Great conditions west of Ipswich tonight

[Doogs38 (Alex)]

I've braved the cold for the last few hours (it's currently 5°) and enjoyed a truly magnificent night of moonless skies, fabulous seeing & excellent transparency. The stars stopped twinkling a little earlier and the views are crystal clear & steady. I can easily see with my naked eye the dark dust belts through the centre of the Milky Way, the large dark 'hole' near the Southern Cross and the huge glowing expanse of the Milky Way - it's extraordinary tonight & there is so much contrast in the views. I've spent time enjoying various Messier objects, globular clusters, nebulae, Saturn, bright galaxies & some double stars If it wasn't for work tomorrow <groan > I'd have been outside all night. I'm rabbiting on but it's the handful of nights per year that are like this that keep me hooked on this wonderful hobby

[Suzy]

Hi Alex, I loved hearing about your night under the stars, thank you so much for sharing.

I live on the southside of Brisbane too and isn't it great that we don't have to travel far to see beautiful dark skies. Personally, I think they are darker than heading north out of Brisbane. All it takes from the southside is 45 mins! Having said that, even just 15 mins down the road at Forest Lake it is noticeable darker- you can see the difference getting closer into town- what an eye opener that was.

[Doogs38 (Alex)]

Hi Suzy and thanks for the unexpected reply. I consider myself lucky that I don't have to travel anywhere to have moderately good to very good skies. I live not too far west of RAAF Amberley and while I have LP in the east (from the the RAAF Base and Ipswich), it's quite the opposite for the other cardinal headings. If I go a little further west like Grandchester or Laidley then the skies start becoming downright excellent! I went to the Scenic Rim Astronomy Association's site outside of Beaudesert on Sat night (... yep, it was a washout!) and think it's better out my way! Actually, by the time I got home & unpacked it was near midnight and the Milky Way was stunning in its clarity & contrast ... once again I could pick out with only my eyes the dust belts extending either side of Scorpio's tail - awesome!! I can only imagine how good it is at a genuine dark site ... <sigh> one day

[Doogs38 (Alex)]

Wooohoooo another great night outside - seeing & transparency are great tonight. I spent an hour exploring some new sights; M2, M15 & M30 GCs and I found Neptune too although it was only a small pale blue orb. I also found the Saturn Nebulae (NGC 7009) but it was difficult to see any distinguishing features or detail ... it's an elongated blue-green blob!

[Suzy]

Sounds like an awesome night, Alex!

it's an elongated blue-green blob! __________________]

It's as much as I see .

[Suzy]

Alex, don't forget that Saturn is being occulted by the Moon on Monday night the 4th August. And tomorrow night (Sunday 3rd), Mars, Spica, Saturn & the Moon make a beautiful close grouping .
I've just taken a squizz outside and what a site- it's a convoy of beauty all in one line- Moon, Spica, Mars, Saturn, joining the head of the Scorpion and getting themselves ready for the next couple of days events!

If you're on facebook, I keep everyone updated of sky events on our facebook page, so go "Like" it if you are . Tis a cool page if I do say so myself . Is moi modest much... .

[Doogs38 (Alex)]

Thanks Suzy Unfortunately, I think the clouds have put paid to any views of the heavens tonight, and tomorrow night looks unlikely too

BTW, it's a good FB page :-) I tip my hat to you ^_^

[Suzy]

Awww thank you so much for those kind words- it's great to get feedback!

Friend me on fb if you'd like an astro buddy .
Search for Suzy Webb with the same avatar as on here.

On Sunday August 10th Saturn is being a show-off again.
See my thread in the Celestial Events forum for the ring shadow on the planet visible on on the 10th.

[KG8]

I have a light pollution map that shows the darkening skys in concentric, well sort of, circles around Brisbane,Ipswich, toowoomba etc. I used to go as far out as Leyburn because that is where you get the final step into real darkness but the next level back can actually be achieved by going not far up the Brisbane valley, west of Ipswich.

Simce I only do visual astronomy I only need to go there now. Lots of lakes etc to set up at that have good horizons

[Doogs38 (Alex)]

Hi KGB. Yes, it is nice out this way :-) I will say though, that tonight's seeing out here at Walloon is abso_lutely terrific!!! I can put clean air between double stars, Saturn is fantastic and the Casini Divison is sharp and as plain as the nose on my face, out of focus stars show clean airy discs and diffraction patterns, glorious detail in globular clusters ... what a fab viewing night :-)))))