bortle 2 skys here we come

[faulksy]

me and my wife have 1 sleep left untill we head for 4 nights in bortle 2 skys (abadaron). scope and camping gear loaded. yee haaa

[Ally8446]

My wife and I are heading up to NW Scotland in a few weeks. This'll be our third year. Bortle 2 skies are mind blowing. Enjoy. 

Al

[laudropb]

38 minutes ago, faulksy said:

me and my wife have 1 sleep left untill we head for 4 nights in bortle 2 skys (abadaron). scope and camping gear loaded. yee haaa

Lucky you. I was up in the highlands last week but only cloudy skys. Hope you have better lucky.

[Shimrod]

19 minutes ago, Ally8446 said:

My wife and I are heading up to NW Scotland in a few weeks. This'll be our third year. Bortle 2 skies are mind blowing. Enjoy. 

Al

WNW Isle of Skye for me next week - Bortle 1 according to clearoutside. I would normally be heading to Iceland around this time of year for my annual aurora hunt, but with Skye I get to load the boot of the car with telescope equipment (and thankfully have an understanding wife). It's west Scotland, so no doubt a week of cloud, but I might get lucky!

[faulksy]

been checking all weather forecasts and all are showing ace skys and cool, even clear outside 😁

[faulksy]

36 minutes ago, Shimrod said:

WNW Isle of Skye for me next week - Bortle 1 according to clearoutside. I would normally be heading to Iceland around this time of year for my annual aurora hunt, but with Skye I get to load the boot of the car with telescope equipment (and thankfully have an understanding wife). It's west Scotland, so no doubt a week of cloud, but I might get lucky!

been 3 times with the dob mob. had some brilliant times up there. good 12 hr drive though

[maw lod qan]

I'm looking forward to some images of these skies!!

I dont think I could get to Bortle 1 in Florida!

[faulksy]

http://clearoutside.com/forecast/52.80/-4.71

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

4 hours ago, faulksy said:

me and my wife have 1 sleep left untill we head for 4 nights in bortle 2 skys (abadaron). scope and camping gear loaded. yee haaa

Lucky. It's nice down there. Clear skies to you! (Although it's Wales, so it will rain soz 😆 )

[Budgie1]

Clear'ish up here tonight. Some thin high cloud but Milky Way is visible  with the naked eye.

Just having a coffee before heading back out there.

Enjoy your trip!

[faulksy]

Absolutely amazing sky last night. Must of been equal to la palma. Scope is cooling now for tonight 

Edited September 25, 2020 by faulksy

[niallk]

Sounds class! Such a beaut of a scope too

[Shimrod]

On 17/09/2020 at 20:15, faulksy said:

been checking all weather forecasts and all are showing ace skys and cool, even clear outside 😁

Weather forecast is not looking good for the end of the week or the weekend - it looks like even the drive up is going to hampered by heavy rain. I'm more concerned though with further COVID restrictions that may be announced next week will include a restriction on long distance travel.

[faulksy]

hi again, what a brilliant trip and amazing weather. friday night was stonking, milkyway was blazing, and the sagitarius split was so so obvious. but no scope that night as it was to late, just watched naked eye

saturday scope was cooling and colimated but as evening fell everything was soaked, must of been the heat of the day 26* R/H was at 96%. no high power views, the veil was lovely even with no filter, those skys are black. m31 showed lovely dust lanes. on to my old favourites dumbell and the ring. the dumbell showed lots of stars either in front of it or behind it. lovely, everything else was quite poor.

sunday night, started out quite good, whilst it was just going dark( 9.15) you could already see the milkyway, saturn was up had a nosey cassini was so obvious and black at 480x with my 5mm pentax, amazing sight. jupiter was just behind a building so no look there. scanned the skys but the sky went poor, you could still see the milkyway in all its glory but it was like looking through a goldfish bowl. everything was wet like it ha just rained, even m81/m82 were rubbish. came mignight and tried again, aimed at mars to check transparency and it was all wobbily, you could see the obvious ice caps and some dark regions but that was it. dso wise very poor, even the poor old veil looked like it was dying.

so hope to return winter time, these bortle 2 skys would of been amazing and hope they will be next time

 

mike

[Barry-W-Fenner]

Fascinating to read that even under such amazing dark bortle 2 sky's that conditions don't necessarily work out. I would be distraught if I managed to get from my usual bortle 6 sky to a bortle 2 and the seeing wasn't good.

Still sounds like you had an amazing time though! Would love to get to more dark skies myself.

[faulksy]

On 28/09/2020 at 19:03, Barry-W-Fenner said:

Fascinating to read that even under such amazing dark bortle 2 sky's that conditions don't necessarily work out. I would be distraught if I managed to get from my usual bortle 6 sky to a bortle 2 and the seeing wasn't good.

Still sounds like you had an amazing time though! Would love to get to more dark skies myself.

awsome place. only 5 hrs for you 😁

[Barry-W-Fenner]

15 minutes ago, faulksy said:

awsome place. only 5 hrs for you 😁

I did drive 4-5 hours a few weeks ago to bortle 3 skies. I would like to see bortle 2. A plan is forming.. 🤔😁

[John]

The bortle 3 skies here in mid-Wales have been mostly covered in clouds. Just one night of observing so far

The daytimes have been mostly good though and the Cambrian Mountains really lovely in their early Autumn tints

 

[Barry-W-Fenner]

1 hour ago, John said:

The bortle 3 skies here in mid-Wales have been mostly covered in clouds. Just one night of observing so far

The daytimes have been mostly good though and the Cambrian Mountains really lovely in their early Autumn tints

 

Hope you get some clear skies John. At least you have the Autumn mountains to enjoy.

I have just had a look outside, sky full of cloud again. Parts of ursa major just about visible but that's all. It really has been a poor time for astronomy recently..

[MKHACHFE]

My wife and I just got back from a weeks stay in Onich, near Fort William. We were lucky enough to get 4 out of 6 nights crystal clear. And yes, the view (it's rated as B2) was incredible. The milky way was a bold presence rather than a fuzzy patch. And I could clearly see it within seconds of walking out of our brightly lit cottage.

 

Fingers crossed, you will also have clear skies. If you do, my friend, you are in for a treat.

 

Enjoy

[CCD-Freak]

There is no substitute for DARK sky.....I have become a "Dark Sky Junkie".  You have not lived until you spend some time under Bortle 1 or 2 sky.

Next week some buddies and I are heading out to the "boot heel" of New Mexico for a week of imaging under Bortle 1 (SQM 22.00) sky and low humidity.

We planned this trip since the Okie-Tex star party (Bortle 1) was cancelled this year due to the Covid 19 outbreak.

John Love
CCD-Freak
WD5IKX

[Cleetus]

There was a website I used and it would tell you the Bortle count for any destination. I haven't used it in ages and have now forgotten what it was called. Anyone know?

[CCD-Freak]

Was it this one?   https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=3.04&lat=54.3547&lon=2.7220&layers=0BFFTFFFFFFFFFFFFF

It has multiple data sets and the ability to get SQM readings for any spot you click on.

 

John Love
CCD-Freak
WD5IKX

[Captain Scarlet]

26 minutes ago, CCD-Freak said:

Was it this one?   https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=3.04&lat=54.3547&lon=2.7220&layers=0BFFTFFFFFFFFFFFFF

It has multiple data sets and the ability to get SQM readings for any spot you click on.

 

John Love
CCD-Freak
WD5IKX

... and use the Atlas 2015 layer for its estimate as to what best darkness to expect. 

[Spacecake2]

Soo lucky.

I live in bortle 7