Where to visit in QLD for super dark skies?

[naskies]

Penny for your thoughts...

If you had the choice of living in a small Queensland town for 2 to 4 months next year, where would you go to optimise your photon collecting opportunities?

The reason I ask is that all domestic medical students have to do a rural/remote rotation, so I thought I'd try to plan for some epic imaging at the same time :)

The main requirements are that I'd need:

* sealed highway access from Brisbane (need to drive my gear there).
* a town with a Queensland Health (public) medical facility or hospital.
* easy access to dark skies and somewhere I can leave my kit set up.

A small town like Surat or Mitchell would be ideal - somewhere small enough to not have (many) street lights, so I wouldn't have to drive out of town.

I'd be staying at the nurse's quarters, so I could potentially leave my imaging kit permanently set up just outside the hospital (covered in tents/tarps during the day) and be able to duck in and out during the evening.

Maybe winter (mid-May to mid-July) for the choice of targets and cooler weather too.

Crazy enough plan that it just might work? :D

[LewisM]

My family comes from Monto (and surrounds). It get's DARK there, even in town! I have often sat in my grandparents front yard in the middle of town and not even needed binos! But, if I take the gear to the family farm (20 min drive), it is INK BLACk so you can barely see a hand in front of your face! When I have the money, my cousin (cow cocky) and I are going to build a remote obs on site at the farm, near the family second house near the entrance to the property (deserted most of the year)

Yes, they have a hospital.

Kingaroy is OK too, but not in town - WAY too much street lighting.

[Lee]

I think you'll find epic imaging at most little inland towns in Queensland..... make the most of it, once you graduate, your imaging time will drop off dramatically! :)
I did a term at Biggenden, wasn't into astronomy at the time, but it would be dark, a friendly little place too.....

[DavidTrap]

I went to Blackall (mainly because Mum is from there) and Roma. The former would be far better for astro. The hospital is on the edge of town and the accommodation was behind the hospital so even more shielded from light. Don't think you'd have any problems setting up something there and leaving it during the day. Probably best to think about a silver reflective tarp for thermal protection.

DT

[Astro_Bot]

Sorry, I can't offer advice about towns, but ...


And you think you'll have time for astronomy? You truly must have superhuman willpower. :P

Oh to be young again and barracked in a nurses quarters! :thumbsup:

[jjjnettie]

:) I'd suggest Kilcoy. But we still get sky glow from Brissie, albeit rather low in the sky. Our local doctor Tom Doolan always has students working in his clinic and at the hospital. He's a teacher in Rural and Remote Medicine. Best of all he's an amateur astronomer too. His current student, Dr Ling, will be setting up his camera with me, once the skies clear, to get a few lessons in astro imaging. LOL

[naskies]

Thanks for the tip!



Yep, that's what I've heard :) Perhaps I should start working towards a remote obs...



Thanks David. Blackall looks like a brilliant spot for astro. According to Google, it's a 10-11 hour drive?

I agree about Roma - I found some great spots an hour's drive out of town, but Roma has quite a skyglow these days.



These days, "nurses' quarters" is more of a euphemism than dream come true :rofl: Rather unfortunate, really!

I was recently on elective with an aeromedical retrieval service. Apparently, the swooning attention that a guy in leather gets on a motorbike is far exceeded by a (wannabe) doctor in a jumpsuit landing on the roof in a helicopter :lol: Must be all the M.A.S.H. that everyone watches...



Oooh, I hadn't even thought of that! :) Having a preceptor who's also an astronomer might be very conducive to having the flexibility to get a lot of imaging done :D

[hotspur]

Pitty I live 70 Km's from Kingaroy-you could bunk in the observatory Dave,and use it,but 140 Km round trip every day.

Mitchell and Roma could be worth a look at,particularly Mitchell if they have a hospital or similar.

Good luck,look forward to results!

[whzzz28]

What's considered rural these days?

South of Stanthorpe has great dark skies. Somewhere around Ballandean should be good.
Rent a house and you will be able to drive to Stanthorpe for work every day (30min drive or so).

And its only a 3hr drive to get to brisbane on the highway.

[pmrid]

I think there is actually an observatory out that way somewhere - down the Ballandean road. Nice and close to some reasonably good wines as well.

I was in Mitchell a few months back on a grey nomad trip to Longreach and was impressed by it as a town. It's a bloody long way from anywhere though.

Of course there is always Esk and/or Kilcoy. And you can set your rig up here on the TenChain site if you want.

Peter


Peter

[naskies]

Thanks Chris!



Hmmm very tempting! Almost much anything outside Brisbane and the Gold/Sunshine coasts are classified as rural/regional.



Thanks Peter! I've been imaging once before half way between Roma and Mitchell (small town called Muckadilla) - beautifully dark skies!

I have a few potential options for rural placement (2 months, 4 months, 1 year) each with limitations in where I can go, pros and cons for quality of teaching, etc... so it'll be tough to decide. Anything that maximises imaging time :)

[LewisM]

Wife will be doing her rural placement eventually and I keep pushing for her to take DEEP "Back of Burke" type areas. She won't. I won't win.

Hey Chris, where abouts? Have a mate that lives middle of nowhere, kinda near Maidenwell. Will head his way one day, because the nights there are SOLID BLACK.

[naskies]

You never know... apparently the students get to preference their top picks, but sometimes they're sent out to the sticks against their wishes. You might still win ;)

But yes, that's exactly what I'm hoping to do. With the run of poor astro weather we've been having in recent years, I wouldn't be surprised if I spent two months in say Birdsville and it was cloudy every single night!

[AdrianF]

Yarraman has really good dark skies.

[carlstronomy]

Yarraman is very good my father lives there and I grew up there. Although the weather is crap at the moment.

[pmrid]

The unfortunate proximity to the Tarong power station can't help. I pulled out of buying some land near Blackbutt (which is considerably further away than Yarraman) for that reason. The light bloom from Tarong even 20-30 km away made the western sky unworkable.

Peter

[carlstronomy]

Peter, not sure about the light pollution? I was out there just before the weather set in using my SCT 9.25"and the skies were extremely dark. I drive up there often at night and the power station lights seem to have very little if no effect infact mostly impossible to see and certainly not unworkable. Maybe be if you looked at purchasing back in to 90's when Tarong was a major power house it now only runs at about 40% 2 units are shut down. I dont think the illumination is anywhere near what it used to be. I can remember as a teen when we moved out there seeing the stack light up when returning from Nanango at night, but that is not the same these days. (I will take a more closer look the next time I go up). Also Maidenwell Observatory is around the same distance from the power station.

Carl

[AdrianF]

I lived in Roma for 5 years and skies were OK until the light farm across the road was turned on (the bowling green not very often ) But a couple of kilometres in any direction was really good, I had access to a property and was very dark.
Yarraman is fairly dark when I camped on our land we did not notice any light problems and we were looking for light pollution, 2 oclock in the morning it was very dark.

Adrian