The pages linked above give info about some of the places where members of the RASC Vancouver Centre go to look at the sky. Most of these places have darker skies than you find in downtown Vancouver.
[Link updated 7th May 2012...] For Boundary Bay regular monthly RASC Vancouver Centre observation schedule, astronomical events and results “follow the link…”
If you have information about a particular observing site, please leave a comment on the page for that site, rather than on the home page. That makes it easier for others to find the comments relevant to each site.
To invite other members to participate in an observing session, log in, go to your Dashboard for this site and publish a new post to the blog. That will send an email to all members who have subscribed to this site and particularly to the “Let’s Go” page.
Remember to say where you’re going and what time you expect to be there in your post. Only members of this website (current or former RASC Vancouver Centre members) can view the posts, so it should be safe to include extra contact information such as a phone number or email address in your post.
Another way to find observing sites is to look at the locations for which cleardarksky.com offers clear sky clocks. For example, you can find a map of clear sky clocks within 100km of Aldergrove Lake Regional Park.
For those of you who might like to try your hand at sketching, here is a link to some observation record sheet templates.
Unfortunately Cypress Mtn site has a huge floodlight illuminating the parking lot which does impact visibility and remove darkness of site.
Can anyone suggest an alternate site on the North Shore? I’ve tried both the Mt Seymour parking lot and the Cypress overflow lot in winter and they are definitely lit up. The Cypress lookout is maybe darker, but there are headlights all the time as people come and go from the lookout.
I was at the bowl this morning at 0230 and there was no light. The dome of light from the city extends 40 degrees in the south(it was 20 degrees when we used the sight in the 1980′s. In the past the ski people have turned of the lights in the off season. The site is the best by far foir a local one. We should talk th them again and maybe we could have local dark skies between may and october.
Having an e-mail list for Observers is a great idea.
There are several of us that use the Aldergrove Lake site, and the Campbell Valley Park site on a regular basis. Anyone interested in going observing at these sites please fell free to contact me via e-mail
Steve
The Clear Sky Clock says that it may cloud over on Saturday March 24th, so several of us are going to C.V.P. tonight Friday March 23.
The gates will be unlocked around 8:00 pm
Steve
Sorry I missed it. If anyone is heading out tonight let me know.