Observing away from Home

[steve_bham]

Do many of you take your scopes away from home to observe the night sky?

If so where do you go? do you go by yourself? and do you just find a spot and pull in and set up your scope etc.

Steve

[SimonC]

With the light pollution in my home location most of my observing has been done away from home,usually take my wife with me,flask of tea and go for it!

[steve_bham]

Hi Simon, cheers for quick reply, where do you go? is it just a local field etc. just interest as ill have to travel as no garden etc.

[ombos]

Don't just pull up next to a road, you may find that someone takes a fancy to your scope. Find somewhere as close to home as poss that is as flat as poss, no light pollution and away from main rds, a field next to a where you can park safely and not a muddy field. Ask the owner just in case, he'll be ok or he may be afraid of a claim should you slip etc but still ask. Try and make your site safe in the daylight and a must have is a tray etc for your EP caps etc. Hard standing is great if you can find it.

Have you joined your local club????? get invited to star parties and then you can ask to go with someone and build from there. BUT trust me, being in a dark field in Dec/Jan at 2-3 am by yourself is NOT nice at all, been there done that never again.

[SimonC]

As Ombos said,try to find some place you feel comfortable ,NOT a local park for example ,which will be full of drunks etc.I usually travel to a rural location with no people around.It's also nice to be able to set up right next to your car.

[Doc]

And try to bring someone with you.

If you are in the middle of knowhere at 2 in the morning believe me it's not a comfortable feeling.

My advice would be try and find an observing buddy and go to as many star parties as you can.

[kev 102 42]

i live up a mountain the most safest place you can go observing in the middle of nowhere, unless the local axe murderer is taking his dog for a walk,then you might be in trouble...............kev

[steve_bham]

Hi thanks for comments, yeah i can agree with being in the middle of nowhere! i went wild camping once by myself as part of my navigation course, and i have to say it was one spooky experience being in the middle of nowhere!

Im going to join the shropshire club, and once i get my scope will get to as many as astro camps (love camping and hike anyway so idea for me)!

So hopefull i will get to meet you lot inperson soon

[Beulah]

/\ Quite likely, sir, I'm joining the SAS too! Their viewing sites are pretty dayam good, so I am led to believe...

[James]

I happily take my scopes out into the sticks but I've gone down the route of getting to know some farmers in the area I want to observe. Three of the sites are farms about 8-10 miles out of Taunton. The main advantages to me are:

a) I'm on private land

the farmer knows I'm out there. One farm I use is a chicken farm and the farmer is out there every few hours to check his chickens (and peep through my scope).

c) If there's no mobile reception my wife has the farmers number if I'm needed.

Nothing really beats taking someone out with you though. I'm lucky that my neighbour is into astronomy and knows several farmers out in the hills...

James

[steve_bham]

/\ Quite likely, sir, I'm joining the SAS too! Their viewing sites are pretty dayam good, so I am led to believe...

Cool, look forward to see you there then!

[Mick.G.]

I'm with James, get to know one of your local farmer's. I did this by taking Rita for Sunday lunch at a village pub, asked the landlord to point out a farmer, and asked.

You'd be surprised at the response.

Mick.G.

[ombos]

It does stop the game keepers from shooting you too, I'm not joking on that one, we have a lot of deer pouching round here and a scope could be taken for a gun and we all hear of mistakes and who thought that would happen.

[James]

There's been a couple of times when I've been out with my neighbour and farmers have been doing a little shooting and he's suggested (with a little urgency) that we flash our headlights a few times. Bullets/shot or whatever they use can travel a long way after all.

It's not normally a problem though and it's worth it for that period between 1am and 3am when everything goes still, the wind drops, the seeing & transparency improves, light pollution reaches it's minimum as people turn off their lights and the night vision reaches it's peak. To me that's a special time..

James

[mike-h]

I never realised how bad the light pollution is where I live until I drove into north wales and saw the milky way (naked eye) for the first time. From then on I,ve travelled out into north wales every fortnight or so with the 10 inch dob.

It took quite a few daytime motorbike rides to scout a good location.

Found one that is a layby (but it leads to a quarry so there's virtually no nighttime traffic). It's not the darkest site i've been to but its relatively close at 40 minutes away (30 miles). The animal noises are a bit disconcerting though- its next to a field full of cows.

Mike H

[Beulah]

The trouble with Wales and astronomy are the hills/mountains!!

Although they would shield a lot of light pollution, in some places you can't see anything below 35 degrees! However it can be fun driving on the mountain roads late at night... the Elan Valley area (upland & otherwise) is a very special place for me, fabulous countryside and lots of sky to boot.

[acey]

I live in a city and do all my observing at rural sites. Light pollution means I have at least a forty minute drive - but it's worth it. For me, being out in the wilds is all part of the fun.

Advice on choosing a site: get an OS map and look for something accessible by a minor road, which will be quieter than a main one. Consider public bridleways or other off-road tracks. Look on Google Earth to see what the place looks like. Visit it in the daytime.

Ideally you want a good southerly view without light pollution. Light domes in other directions aren't really a problem because over the course of a year you can see everything as long as you've got a good view from zenith to south. Trees in other directions can help cut out wind and light pollution.

I do all my observing alone, that's how I like it. Just me and the stars. I've never had any bother from anyone. I've had people stopping and wondering if I've broken down and need help, or just nosey, but when they see me lumbering out of the darkness in ten layers of ski-wear with a red light on my head I know they're probably more scared of me than I am of them. In my experience, drunks and hoodlums don't roam the remote countryside at 3am. I'd be far more nervous walking down a fully-lit city street at 11 o'clock.

My present site is on public access land just off a road leading to a farm. The farmer stopped one night and we had a chat and he's absolutely fine about it (though he probably thinks I'm mad). Yes there are sometimes shooters out but they're not stupid. I'd worry more about laser pointers from other astronomers.

Before I took up astronomy I was afraid of the dark, now I love it. The countryside at night is just as safe and beautiful as by day, it's just that you can't see it.