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Where're the good skies in the UK?

umadog

By umadog
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umadog

umadog

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Hi,

Just registered here!

I'm living in New York right now but will probably be coming back to the UK in the next 2-4 years. I have no idea where I'll be working then and I need to start thinking about that. Why not guide my decisions by looking for a job where the skies are nice®?

Skies look to be dark in the mid-west of Wales so perhaps being <2 hours of there would be good. What suggestions do people have?

- Where are the skies dark

- Where is there relatively little cloud (I'm asking a lot, I know)?

- Where is the seeing good?

- I know the light pollution map, but are there maps of the other variables?

Thanks!

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pete_l

pete_l

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Skies look to be dark in the mid-west of Wales so perhaps being <2 hours of there would be good. What suggestions do people have?

- Where are the skies dark

- Where is there relatively little cloud (I'm asking a lot, I know)?

- Where is the seeing good?

- I know the light pollution map, but are there maps of the other variables?

Thanks!

The thing about England is that it has about 10 times the population density of america. So while in the U.S. it's not too hard to get out of the city and find a dark spot, when you go out of the city in England you just end up in another city. The LP maps show where the darkest areas are. These also correspond to the least number of people and (if you have to be physically close to your employer) the fewest number of jobs. If you are able to telecommute, then you should also be aware that it's only economically sensible to provide high speed broadband where the people are - not in the deserted areas.

On the question about cloud. Basically, it's everywhere. Some years ago I conducted a survey. I took the weather satellite cloud cover images for 15 months and then stacked them all. The idea was that the areas with the lowest average cloud cover would show up darker (cloud == white, land == black). After doing this work, it turned out that cover was pretty uniform, with two exceptions: The Isles of Scilly and the stretch of coast from Lossiemouth - Fraserburgh in Scotland.

The IoS is to the southern extreme of Britain and Scotland at the other end. For greater seasonal variation, the closer you are to the equator, the better, which would favour the IoS, but I have no idea what the LP is like there.

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brianb

brianb

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The issue with the UK is that the clearer skies with steadier seeing tend to be in the grossly overcrowded south east, the darker skies in the north west where there is more cloud cover and very often the jet stream runs overhead ruining seeing for high magnification targets even when the sky is clear.

Selsey (South coast) is home to a bunch of astronomers who consistently find good seeing for planets over the sea. The sky isn't very dark though.

Be aware that there is perpertual twilight in mid summer in Northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Also the darkest skies are in thinly populated areas with few jobs.

Bummer really.

Have you considered central France?

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umadog

umadog

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Thanks for the replies guys. I am, of course, aware of the trade off between job density and dark skies. Living within an hour or two of them would be acceptable and Cardiff, for instance, might do that. Over here on the east coast of the US the population density is fairly high so I have to travel over 3 hours to reach ~mag 6.0 skies. This ain't the mid-west! I hardly observe from my back garden currently so I'm not necessarily expecting dark skies right over my house in the future (although that would be nice!). Seeing is bad here too (and so is transparency) and at my dark site the seeing can be even worse.

I haven't considered France but am considering Greece. Transparency is good there.

Thanks for info on seeing and cloud cover, that's useful.

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great_bear

great_bear

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Have a look at the site below for a UK dark sky map that might help.

Dark Sky Discovery

For a website called "Dark Sky Discovery" it makes it extremely hard to find any actual INFORMATION about dark sky places.

It's a rather irritating web site.

This site: need-less light pollution is one that's actually useful - it's well-worth scrolling to the "Night Sky Simulator" halfway down the page.

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narrowbandpaul

narrowbandpaul

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for access to dark skies....scotland has england beat no questions....there are large parts of scotland where there are no lights....Rannoch Moor especially.

I live in the central belt (Stirling), and whilst it is bright, I am 30 mins drive from excellent skies, and 15mins from pretty good skies. Im about an hour tops from exceptional skies. The middle of wales looks good too.

From a quality of life point of view, Scotland i think is fantastic (though I could be biased).

You could easily be based in any of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling, Perth, Dundee, or Aberdeen, and be within 1 hour of dark skies.

AVEX: UK Light pollution Map

have a look at the naked eye light pollution map (its fully interactive and zoomable) also look at the Astrophoto and CCD light pollution map.

The latter shows that england is perpetually bright from north yorkshire down past london!!

....you will also see why the middle part of scotland is called the central belt!

paul

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umadog

umadog

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Nice links.

I do like Scotland, it has to be said. One concern is how dark it gets in summer, however, and also it can be somewhat chilly! Do you find that to be a big issue? What specifically do you like about the quality of life?

Here in the States we have these lovely astro forecasts. Here's the one for my club's observatory (we have a 25" Obsession in a dome!):

Custer Institute Clear Sky Chart

The forecast even predicts seeing and transparency with some degree of accuracy.

The light pollution data are based upon the Italian studies which seem quite well quantified. Here're the details for the observatory:

ClearDarkSky Light Pollution Map

Although the equivalent LP maps exist for the UK, I've not seen a forecast of this sort. They don't exist?

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Dangerous-Dave

Dangerous-Dave

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The best maps (IMHO) are those on the CfDS website. Phillip's et al just give you an indication of sky darkness, but CfDS maps are a combination of darkness and clear nights per year.

CfDS: Maps of Light Pollution

So while the highlands of Scotland are extremely dark, the chance of a clear sky is low. I would aim for pale lilac or white areas - eg north Devon, north Norfolk, West Dorset and Wiltshire.

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Dangerous-Dave

Dangerous-Dave

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Nice links.

I do like Scotland, it has to be said. One concern is how dark it gets in summer, however, and also it can be somewhat chilly! Do you find that to be a big issue? What specifically do you like about the quality of life?

It depends which part of Scotland. Galloway Forest park in SW Scotland is a designated dark sky park but on the same latitude as northern England, with milder weather due to the Gulf Stream. It's also not too wet as western Scotland goes because it is shielded by Ireland.

A month either side of Solstice is still rubbish for astronomy though, but you'll find that in most parts of the UK.

D

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