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Location-Law Offices
Today I closed on 10-acres in a Bortle-3 location in northwest Alabama. On the property there is a 763-foot MSL peak which is approximately 300 feet above the mean local elevation which should allow for minimal tree cutting around the new observatory. As it is in most of life, this is a balancing of interests. It will be dramatically different and superior to my backyard observatory in a Bortle 6 location where the neighbors have a flood light fetish.
Bortle 3- about the best that can be obtained within 100 miles:
Brightness=0.219 mcd/m2
Artificial Bright=47.9 μcd/m2
Ratio=0.280
Bortle=class 3
Elevation=232 meters (763 feet)
Pros
- Very low development (one neighbor a mile away) Low future development as well
- Close to State Route
- 21 miles from my house
- Served by water and electricity
- Relatively inexpensive given the size of the parcel
Cons
- A cell tower at 205-degrees approximately 8-degrees in altitude above the horizon
- Must build a 600-foot road up a hill
- Must install infrastructure, water, electric, septic
- Security
- Ticks, chiggers, rattle snakes…
- Lightning bugs
Given my budget, I would say it was a good day.
Signed
Dallon R. Ogle, Jr., P.E.
Resident Principal Investigator