West Lothian Viewing

[Hitman77]

Hi all, 

I've just moved to Whitburn, West Lothian, Scotland. With the Saturn/Jupiter double coming up fast I'm looking for some tips on where best to view from locally. 

Cheers

Andy

[faulksy]

great location. just some where high up as they are quite low in the sky, especially from your location. dont worry to much about light pollution either. planets are fine

[blinky]

There are a few Facebook pages for Scottish astronomers. Look for central Scotland observers group, there others as well.  Harperrig reservoir is one place we meet and if you come further out my way, just south of Edinburgh, moorefoot reservoir is very dark or whiteadder reservoir but thats maybe a bit too far to travel, although its pretty much as dark as you can get

[BlondeBimbo]

There is a half decent place in Whitburn itself. 

If you go out towards Blackburn,  past the hillcroft into East Whitburn,  then turn right onto hens nest Road, follow this until the side pavements stop just past the houses, there is a small lay-by on the left,  this is a public footpath, follow this into the woods,  there are several routes, but keep going up the hill. Go to the top locally know as 'pet cemetery' 55 degree 51' 47.5"N 003 degree 38' 50.41"W. 

There is a park style bench and a flat area which is fairly solid, there are trees to the north,  but it has an elevated position looking to the South, East, and West.

It is usually good for the geminids and the other meteors around this time, and is ok for an early sight of the conjunction,  it's a bit of a walk but reasonablely dark,  not as good as a drive-out type site of course,  but just a few mins from East Whitburn,  depending which side of Whitburn you're at,  just a few minutes as well.

 

It's a dark trail, so go during the day to get your bearings

[iapa]

Cairnpapple has a small rough surface “car park”.

decent views east/south and if I rember west. North is block by the summit - unless you are a mountain goat to get to the top.

[iapa]

On 09/12/2020 at 20:37, blinky said:

There are a few Facebook pages for Scottish astronomers. Look for central Scotland observers group, there others as well.  Harperrig reservoir is one place we meet and if you come further out my way, just south of Edinburgh, moorefoot reservoir is very dark or whiteadder reservoir but thats maybe a bit too far to travel, although its pretty much as dark as you can get

Really need to get out to these places to see if they are much better than my sky quality of 19.75 mag.

Harperrig is only 20 minutes away.

[iapa]

On 09/12/2020 at 20:37, blinky said:

There are a few Facebook pages for Scottish astronomers. Look for central Scotland observers group, there others as well.  Harperrig reservoir is one place we meet and if you come further out my way, just south of Edinburgh, moorefoot reservoir is very dark or whiteadder reservoir but thats maybe a bit too far to travel, although its pretty much as dark as you can get

I like the water feature in your garden, as seen on your blog

 

 

[iapa]

On 10/12/2020 at 22:16, BlondeBimbo said:

There is a half decent place in Whitburn itself. 

If you go out towards Blackburn,  past the hillcroft into East Whitburn,  then turn right onto hens nest Road, follow this until the side pavements stop just past the houses, there is a small lay-by on the left,  this is a public footpath, follow this into the woods,  there are several routes, but keep going up the hill. Go to the top locally know as 'pet cemetery' 55 degree 51' 47.5"N 003 degree 38' 50.41"W. 

There is a park style bench and a flat area which is fairly solid, there are trees to the north,  but it has an elevated position looking to the South, East, and West.

It is usually good for the geminids and the other meteors around this time, and is ok for an early sight of the conjunction,  it's a bit of a walk but reasonablely dark,  not as good as a drive-out type site of course,  but just a few mins from East Whitburn,  depending which side of Whitburn you're at,  just a few minutes as well.

 

It's a dark trail, so go during the day to get your bearings

Sounds a bit of a haul for the "good" kit.

only for grab and go? Under 20lb at my age

[iapa]

I was wondering how many imagers there are in West Calder area.