Wikivoyage:Arrivals lounge/Archives/2018/December

Amateur astronomy

I would like to see more resources specifically for amateur astronomers on Wikivoyage. For example, if someone is traveling with a telescope, it can often be very difficult to find locations that are publicly accessible at night to set up a telescope at for astronomical observations, especially since most public parks close at sunset. Would the best way to do this be to add a new category on the county (or county-equivalent) level listing locations where members of the public can use telescopes at night? Locations good for amateur astronomy should be freely accessible at night, have vehicle access and parking available, not on private property, have low light pollution, and an unobstructed view of the sky. In my own county, there are only one or two spots in the entire county that match that. Lists of planetariums, astronomy shops, star parties, and craters should probably get their own pages as well. Nicole Sharp (talk) 23:27, 26 September 2018 (UTC)

Addington Highlands#Do had a designated spot near a conservation area for exactly this; there's another in North Frontenac. Napanee was lending telescopes at the county public library. All of this is hyperlocal, so I can't imagine a master list of these being useful outside the immediate local area. I suppose sticking "belvedère" or observation sites in the "Do" section of the city page makes sense, with shops in "Buy". ==Planetariums== might be a good section to add to astronomy as it looks not to already be there; the local listings would likely be "See" as museums are attractions. Star parties, if they're one-time events and only of local interest, aren't something we'd have any realistic chance of keeping up to date (although large, annually-recurring events like Bastille Day or the Québec winter carnival would be listed). Suggestions for article ideas, if you aren't ready to write the article today, can be posted in Wikivoyage:Requested articles#Do (or whichever page section fits the topic) until someone creates the article. K7L (talk) 00:37, 27 September 2018 (UTC)

There's some place in the Nowhere of Brandenburg or Mecklenburg Vorpommern that advertises its dark night sky. Sorry, forgot the name. In general our urban-skewing userbase hampers us a bit here, methinks... Hobbitschuster (talk) 12:28, 27 September 2018 (UTC)

I think there was a "dark sky preserve" somewhere near Lac-Mégantic, but that's an actual fixed observatory, not just a random park where starry-eyed amateurs plop down a telescope. Sending the voyager to some out-of-the-way place like Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!#See is more of the same. K7L (talk) 13:04, 27 September 2018 (UTC)

Sark advertises itself as the world's first Dark Sky Island. -- AndreCarrotflower (talk) 17:58, 27 September 2018 (UTC)

In the Nordic countries parks are usually open day and night (no fences), but where there are city parks there is usually too much light pollution for any serious stargazing (Ursa still has an observatory in Helsinki, with shows for the public a few times a week). There is plenty of sparsely populated countryside and the right to access means there is usually no concern about whether any suitable hill with a forest road leading by is private property (whether the view is obstructed can be guessed with a decent map, but some trial and error is needed here in the south). In the Turku region we have the Tuorla observatory, with planetarium. Some of the same concerns are handled in Northern lights. Few people will find Tuorla though, or this general information, if they are just looking for a planetary or for putting up their telescope somewhere in southern Finland. How would we best serve this group? --LPfi (talk) 08:01, 28 September 2018 (UTC)

Perhaps we could have separate astronomy-related travel topic articles for countries or regions. We have articles for hiking and cycling in specific regions, so why can't we do the same for astronomy? --Comment by Selfie City (talk | contributions) 17:16, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

Maybe we should first add some more listings and content to the astronomy article we already have, and when it fills up, the content can be subdivided into local articles. ϒψιλον (talk) 19:26, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘Yes, while that article is long enough for a travel topic, it could be longer. --Comment by Selfie City (talk | contributions) 20:18, 8 December 2018 (UTC)