamesF]

To borrow a phrase from Asterix, "They're crazy, these Andalusians!".

It's cloudy here this evening, so I've been sitting outside observing with a cheap bottle of Rioja.  Bearing in mind that the roads leading up here are really quite "buttock-clenching" and that if you fell, you'd probably not stop until you'd make it a fair way down the 500m to sea level...  I just saw a car go past and continuing up the hill, blue lights flashing on the roof.  Unexpected, I thought to myself.  Barely thirty seconds later, a fire engine followed it!  I can't see any sign of a fire on the hill above us, but whilst I was looking I heard sounds that I heard earlier this evening when an elderly chap was leading a heard of about forty-ish goats up the hillside (they all appear to be wearing bells).  It's just gone 11pm local time and he now seems to be leading them back down by moonlight!

James

[DAVE AMENDALL]

Andalusia is beautiful. I have a niece living in Almeria. Both her and her husband are in agreement that they would never return to the UK. They have a dark site to the rear of their villa  and some giant fork mounted binos. the views of the night sky through these are awesome..............Dave

[LukeSkywatcher]

Now thats a view. You see all these property shows on tv and people ask for a sea view and its barely visible to one side, just behind a mountain.

No fear of that in your Spanish villa.

[JamesF]

I am pleased today that I can say I have seen Africa from the villa.  Lining up the landmarks it looks as though it's the mountains on the Moroccan coast that we can see to the south west, about 150 miles away by my reckoning.  Shapes that could be the Altas Mountains also appear to drift in and out of view to the south, but not sufficiently clear to be sure that's not just my imagination.

James

[LukeSkywatcher]

1 hour ago, JamesF said:

I am pleased today that I can say I have seen Africa from the villa.  Lining up the landmarks it looks as though it's the mountains on the Moroccan coast that we can see to the south west, about 150 miles away by my reckoning.  Shapes that could be the Altas Mountains also appear to drift in and out of view to the south, but not sufficiently clear to be sure that's not just my imagination.

James

When i lived in Killiney, i could see Wales from Dun Laoghaire harbour (on a very good clear day)

[Stargazer33]

This May we went to Granada as we wanted to visit la Alhambra after seeing Alex Polizzi visit there in one of her shows. It was fantastic and I would recommend it to anyone (as long as you are mobile enough as there are lots of steps!

Anyway, I was amazed at how high Jupiter was in the sky down there. La Alhambra is more than 700 m above sea level.