Tell us your sky quality

[Stub Mandrel]

On 29/04/2020 at 19:10, Ships and Stars said:

Hi Miguel, it does, but it seems that perhaps an hour each side is still dark enough for a quick look through the scope. I'm near Aberdeen, so fairly far north. Last night we had 1.5hrs astro darkness, but after this moon phase, that will be gone until late August here! I'm still going to try over the summer, but only with the smaller dob and binoculars.

I have the good fortune of some much light pollution that astro dark doesn't make a big difference...

[Barry-W-Fenner]

Starts with "s" ends with "t"

Bortle 8, can make out the main stars but that's about all 😢

[ian2]

Bortle 4 according to the Clear Skies App or 5 according to the atlas website. There is an business park where there are some large yards full of oil industry equipment, and high power LED flood lights.  They cast shadows at my house from a distance of about 600m and dazzle me if I look in their direction. 
 

I have sent an email to their owner to see if they are willing to do something about it. They responded positively, asking for some photos. I thought trying a friendly direct approach might have a better result than sending round the Shire planning department. Fingers crossed. 

[IB20]

SQM of 17.52 with a 96% moon, SQM of 20.55 with a 1% moon. Somewhere between city and suburban skies, bortle 6-7.

 

[Daf1983]

Bortle 4 according to co and the light pollution website. A lot of housing development going on in the area at the minute though, so I doubt it'll stay like that for long😏

[Space Hopper]

Bortle 7 here, one km to the north of Derby city centre. 

As a guide i'm unable to see Messier 1 Crab nebula from home, even with a 12" Newtonian.

I have access to a darker site about 20 mins drive to the north, which is probable Bortle 4 on a good night.

 

[Solar B]

I've a bortle 5 here .... only 4 metres elevation 🙂

But is this info 5 years old now ?

Brian 

[Rob]

5 here also. But have the ability to travel 35mins to the New Forrest which is 4

[wormix]

My village shows as both Bortle 4 and 5 according to CO and lightpollutionmap. 
 

Clicking on my house it’s a 5, literally the other side of the road it’s 4. So let’s say 4.5

 

Regardless, have fantastic skies considering I’m only 25miles from London with only the odd annoyance of being on the Luton flight path when the wind is in the right (wrong?) direction. 

[callisto]

Bortle 4 here, but there are some New builds going on

[Stub Mandrel]

Both my brother's and my house are given a Bortle 5 by CO.

I haven't seen his sky under astro-dark without the moon but before astro dark and without the moon it was almost as good as the best I have ever seen it here, just hints of the milky way. Most of his local street lights go off at 12 and they are incredibly well-directed LED lights.  The light in front of his house was shining between the two houses straight on my scope and I didn't even notice it for a few nights. The bit I could see lit up was not as bright as Jupiter, and the level of lighting on street doesn't seem much brighter than fullmoon, much better than here.

[Nigella Bryant]

Mine, Brightness

0.436 mcd/m2

Artif. bright.

265 μcd/m2

Ratio

1.55

Bortle

class 4

[Pryce]

I live in the city, so it's horrible.  But if I drive an hour or so away It's looking quite good.
Where I'm going tonight is classified Bortle 4
Ratio 0.977
Brightness: 0.338mcd/m2
AB 167ucd/m2

So with the new moon tonight and (predicted) 1% cloud cover I hope that my seeing will be great tonight!  So hyped!

Edited August 18, 2020 by Pryce

[BS269]

This is from my home, CO says it’s 20.47 so I’m on the border of bortle 4. The darker skies close by isn’t enough to justify travelling too as I live in the Peak District which is surrounded by cities! Would light pollution filters be worth it with this sky quality? What does the ratio indicate as well?

[Rob_UK_SE]

The best I can find in the South East is Bortle 4. Home is 20.68 and my slightly more remote -darker- site is 21.41.

