Newbie

[Pablo Splinter]

Hello everyone, i have just joined the forums as i have heard that its a great place to go for helpful and freindly advice and being a complete newb that is something that i am in a great need of.

Anyway, for background, i have had the 8" skyliner 200p for about 6 months now and i am very much enjoying the amazing sights which have become available to me. the first time i looked at the moon and saturn i couldn't believe it and that was just with the supplied eyepieces. i have since got a tmb planetary 6mm and it blew me away when i observed saturn through it.

So far i have done alright observing easy to find objects (stellarium is indespensible) but i am doing most of my observing from my back garden, which to be fair isn't too bad, but i was talking to a friend who is also interested about going out to somewhere darker as i understand the importance of dark skies, but i wasn't sure about what exactly constitutes a good dark location.

could anyone please give me some advice as to what type of location would we should be looking out for, how far away from town for example, it would be much appreciated

thank you in advance for your help....

[JamesM]

Hi Pablo,

Funnily enough I have just been exploring possible new dark sites for future viewing around where I live.

For me a perfect dark location is somewhere that is free from artificial light (from the horizon to the zenith). It's not so much how far away from a town (the further the better) but realistically traveling to a spot that minimizes the night glow. Now for most of us in Britain that 's difficult as there are regrettably fewer places in Britain that you can realistically drive to and back in one evening that are perfect for observing. Technically, you can buy a sky meter that will measure how dark the sky is. Some are more precise than others and will report on specific areas of sky. There are many light pollution websites that can point you to your nearest 'dark' site and hopefully its close by.

The other evening I met a fellow observer to discuss a recent place I had found. It lies about 6 miles from the edge of a city. What makes a great dark site also takes into account other factors. This new location was not free from ANY light, but only as much as about 15 degrees from the horizon but then only in small patches, (remembering that observing this low through the atmosphere doesn't make for the best seeing) so not much lost there. The surround terrain was pretty flat in all directions with hardly any nearby structures like trees or barns to obstruct possible viewing. Local and straight forward to get to but also a little off the beaten track to keep passing traffic/lights and shouts of, "What you doing there mister?" to an absolute minimum. Also to be able to park your vehicle near by so as to off load your kit safely and quickly (especially if the weather changes).

Most important of all, to find somewhere which will involve the permission of the land owner so as to make it as private and quiet as possible. The place I had found above, allowed me to meet a great old farmer who is himself interested in astronomy. I ring him up out of courtesy to let him know I'll be at the new site (along with others) and to invite him to come over and take a look (he hasn't so far). The total cost being the price of a good bottle of whiskey at Xmas - can't be bad.

I know you question was specifically about dark sites, but for me there are also other considerations that I help to make a dark site safe and effective.

[david o]

Hi Pablo,

First of all, a warm welcome to the forum. Lots of help on here for us newbies.

Not a lot I can add to James' answer, he seems to have pretty much covered most bases.

PS

Nice 'scope you got for yourself.

[Merlin66]

Welcome to the forum!

You've found the right place.

We're all here to help each other and "hold hands in the traffic"

Use the seach icon at the top to look through previous posts in your area of interest. There's a lot of good stuff to be found.

[TopHouse]

I like this one as it's also fun to play with, about half way down the page :-

need-less light pollution

[Brendan of Borg]

Hello and welcome!

[cloudbuster]

Hi Pablo...and welcome to SGL.

cheers

Bob