Viewing from the garden

[stardad]

So far all of our viewing has been from the garden surrounded by houses on three sides.

Its great for looking at the moon but rubbish for setting the scope up for the polar axis. Where ever I move around the garden we have houses or street lights to block the view apart from our only clear aspect that is facing south over the top of the garage.

Is this normal for garden viewing?

[scotttumsh01]

Pretty much the norm for me too! although i can observe but with limitations.

i can travel lesss than a mile to dark areas tho, i live in a rural area so finding dark skies isnt too much of a humbug.

[keef_uk]

I do all my viewing from my garden (with scope that is - binos go everywhere). I am quite lucky that I live very near the edge of a built up area so although facing E to SE is pretty bad with LP looking S to SW is open fields and fairly dark.

Unfortunaily being S facing the houses block my N views somewhat

[Slangers]

That sounds fairly similar to my set up. I get some northern sky but have a problem with trees which will be particularly bad once they are back in leaf. In effect I can only see to the horizon looking south (if you call the horizon a line of houses about 100 metres away). Straight up is usually an unobstructed view though!

[John]

I have the same issue. I stick to portable scopes on alt-azimuth mounts that I can pick up and dump down with the minimum of fuss. That lets me find the best spots to observe certain parts of the sky. Some directions are difficult so I just have to modify my viewing plans accordingly.

[stardad]

I've wondered about getting up on the garage roof as that will get me a better all round view even though the house's will cut down my Nor-east/east and Sou-west/west views. Its a double garage so a large enough space but was concerned if there would be any issues from the neighbours and plus getting the family up there at night safely.

If not then I've got to find somewhere that is within easy reach of home to go and observe from.

[scotttumsh01]

:icon_eek:As a worried fellow stargazer i would strongly recommend you stay off the said garage roof as you will be in great risk of dissapearing through it!!!!!

worried tradesman Scott:icon_scratch:

[The Bat]

I am completely overlooked in my garden, but it hasn't really affected my enjoyment. My house blocks west completely and east is also partially blocked, but but I can still get a reasonable view north. South is pretty good because although I have a large house close by I have a gap between it and the one next door pretty much due south. My set up is portable, so I decide where in the garden to put it based on what direction I want to look. I know what the limitations of my garden are and I plan my viewing accordingly using Stellarium. If I see something is west, it's a no-no. If it's north or east then I have to judge whether or not it will clear the houses, and if it's due south, then chances are good. I just accept that not everything is visible and then either stay up late enough for it to move to a part of the sky where I can see it, or wait until another night in the year. It's frustrating for the low down targets in the south (of which there seem to be many!) as I can't see too well over the fence, but for those sorts of things I am lucky enough to be able to use my club's observatory site.

I wouldn't advocate climbing on roofs.

Rachel

[Daz Type-R]

Similar to the above, I can see from east through to south west but only above about 30 degrees due to trees and the houses at the back of me. Bit of as [removed word] is that I live North of Nottingham so south, south east is right over Notts, so LP can be an issue sometimes

Luckily my scope is borderline to transport, had a trail run the other day, it fits in the back seat quite nicely so can transport to dark sites.

[stardad]

The first time we set up was out in our front garden. A local neighbour came past and it ended up me having to contact the police after several periods of threatening behavour from the said person that frighten both me and the children.

So now we are very limited to where we can observe from within the garden other than the one place we currently use.

[osbourne one-nil]

It's the norm for me too, and I live in a village of fewer than 200 people, in the middle of Cumbria, 20 miles from anything larger than 2000 people. At least when I was a kid, they used to turn streetlights off at midnight.

[shepsboss]

Hi Stardad, I read your post with dismay, sorry that you have had neighbour trouble, that really is not nice. They say every village has one but I see you live in Dover! I hope the police read him the riot act.

[Cancer56]

The back garden is my norm. Once a week, weather permitting, I can use the local Astronomy club area.

[scotttumsh01]

Thats awfull to have happend to you Stardad, hope you are ok and got it sorted now! you get some crazy folks out there.

[Marcus daniel]

Whats up with some people, they are obviously thickies and wouldn't understand what you are doing if you explained to them, hope this hasn't put off your daughter in anyway. Im a bit fortunate because my garden faces south, so I get a fairly good viewing. I do have a light near by though, am thinking or ways to darken it within the law obviously if you get my drift !!!