Moved, observatory out of action

[Nigella Bryant]

Hi all, just moved from Bristol to North Devon last week. Upshot is from bortle 8 to bortle 4 skies. Downside my observatory will be out of action until it's all been rebuilt. Winter not the best time, lots of ground work to be done in the next few months, the garden is completely overgrown. Can't see me getting it all done till next summer in time for the Mars opposition. At least I've my lunt 60mm DS and the Solarquest Mount so I can still do solar observing. I've an12inch f4 OO newtononian and the neq6 sitting in my spare room, it looks lonely, lol. I got in touch with Devon County Council and they've been brilliant and installed cut offs on two lights near the property and the other street lights go out at midnight so it's quite dark. Been outside just between cloud's and I can't believe how many stars I can see. The skies amazing. 

Anyway, watch out for an observatory rebuild in the future, lol. 

[Gina]

Welcome to Devon, Nigella 😀

[Nigella Bryant]

10 minutes ago, Gina said:

Welcome to Devon, Nigella 😀

Thanks Gina, are you in Devon too? 

[JeremyS]

Best of luck in your new home, Nigella. Hope you will be back up and running with the obsy soon.

[Peter Drew]

Good luck in your new location, lots to look forward to.    😀

[Nigella Bryant]

Thanks Jeremy and Peter. To be honest I'm not looking forward to all the hard work at 61 but hopefully my last move in life, lol. 

[sloz1664]

Bortle 4 skies.....Oh to dream... Best of luck in your new home and hope the Obsy rebuild goes to plan.

Steve

[Peter Drew]

3 minutes ago, Nigella Bryant said:

Thanks Jeremy and Peter. To be honest I'm not looking forward to all the hard work at 61 but hopefully my last move in life, lol. 

I was building an astronomy centre at 61.   78 now and still not finished!   😀 

[Nigella Bryant]

2 minutes ago, Peter Drew said:

I was building an astronomy centre at 61.   78 now and still not finished!   😀 

Oh, goodness Peter, I hope it won't take me that long, lol. 

Pics attached, I've good sky from North to South West. Nothing from South West to North. 

[Nigella Bryant]

8 minutes ago, sloz1664 said:

Bortle 4 skies.....Oh to dream... Best of luck in your new home and hope the Obsy rebuild goes to plan.

Steve

Yeah, wonderful and bortle 2/3 just down the road. 

[Rusted]

I built my two story observatory at the age of 70 working entirely alone.
Except for the time my diminutive wife helped me move 25 tons of gravel in a couple of days.
She'd have your "garden" cleared in a couple of hours with her bare hands.
Consider if raising your obs would improve the view. Sometimes it doesn't need much.
Devon is a great place for exploring the coast and countryside.

[Nigella Bryant]

I do have a 70mm TS and GTI mount with wedge and guide scope so could take that outside and do some imaging but the garden is so overgrown it'll take me some time just to clear a space, lol. 

[Peter Drew]

8 minutes ago, Nigella Bryant said:

Oh, goodness Peter, I hope it won't take me that long, lol. 

Pics attached, I've good sky from North to South West. Nothing from South West to North. 

Yikes!, it could be a close run thing.      

[Nigella Bryant]

1 minute ago, Rusted said:

Consider if raising your obs would improve the view. Sometimes it doesn't need much.
Devon is a great place for exploring the coast and countryside.

Hi Rusted, yeah, I'm going to have to raise it up as there's a bank where the observatory is going to go and the bungalow is in a dip. It'll eventually look over the roofs. 

[Rusted]

12 minutes ago, Nigella Bryant said:

Hi Rusted, yeah, I'm going to have to raise it up as there's a bank where the observatory is going to go and the bungalow is in a dip. It'll eventually look over the roofs. 

Do I see a green observatory in your stars? 

They can be completely invisible until you are actually standing inside it. 

[JamesF]

There are certainly some quite dark skies in North Devon, even without going onto Exmoor.  If only the cloud would go away for a while...

James

[banjaxed]

Hope everything goes well for you. If I have learned anything in the last few years, it's not to be overly ambitious as it is easy to think you are still 24 in your head but then you realise your head isn't doing the work.

[Rusted]

17 minutes ago, banjaxed said:

Hope everything goes well for you. If I have learned anything in the last few years, it's not to be overly ambitious as it is easy to think you are still 24 in your head but then you realise your head isn't doing the work.

"Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency."

[DaveS]

Good luck with the jungle clearance Nigella

I did something similar last year moving from Bortle 8 in London to the dark end of Bortle 4 in Dorset, but still haven't got my obsy built, though it's scheduled.

[Gina]

2 hours ago, Nigella Bryant said:

Thanks Gina, are you in Devon too? 

I am indeed though East Devon in The Blackdown Hills a few miles NE of Honiton.  Bortle 4 here also.

[Rusted]

It would be enough to drive me to the Bortle were I still haunted by the hideous glow.

Darkness only has true value when all false light has fled.
For it doth burn the retinas of men and stir their souls to "mourning."

Rage, rage against the coming of the light.
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the coming of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the coming of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the coming of the light.

[With all due apologies to Dylan Thomas]

 

[Nigella Bryant]

25 minutes ago, Rusted said:

It would be enough to drive me to the Bortle were I still haunted by the hideous glow.

Darkness only has true value when all false light has fled.
For it doth burn the retinas of men and stir their souls to "mourning."

Rage, rage against the coming of the light.
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the coming of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the coming of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the coming of the light.

 

Definitely rage against the coming of the light. I've the new led lighting where I am and I must say that light is directed to the ground not the sky. I've bought myself a D2 led light pollution filter for my modded dslr in anticipation. 

[Rusted]

One must always be prepared.

[DaveS]

I think my nearest streetlights are about 4 miles away  .

[Nigella Bryant]

2 minutes ago, DaveS said:

I think my nearest streetlights are about 4 miles away  .

Cool, mines 30 meters, lol but only 2 the rest go out at 12 midnight.