Locations for astronomy

[GeoffL]

Nowhere in the UK has dark skies? Seems pretty damn black to me in a lot of places.

Most places are Bortle 4 or worse. "Dark sky sites" like Kielder are usually no better than Bortle 3. There are some truly dark sky sites (Bortle 1) but these are in the North West of Scotland with little or no road access. Very few people in UK have ever seen a true dark sky -- the best I've ever seen was Bortle 2, and I had to go to Australia for that!

 

[Mothership]

Awesome, well done! Fantastic images

Thanks so much

 

[Minky]

Dark enough if sited at the back of Tewkesbury Caravan and Motorhome site. With the hedge behind you, cutting out light from the flats. We watched the ISS and Musk’s satellite pass over by eye alone. Our small telescope could see much more.

 

[trevskoda]

 

[GeoffL]

Dark enough if sited at the back of Tewkesbury Caravan and Motorhome site. With the hedge behind you, cutting out light from the flats. We watched the ISS and Musk’s satellite pass over by eye alone. Our small telescope could see much more.

That location was Bortle 5 in 2015 and is still horribly polluted. The ISS and those wretched Starlink satellites are very bright and visible to the naked eye in all but the worst light pollution. You'll always see more in a telescope simply because the a telescope increases the aperture (and hence the area collecting light) from about 7mm to the size of the objective lens / primary mirror.

 

[JQB]

I have a telescope and would like to find places that I can park overnight and set it up.
The telescope equipment is heavy, so I must be able to park nearby.
So far, I have drawn a blank in the UK.
All of the star gazin car parks are daytime only!
I usually park off grid.
TIA

You would'nt have a problem here on The Wild Atlantic Way in Eire, great free coastal parkups every night. But, can have frequent atlantic storms.