After the laughing has stopped... :S preferably within a 45 minute drive from Pasadena. Just relocated here from Texas and now with house sold, looking now to buy. I am assuming somewhere in the mountains. Thoughts anyone?
Jesse
Where to live around LA for dark skies?
Started by jlambeth, 10/11/2004 01:57AM
Posted 10/11/2004 01:57AM
Opening Post
After the laughing has stopped... :S preferably within a 45 minute drive from Pasadena. Just relocated here from Texas and now with house sold, looking now to buy. I am assuming somewhere in the mountains. Thoughts anyone?
Jesse
Posted 10/11/2004 02:23AM
| Edited 10/11/2004 02:27AM
#2
It does not really matter if you are willing to go only 45 minutes. (I mean, if nothing else, it can take 45 minutes to get out of Pasadena some days!!!)
If you are talking about observing from your backyard, just learn to enjoy selenography, or solar and planetery studies, maybe asteroid rotation studies (with a short exposure ccd camera) or spectroscopy or splitting doubles. (Not to say you cannot see deep sky things, they just aren't real satisfying.)
If you are looking for a home base to go travelling, you will need, I think, to get east of the mountains behind Big Bear, and hope for clouds over the LA Basin. You are talking about three hour drive. (Come join the Riverside Astronomical Society at our deep sky site near here. See Rivastro.org.)
I would avoid the beach (although you can do a lot of planetary, lunar, etc from there) because of the late night and early morning low clouds and fog.
The mountains are good--after all, one of the great observatories of the world sits 4000 feet above, and three miles north of Pasadena. And it is still hard at work even under the LA light dome. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of housing in that part of the Angeles National Forest.
The high desert, north of the mountains, is not exactly dark.
Sorry to be so glum--but you know there are thirteen million people within an hour of Pasadena. It is difficult to find a dark site!
By the way, I live in Moreno Valley, an hour east of Pasadena--Three hours east on a Friday afternoon--and have seen the little dipper and Andromeda galaxy from my backyard naked eye--maybe once or twice. In other words--you would have to go a long way to get out from the light dome.
Alex
If you are talking about observing from your backyard, just learn to enjoy selenography, or solar and planetery studies, maybe asteroid rotation studies (with a short exposure ccd camera) or spectroscopy or splitting doubles. (Not to say you cannot see deep sky things, they just aren't real satisfying.)
If you are looking for a home base to go travelling, you will need, I think, to get east of the mountains behind Big Bear, and hope for clouds over the LA Basin. You are talking about three hour drive. (Come join the Riverside Astronomical Society at our deep sky site near here. See Rivastro.org.)
I would avoid the beach (although you can do a lot of planetary, lunar, etc from there) because of the late night and early morning low clouds and fog.
The mountains are good--after all, one of the great observatories of the world sits 4000 feet above, and three miles north of Pasadena. And it is still hard at work even under the LA light dome. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of housing in that part of the Angeles National Forest.
The high desert, north of the mountains, is not exactly dark.
Sorry to be so glum--but you know there are thirteen million people within an hour of Pasadena. It is difficult to find a dark site!
By the way, I live in Moreno Valley, an hour east of Pasadena--Three hours east on a Friday afternoon--and have seen the little dipper and Andromeda galaxy from my backyard naked eye--maybe once or twice. In other words--you would have to go a long way to get out from the light dome.
Alex
Posted 10/11/2004 05:05AM
#3
Oh dear, that's a problem. Welcome to SoCal, nonetheless.
Mt. Pinos is generally thought of as the best site in the region, but the Santa Monica Mountains to the west of the city have some decent sites, despite being so close. The advantage being there is no light dome to the west and south, over the ocean. I had pretty good seeing last night, in fact. I look forward to getting out of here someday and living somewhere with dark skies all around - like Utah or West Texas for example. :-)
Feel free to follow up for more specifics - I'll even take you out observing sometime.
Linton
Light pollution map:
http://cleardarksky.com//lp/EglRdgObCAlp.html
Mt. Pinos is generally thought of as the best site in the region, but the Santa Monica Mountains to the west of the city have some decent sites, despite being so close. The advantage being there is no light dome to the west and south, over the ocean. I had pretty good seeing last night, in fact. I look forward to getting out of here someday and living somewhere with dark skies all around - like Utah or West Texas for example. :-)
Feel free to follow up for more specifics - I'll even take you out observing sometime.
Linton
Light pollution map:
http://cleardarksky.com//lp/EglRdgObCAlp.html
Posted 10/11/2004 12:12PM
#4
>>>preferably within a 45 minute drive from Pasadena.
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You do realize that this limits you to about a 5 mile radius unless you happen to be a cyclist in which case it would be closer to 15 miles.... 8)
jon isaacs
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You do realize that this limits you to about a 5 mile radius unless you happen to be a cyclist in which case it would be closer to 15 miles.... 8)
jon isaacs
Posted 10/11/2004 07:13PM
#5
I live in Woodland Hills with the Santa Monica Mountains fairly close by. Beyond the mountains, to the west, is the ocean so it is certainly darker here than most places around LA. The mountains block much of the fog. Try the southern reaches of Woodland Hills or Calabasas in the hills. Not sure what you price range is because this area is fairly expensive.
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