Dark Skies in Northern England

[DeepSkyMan]

Hi there, our Astro group were booked into our normal dark skies venue for an observing weekend in February.  Unfortunately, the accommodations are now going to be undergoing renovation and will be closed for the first 3 months of the year.   We are looking at a couple of alternative venues.  These are field study centres, one at Blancathra near Keswick and the other Malham Tarn in the Yorkshire Dales national park.  Wondering if anybody has  any observing experience of the skies in these areas.

Kind Regards

Paul.

[petevasey]

Hi, Paul,

Here is a Google Earth screen shot which might help.  Bear in mind that Leeds etc. is fairly close South of Malham Tarn.  On the other hand the Lake District tends to be wet! But at Blencathra to a certain extent you're sheltered from the Westerlies by the mountains.  I've also uploaded the Google Earth kmz file for the light pollution overlay.  It's a few years old now - I can't remember where I got it from, but it's a good indication of what to expect.

Cheers,

Peter.

 

Light pollution on England, Wales and Scotland.kmz

[petevasey]

I just edited the Light Pollution file - there were a few places of my own which had crept in by mistake.  Now removed.

Cheers,

Peter.