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Hello all,
I was wondering if any members have experience with hotels/lodges,
situated at dark sky locations specifically for deep sky observing.I have done some research and found places like:
* this hotel (Northumberland National Park) https://www.battlesteads.com/observatory/about
* this lodge in the Atacama: https://www.spaceobs.com/en/Atacama-Lodge
* this farm in Namibia: https://www.hakos-astrofarm.com/en/I was looking for a list of places like these – preferably around Europe though (?!)
Any info appreciated 🙂Cheers,
YiannisPS, Personally, I could recommend the Greek island of Sikinos.
I was there for a few days in early September with my new gear –
I have uploaded the images: https://www.astrobin.com/users/yiannis/Yiannis. I’ve been lucky enough to get to quite a few very good dark-sky sites around the world. I have been to the Spaceobs site in the Atacama a couple of times, San Pedro de Atacama is one of my favourite places and the skies at Spaceobs are the best I have ever seen. It is a long slog to get there from the UK but definitely worth it. If you go in the southern hemisphere winter you get the centre of the galaxy overhead which just adds to the majesty of the sky.
This is a stacked set of 10s exposures with a 50mm lens from Spaceobs: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nickdjames/48273525482/in/album-72157709616722002/
There is a wide selection of telescopes to use too: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nickdjames/48273530247/in/album-72157709616722002/
La Palma is a very good choice for dark skies too and a lot easier to get to!
Your images from Sikinos are very good. A good excuse to spend a few days on Santorini too.
There is accommodation at E-EYE in Spain. It’s not too bad a drive from Seville.
(Disclaimer: I have a jointly run rig hosted by them – but, as a customer, I have stayed there when setting up and found it very comfortable).
I can recommend Olly Penrice’s place in the south of France. He is is an astro-imaging specialist: https://www.sunstarfrance.com
The best location in the south of the UK I have found is Llanerchindda Farm, run by the Hadley Family in mid-Wales. They don’t have much equipment there (they have a 6″ Dob) and they are not astronomy specialists, but they are very helpful. https://cambrianway.com
COAA in Algarve, Portugal have advertised for many years, though I haven’t been (yet).
http://coaa.co.uk/In the past I have offered to accommodate BAA members who happen to drop by my place in La Palma when I am also in residence. That offer is still open for the time being.
Longer term, I may set up a commercial offering open to anyone at any time of the year.
It’s arguable whether the Canaries are in Europe. Geographically they are closer to Africa and geologically they are on neither the African or Eurasian plates.
Wow! Thank’s everyone 🙂
That’s a lot of great info.
I will keep looking as well.
I’ve also created a spreadsheet to have as a reference and will be updating as time permits.Cheers,
YiannisRead only spreadsheet – let me know if you want write access or you want me to make changes:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lW5qW0PLxvnba4XTbV0-6laUDnSPAHVtnTKuKRT5YlA/edit?usp=sharingYiannis,
A date the site was last visited may be useful. I’ve been to places in Greece and Austria many years ago that had dark skies but I wouldn’t vouch for them now.
Paul,
In the past I have offered to accommodate BAA members who happen to drop by my place in La Palma when I am also in residence. That offer is still open for the time being.
A generous offer. If that doesn’t boost BAA membership I don’t know what will!
Bob Mizon wrote a book on this topic called Finding a Million Star Hotel. It was published in 2016 so is a little out of date now. There’s an e-book version version available via the publisher and usual sources.
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-33855-2
It is some time since I read it so cannot comment on its usefulness for your purposes. But I do remember that it was somewhat of a labour of love to write.
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