#1  
Old 06-11-2019, 05:14 AM
strongmanmike's Avatar
strongmanmike (Michael)
Highest Observatory in Oz

strongmanmike is offline
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Canberra
Posts: 17,150
True Bortle 1 sky observing

I just came across This PHOTO by Hisayoshi Kato and it made me reminisce my recent experience under true dark skies.

After nearly 40 years involved in astronomy, astrophotography and observing, I only very recently finally observed all the features captured in Kato's image and which had previously only been myths. At the end of August/start of Sept this year, I was spending 4 days at a mates observatory 3hrs drive west of Cairns, out in the savannahs of far northern Queensland Australia. The skies out there are black and genuine Bortle 1 with an SQM of 22+. The Gegenschein was easy to see, like a faint but obvious ball shaped patch, as was the fainter zodiacal bridge that connects the Gegenschein to the Milky Way and the Eastern horizon and visible in Katos photo....it was truly spectacular. It was like having two Milky Way's in the sky at once, a bright one and a faint one perpendicular to it! Early each night, when the centre of the Milky Way was overhead, it lit up our observing pad like a night light and our bodies and hands etc cast very obvious shadows and the Zodiacal light in the west at the start of each evening extended right up to the Milky Way and was so bright that we avoided observing galaxies in Virgo for fear of them being washed out! It is truly spectacular when you are under genuine perfect dark skies!...something that many people never get to see...it took me until age 52 to finally witness it.

Another excellent shot by Petr Horaleck shows well what it all looked like overhead to my eyes!...minus the colour in the Milky Way of course....it was truly spectacular and something I will never forget.

Thanks Tim

Last edited by strongmanmike; 06-11-2019 at 05:28 AM.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 06-11-2019, 06:42 AM
h0ughy's Avatar
h0ughy (David)
Moderator

h0ughy is offline
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: NEWCASTLE NSW Australia
Posts: 33,156
I have experienced this at astrofest a couple of times in the evening and in the morning and even took a photo of the sdm showing 22.06
Being more north it would indeed be brighter. It was something I have never seen before and eventually it became a regular thing to see every year I go. That and satellites and meteors....
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 06-11-2019, 10:04 AM
strongmanmike's Avatar
strongmanmike (Michael)
Highest Observatory in Oz

strongmanmike is offline
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Canberra
Posts: 17,150
Quote:
Originally Posted by h0ughy View Post
I have experienced this at astrofest a couple of times in the evening and in the morning and even took a photo of the sdm showing 22.06
Being more north it would indeed be brighter. It was something I have never seen before and eventually it became a regular thing to see every year I go. That and satellites and meteors....
...yet another reason to finally get to an Astrofest!

Mike
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 06-11-2019, 11:27 AM
graham.hobart's Avatar
graham.hobart (Graham stevens)
DeepSkySlacker

graham.hobart is offline
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: hobart, tasmania
Posts: 2,214
bortle 1 skies

Wow! (from bortle 6 skies ) this is amazing
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 06-11-2019, 01:04 PM
AnakChan (Sean)
Registered User

AnakChan is offline
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Perth
Posts: 371
The only time I experienced Bortle 1 skies was in the 90s when I was working in Olympic Dam. That’s when I bought my Vixen VC200L from Claude when he was a Vixen distributor.

Beautiful pix by Kato-san.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 06-11-2019, 01:59 PM
strongmanmike's Avatar
strongmanmike (Michael)
Highest Observatory in Oz

strongmanmike is offline
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Canberra
Posts: 17,150
Quote:
Originally Posted by AnakChan View Post
The only time I experienced Bortle 1 skies was in the 90s when I was working in Olympic Dam. That’s when I bought my Vixen VC200L from Claude when he was a Vixen distributor.

Beautiful pix by Kato-san.
These days you'd have to travel at least 50km from Olympic Dam to get under true dark skies and then you would still see its light dome, it has a light pollution footprint larger than Broken Hill, a town of nearly 20,000 people! ...mines definitely don't use smart lighting at night....

Mike
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 06-11-2019, 02:05 PM
AnakChan (Sean)
Registered User

AnakChan is offline
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Perth
Posts: 371
Yikes, the population has trippled since then and just checking on lightpollutionmap now, there's more pollution than Coober Peddy :-(.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 08-11-2019, 03:30 PM
ausastronomer (John Bambury)
Registered User

ausastronomer is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Shoalhaven Heads, NSW
Posts: 2,618
The best skies I have experienced are on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. Because it so rugged, a lot of places are difficult to access and there are very few people live there. In addition to the dark skies, the skies are very transparent because there is no dust particulate in the air. The area from Wanaka to Franz Joseph Glacier encompassing Mount Aspiring National Park and Mount Cook National Park are exceptionally dark. Unfortunately due to the mountainous topography, the seeing can be pretty ordinary and more conducive to naked eye and binocular observing than telescopic observing. If you can get up high enough above the thermals from the adjacent mountains the seeing can be very good and sub 1". Unfortunately the very few roads to get you to this altitude are very hairy and these points more often than not can only be reached by chopper due to heart failure, snow and or rock falls.

Cheers
John B
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 08-11-2019, 06:47 PM
Paul Haese's Avatar
Paul Haese
Registered User

Paul Haese is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Adelaide
Posts: 9,937
We've (those in SA) now got an IDA approved International Dark Sky Reserve just two hours from Adelaide. Sky measurements were done with professional grade sky measurements by DSTG personnel. SQM's were initally used by the IDA said the 22.0+ measurements were not recognised, so some specialised techniques were used to measure the sky. Measurements ranging from 21.9 to 22.06 (Although the IDA says above 22 is not possible, I know it is myself). So those skies are considered to be Bortle 1. Certainly we have seen the bridge with our own eyes in the pristine conditions out there. For more information take a look for the River Murray International Dark Sky Reserve (the word International has only been added this week with the IDA gold standard approval).
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 08-11-2019, 07:04 PM
multiweb's Avatar
multiweb (Marc)
ze frogginator

multiweb is offline
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Sydney
Posts: 22,060
I remember seeing the Gegenschein at coonabarabran once. The milkyway was wrapped around the horizon. I actually saw it and asked what it was to Lachlan who was observing with some Texans.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +10. The time is now 12:45 AM.

Powered by vBulletin Version 3.8.7 | Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Advertisement
Testar
Advertisement
Bintel
Advertisement