Dark Skies and Quiet Sites

[OutThereSomewhere]

Hello,

I recently got my first scope (Celestron 6SE) and now want to venture out of my back garden in a town to the darker skies of the countryside. Can someone please advise where is the best place to go?

If I set up in a layby I'll have other car headlights to deal with and if I go to some remote field I'm worried that some local will spot me and they'll wonder what's going on .

What's the best kind of site?

Thanks,

Jonathan

[Kai]

Depends where you live , i know people who have asked local farmers if they can use their land successfully.

Dont worry about a local spotting you , just invite them over and offer them a look through your scope.

[OutThereSomewhere]

Thanks for the reply Kai.

I asked too soon really, as I've just discovered this thread which is very useful.

Jonathan

[Capricorn]

Any of these local

Altrincham And District Astronomical Society

Chester Astronomical Society

Macclesfield Astronomical Society

South Cheshire Astronomical Society

If so possibly think of joining one and go along with them to whatever dark site they use. :eek:

[glowjet]

You could try ringing the National Farmers Union local office, the secretary may have some friendly farmers on his books and he may be able to help by way of an introduction.

[OutThereSomewhere]

Thanks for the advice! Contacting the NFU is an interesting idea. I think I'll go along to the BBC Stargazing Live event at Pex Hill, near Widnes and ask the people in the Liverpool Astronomical Society. I've also scouted about and came across a couple of good potential locations: Away from streetlights & vilages, quiet road with parking and a public footpath and no trees. Now I just need the clouds to go away!

[BAZ Senior]

Have a look at this dark sky map, it may help with your choice of dark site. I used it when we went on holiday, and it helped me find a dark field, I found the farmer, and got his permission. I invited him over to have a look, but he declined, probably too much to do. Good luck.

http://avex.org.free.fr/cartes-pl/uk/UK-pl-relief-topo.html

[pete_l]

What's the best kind of site?

Personally I'd reckon the top of a hill, since that would give you all-round views. Generally I'd prefer an outlook to the south over one to the north, but still keeping sight of Polaris so you can easily perform a polar alignment.

Although you can find some likely looking sites just from maps and Google's satellite view, it's hard to know how just from that whether there will be unmarked problems (could be anything from too many trees to a house that is lit up like a christmas tree). You really would have to do some scouting during daylight and then noting the location/GPS for a nighttime visit.

Although I have got a copy of the dark sky map (available from Amazon), it only really tells you about large-scale bright/dark areas. It's not good enough to say which of two locations a couple of miles apart would be the best. For those, local conditions are everything.

[OutThereSomewhere]

Baz Senior, That dark sky map is great - takes a few seconds to come into focus though. It's made me rethink my sites.

[laser_jock99]

Baz Senior, That dark sky map is great - takes a few seconds to come into focus though. It's made me rethink my sites.

Certainly makes my dark sky location look good (village at top dead centre) though from the description you would think you could not see any light pollution at all from here- but this isn't so.

Black (green by texture transparency) : more than 3000 stars. No light pollution problems revealable on the sky quality

[umadog]

Yes, that image is probably misleading. I suspect everywhere in the UK will have visible light pollution, with the possible exception of northern Scotland. I find this map to be more useful:

The World Atlas of the Artificial Night Sky Brightness

The translation of the colour scale is:

ClearDarkSky Light Pollution Map

[acey]

Personally I'd reckon the top of a hill, since that would give you all-round views. Generally I'd prefer an outlook to the south over one to the north, but still keeping sight of Polaris so you can easily perform a polar alignment.

Hilltop is too windy. Southerly view is what I consider most important: obstructions in other directions can offer shelter. If you can see from Polaris to the south then your location will show everything over the course of a year.

My site has open views nearly all round except for some trees on the north side (which don't block the circumpolar region), with a good south and westerly view but bad light pollution to the east. Ideally I'd want the trees to be blocking the light pollution but you can't have everything. It's on publicly accessible land just off a very quiet road and never gets muddy - unlike a site I used to use, which was impossible after wet weather.

Use Google Earth to find quiet bridleways etc. Visit in daytime first.

[umadog]

I'll tell you another thing: make sure it's a site which will be devoid of people. The only time I ever tried a "dark site" in the UK was when I was living in Oxford. I rode around the countryside on my motorbike looking for an out of the way spot. I found hilly area--the Wittenham Clumps--with a good southerly view and a car park. Dutifully, I drove there the next clear night with my 8.75" Dob and girlfriend in tow.

Disaster.

The place was like Piccadilly Circus. Van with dogger. Cars coming and going constantly. An elderly guy with a night vision scope who claimed he was watching an owl but spent considerable time pointing his headlights at me and the scope instead. Aparently he had to make sure we were "safe." Police turned up for a bit. You get the idea--horrible. Discouraged, I never tried looking for a real dark site; which was a pity in retrospect since they presumably do exist in the UK. Right now I'm on Long Island and found a fairly dark site about 3 hours drive away in upstate New York. Suspect I'll be back in blighty in 2 years, though...

[Hypernova]

I have to observe from a site that is less than ideal. First off there is a load of light pollution, just what you'd expect from living on the edge of large-ish town, plenty of street lights, annoying neighbours with 500w floodlights and the skyglow from the town with it's floodlit running track, railway sidings and it's many industrial and retail units.

My back garden is the only place that I can usually observe from and this faces north, this mean that my house blocks anything that is under about 30 degrees at the meridian.

Not the best place to observe from but it's all I've got ATM.

[umadog]

Tom, your back garden sounds bad but looking at the LP maps there is hope. From Crewe you're close to much darker skies. You shouldn't have to travel far to reach mag 5.5 to 6.0 ZLM. Do you ever get to do that? How many clear nights do you get over in Crewe?

[Hypernova]

The mag limit from my site is around 4.5 on a really good night and is the most I can hope for, I can manage to see the double cluster naked eye JUST but not Andromeda. The nearest dark skies are over towards Whitchurch way which I have no access to not having a car at the moment. I do take a few trips a year to a dark campsite in Wales and the last time I took my set of binoculars which made observing a real treat.

When I attend my local astro club meets we go a dark site in Ravensmoor, which is just on the other side of Nantwich, to observe and that is pretty dark and a big improvement over my back garden but LP is still evident. The main culprit is the dome of skyglow from Crewe and Nantwich.

Clear nights are usually few and far beween here, we may get one or two clear nights in a week if we are really lucky to have high pressure. When the weather is changeable we may get one acceptable night a fortnight. Stints of weeks of cloudy weather are unfortunately commonplace.

[JohnR]

Certainly makes my dark sky location look good (village at top dead centre)

Nice spot you have,i've thought about heading that way if we ever get a decent viewing night -up around L Vyrnwy

I'm top just above top right,a few miles from the big yellow blob