My astronomy has been limited over the past couple of weeks as a result of the aforementioned cycle tour of the Loire.  After an 11 hour night crossing of Le Manche from Portsmouth, we headed south from Saint-Malo along the River Rance via Rennes and thence to the Loire, just east of Nantes.  Thereafter, just like the river, we meandered slowly upstream taking in vineyards and chateau, eventually reaching Blois before returning to Tours to take the easy way to the Ouistreham ferry by train.  All-in-all we cycled 428 miles and had a great time, in no small part due to fantastic weather the whole time.

One of the advantages of cycle camping and the inevitable call of nature during the night, is that you get to see the sky and what a sky! From the first night at Tinténiac the night skies were crystal clear, with wonderful horizon-to-horizon views not unlike that seen at home at the moment but without the clouds and light pollution – with such clarity the great spectacle of the Milky Way was always present.  The downside of cycling is that you can’t take astronomy equipment with you.  However, on the first night by laying my compact camera on the ground pointing upwards and set manually, I managed to get a good picture of the sky (it’s about 2am and I was a bit sleepy).  Such skies and better continued throughout the whole trip.

The night sky at Tinténiac

t’s therefore interesting and not unsurprising, that the following night sky map of France shows that much of the country is free from excessive light pollution.  It is however surprising that they were only awarded their first dark sky status last year – the Pic di Midi International Dark Sky Reserve  in the Pyrénées.

http://ftapissier.free.fr/pl/zoom.html

I wonder if the nobility of the Loire appreciated the great skies they had – they would have (theoretically) had the use of a Newtonian telescope for a while before the revolution put an end to their indulgent lifestyles?

Challain-la-Potherie Chateau – nice place if you can affofd it!

About the same time (1730 – 1817) Charles Messier certainly put the quality of the French skies to good use when he catalogued 110 Messier objects, consisting of nebulae, galaxies and star clusters, which today still forms a fundamental platform for astronomers.

My own ambitions over the coming winter months will be to view and image many of the Messier objects, which makes his work nearly 300 years ago seem all the more incredible – but then he did have clear skies. Très Bon.

Loire cycle team in Angers. Chapeau!!!