Dark sky's in Devon!

[Barry-W-Fenner]

Hi all,

I have just spent the weekend in Holsworthy, Devon in a beautiful thatched roof cottage.

The bortle rating was between 3 & 4 and had an sqm reading of 21.5. Needless to say I was absolutely blown away by the dark sky, There was literally hundreds of stars covering the sky, the main constellations vanished! I did manage to sneak the 200p in the car  between the kids along with two eye pieces 6.5mm and 14mm a very minimalist set up.  My biggest problem was figuring out what star I was actually looking at in my finderscope! I could have really done with having my rigel finder to navigate the sky but I left that at home! To be fair I spent a lot of time just looking up at the sky with the naked eye, objects just seemed to "pop" out at me, I managed to see andromeda with averted vision, no scope required. Seeing the milky-way was a mind blowing experience and one I won't forget. I hope I can get out to some dark sky's again soon!

Finally a pic of me set up waiting for darkness.

Thanks all.

 

Edited August 31, 2020 by Barry-W-Fenner

[Mick J]

That looks very nice, not very far from AsroAdventures near Kimworthy,  a few years back but had great sky and time there.

[Rob_UK_SE]

That looks like a lovely place to ‘rough it’ for the weekend... what a beautiful setting. Those skies sound ideal too 😀.

Under skies that reveal the true beauty of the night sky, I sometimes just enjoy sweeping through the Milky Way and discovering points of interest along the way. I then search the charts to see where I have arrived (a somewhat reversed approach to locating objects).

Most impressively, in addition to packing your scope, you also managed to book clear skies for your weekend too! 

[Floater]

All that and a beer on the base ... what’s not to like?! 👍

I know the feeling of being overwhelmed by the sheer number of stars - unfortunately, too infrequently. ☹️ (Cairngorms under canvas. Feels like a thousand years ago.)

Edited August 31, 2020 by Floater

[Nigella Bryant]

I live about 40 miles away from there, beautiful bortle 3/4 skies. Sky full of stars. It's the reason I wanted to move here.

Edited September 1, 2020 by Nigella Bryant