 

Home

Away

Edited August 28, 2020 by Rob_UK_SE

[Mick H]

Bortle 4 here in Wroxham/Norfolk. 

Even better when the pub across the river turns their lights off at around 11.30pm, but a great big grey shed sort of East helps.

[PeterW]

21.4 is probably near the best you’ll find apart from places where others don’t live anywhere near..., Wales, Scotland..

 

peter

[devdusty]

Bortle 8 skies down here in Exeter, Devon.

Chris

[markse68]

pretty poor! I think i almost won! No chance on the veil but brighter dso’s can be found. Moon looks good though 😉 as do planets, and double stars aren’t affected . And as others have mentioned this year is much clearer than last although this past month has been awful!

On 03/05/2020 at 08:56, Barry-W-Fenner said:

Starts with "s" ends with "t"

Bortle 8, can make out the main stars but that's about all 😢

Its hard to learn your way around when you can’t make out basic constellations isn’t it Baz! I can’t believe i took this long 🤦‍♂️ but i’ve only just discovered the joys of binoculars! Just some compact 8x30s make a world of difference in terms of what you can see and finding things! I’m really enjoying them!

Mark

 

Edited August 31, 2020 by markse68

[Rob_UK_SE]

7 hours ago, markse68 said:

pretty poor! I think i almost won! No chance on the veil but brighter dso’s can be found. Moon looks good though 😉 as do planets, and double stars aren’t affected . And as others have mentioned this year is much clearer than last although this past month has been awful!

Its hard to learn your way around when you can’t make out basic constellations isn’t it Baz! I can’t believe i took this long 🤦‍♂️ but i’ve only just discovered the joys of binoculars! Just some compact 8x30s make a world of difference in terms of what you can see and finding things! I’m really enjoying them!

Mark

 

Do you ever travel with your scope, Mark? If not, it might be worth considering heading south or west to some darker skies? Even just to see the Veil - it’s in a good position for a few more weeks to come. Some areas within the Isle of Sheppey appear to be Bortle 4 (20.85) and a trip down to parts of Kent or East/West Sussex would give you slightly darker skies than that (21+ in certain parts). I can see the Veil quite clearly from home (with an OIII filter) which is 20.68 according to the light pollution map.

[markse68]

19 minutes ago, Rob_UK_SE said:

Do you ever travel with your scope, Mark? If not, it might be worth considering heading south or west to some darker skies? Even just to see the Veil - it’s in a good position for a few more weeks to come. Some areas within the Isle of Sheppey appear to be Bortle 4 (20.85) and a trip down to parts of Kent or East/West Sussex would give you slightly darker skies than that (21+ in certain parts). I can see the Veil quite clearly from home (with an OIII filter) which is 20.68 according to the light pollution map.

I’ve been taking my scope with me when visiting my mum - bortle 4/5 but it’s been cloudy every time 🤦‍♂️ If it looks like we”re going to get a decent clear patch again I will make an effort as i really want to see it while i can

[Dantooine]

Bottle 4, no street lights here but neighbours love their lights. I think they are afraid of the dark. 

[Budgie1]

Bortle 2 for me.

Now, if I can just figure out how to stop the clouds forming........................

[John]

I can just make out the Eastern Veil nebula without a filter here tonight - very faint and indistinct - with the 12 inch dob.

My word though, with the Lumicon O-III filter it is transformed

[Captain Scarlet]

1 hour ago, John said:

I can just make out the Eastern Veil nebula without a filter here tonight - very faint and indistinct - with the 12 inch dob.

My word though, with the Lumicon O-III filter it is transformed

... at what magnification? I tried a few nights ago in my bortle 3 location with 10x50 bins and an astronomik oiii nestled in one eyecup, and not a sausage, though the 80% Moon was up and I think that washed everything out.

The longest 1.25” eyepiece I have is 18.2mm, which with my 1500mm 12” will give me 82x, is that wide enough? I feel I really need a 24mm eyepiece.

M