Dark Sky Sites near Birmingham?

In article , #MK wrote:

Hi!
Is anyone aware of any "dark sky" sites near Birmingham. By dark sky, I
mean areas where quite a few constellations can be seen by the naked eye,

and maybe with some Milky Way peeking through [not sure how much light
pollution there is in West Midlands... dunno, if the Milky Way can be
seen
in this area!]?
snip

I live in Stourbridge (Western edge of West Mids) and light pollution is
intense.

In my experience, you'll need to go 30 or 40 miles west of me (i.e. beyond
Telford or Bewdley) to get anything like Dark sky.

Mid Wales of course is even better, but 2-3 hours either way.


HTH
--
Jon
____________________________________________
jondotrogersatntlworlddotcom
============================================

I'm in Mid Wales a few miles west of Welshpool. It is possible to get from
the middle of Brum to here in about one hour given almost zero traffic and a
car with a bit of poke. We have done it a few times around 0:300. During
commuting hours you can double that.

Skies around here are generally excellent with only faint light domes
visible in the directions of Shrewsbury to the west and Oswestry to the
north. Last night we had glorious naked eye views of the Milky Way and Mars
at about 03:30 just before dawn. Pity I was too tired to go get the scope
out. However, the village here is a different story. A year or two back the
local authority erected a couple of dozen high pressure sodium lamps around
a local narrow bridge and it is now as bright as daylight here after
lighting up time. Astronomy from our garden is now out of the question but
at least I can get good skies without driving more than a couple of miles.

Sally


"Jon Rogers" wrote in message
...
In article , #MK
wrote:

Hi!
Is anyone aware of any "dark sky" sites near Birmingham. By dark sky, I
mean areas where quite a few constellations can be seen by the naked
eye,

and maybe with some Milky Way peeking through [not sure how much light
pollution there is in West Midlands... dunno, if the Milky Way can be
seen
in this area!]?
snip

I live in Stourbridge (Western edge of West Mids) and light pollution is
intense.

In my experience, you'll need to go 30 or 40 miles west of me (i.e. beyond
Telford or Bewdley) to get anything like Dark sky.

Mid Wales of course is even better, but 2-3 hours either way.


HTH
--
Jon
____________________________________________
jondotrogersatntlworlddotcom
============================================

I'm in Mid Wales a few miles west of Welshpool. It is possible to get from
the middle of Brum to here in about one hour given almost zero traffic and a
car with a bit of poke. We have done it a few times around 0:300. During
commuting hours you can double that.

Skies around here are generally excellent with only faint light domes
visible in the directions of Shrewsbury to the west and Oswestry to the
north. Last night we had glorious naked eye views of the Milky Way and Mars
at about 03:30 just before dawn. Pity I was too tired to go get the scope
out. However, the village here is a different story. A year or two back the
local authority erected a couple of dozen high pressure sodium lamps around
a local narrow bridge and it is now as bright as daylight here after
lighting up time. Astronomy from our garden is now out of the question but
at least I can get good skies without driving more than a couple of miles.

Sally


"Jon Rogers" wrote in message
...
In article , #MK
wrote:

Hi!
Is anyone aware of any "dark sky" sites near Birmingham. By dark sky, I
mean areas where quite a few constellations can be seen by the naked
eye,

and maybe with some Milky Way peeking through [not sure how much light
pollution there is in West Midlands... dunno, if the Milky Way can be
seen
in this area!]?
snip

I live in Stourbridge (Western edge of West Mids) and light pollution is
intense.

In my experience, you'll need to go 30 or 40 miles west of me (i.e. beyond
Telford or Bewdley) to get anything like Dark sky.

Mid Wales of course is even better, but 2-3 hours either way.


HTH
--
Jon
____________________________________________
jondotrogersatntlworlddotcom
============================================

A few places spring to mind

Clent (the Kidderminster side)
Blakedown
Worcester (towards Malvern)
Malvern (the hills)
Hallow (and out towards Hereford)
Bewdley
Bromyard
Wast Hills (Birmingham Uni have their Observatory here...although you need
to go when the sports ground isn't in use).

All these are within an hour of Birmingham. Email me if you want any more
details :-)



"#MK" wrote in message
...

Hi!
Is anyone aware of any "dark sky" sites near Birmingham. By dark sky, I
mean areas where quite a few constellations can be seen by the naked eye,

and maybe with some Milky Way peeking through [not sure how much light
pollution there is in West Midlands... dunno, if the Milky Way can be
seen
in this area!]?
This summer, I would like to go out somewhere away from the inner city of

Birmingham [Who the hell puts 6 street lights on a small Cul-de-sac? I
can
see license plates on car at midnight!] where I can actually see
constellations, as I would like to be able to recognise 'em [have got
star
maps, and planispheres] so that I can use a binoculars [and in the
future,
mebbe a telescope...] to get to stuff with ease in the inner city [as I
can
see so many stars through my binos, I need guidance by knowing the
constellations].

Anyhow, does anyone have any information regarding possible sites [public

property, of course?] where one can see quite a bit of the night sky away

from city lights, near Birmingham, UK?

Much thanks for any information.

A few places spring to mind

Clent (the Kidderminster side)
Blakedown
Worcester (towards Malvern)
Malvern (the hills)
Hallow (and out towards Hereford)
Bewdley
Bromyard
Wast Hills (Birmingham Uni have their Observatory here...although you need
to go when the sports ground isn't in use).

All these are within an hour of Birmingham. Email me if you want any more
details :-)



"#MK" wrote in message
...

Hi!
Is anyone aware of any "dark sky" sites near Birmingham. By dark sky, I
mean areas where quite a few constellations can be seen by the naked eye,

and maybe with some Milky Way peeking through [not sure how much light
pollution there is in West Midlands... dunno, if the Milky Way can be
seen
in this area!]?
This summer, I would like to go out somewhere away from the inner city of

Birmingham [Who the hell puts 6 street lights on a small Cul-de-sac? I
can
see license plates on car at midnight!] where I can actually see
constellations, as I would like to be able to recognise 'em [have got
star
maps, and planispheres] so that I can use a binoculars [and in the
future,
mebbe a telescope...] to get to stuff with ease in the inner city [as I
can
see so many stars through my binos, I need guidance by knowing the
constellations].

Anyhow, does anyone have any information regarding possible sites [public

property, of course?] where one can see quite a bit of the night sky away

from city lights, near Birmingham, UK?

Much thanks for any information.

Thanks for the suggestion, folks!

Thanks for the suggestion, folks!