Best skies nr. Newcastle

grimsay (Iain) · #1 16-01-2016, 04:30 PM

Hey guys,

After much research, deliberation, budgeting and eBay/Gumtree/classified searching I finally committed to a Skywatcher 8" Trad Dob yesterday - very happy. Thanks again to Malcom & Suzy for their advice.

So next question is... where to find the least light polluted skies near Newcastle?

I'd like to keep the distance to about 30 min drive or less.

Any ideas much appreciated. Thanks, Iain.

Wavytone · #2 17-01-2016, 10:03 PM

Northwest ... And you'll have to drive an hour at least to escape the light pollution, I'm thinking lake St Clair or Wallarobba to Barrington Tops.

Someone posted a lighpollution map some months ago, if they see this maybe they'll post a link.

glend (Glen) · #3 17-01-2016, 11:16 PM

Bretti is the best, closest, but you'd have to stay overnight as it's a couple of hours northwest of Newcastle. Watch for the Bretti or Central Coast Star Parties thread for dates when people will be going. I've been to Lake Glenbawn and it's ok there but the light domes from Singleton and the mines make anything closer in a problem. I guess it depends on what you consider a dark site.

wayne anderson (Wayne) · #4 18-01-2016, 09:38 AM

Hi Lain, as mentioned Newcastle light polution extends for a great distance so usually a trip of around 1hr gets you to dark sites however i have setup my scope in areas around 30 to 45 mins from Newcastle with semi dark sky (Mulbring sports field, Wybung area at Mummorah recreation reserve) there may be many more areas within 30 mins but usually not dark just semi dark.

Try looking at the light pollution map at www.darksitefinder.com

grimsay (Iain) · #5 18-01-2016, 12:47 PM

Thanks guys. I found the useful light pollution map I believe you were referring too Wavytone:

http://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#z...yers=B0TFFFFTT

Semi-dark will be enough to get me started for now. Thanks for the tips Wayne.

I setup the scope for the first time last night and found M42 easily from Adamstown. Definitely not the best conditions but just getting used to the setup, moving it and trying to find objects is enough to keep me going with semi-dark skies for now.

In time I will be itching for darker skies. Just have to justify driving off into the night for hours to my wife left with our 2yr old.

OffGrid (Steve) · #6 18-01-2016, 02:04 PM

G'day Iain,

Whilst the pursuit of dark or darker skies is desirable and even necessary, it has been a disappointing exercise for me in the 15 month since Deb bought me the Meade LX 90 8" ACF.
In spite of many events at Bretti and the local Pony Club, cloud, work or domestic events has permitted me to get to only one.
The same situation at home in that it takes near 30 minutes to setup the LX90, so only Friday and Sat nights without clouds has been an option.

My fix, I just bought a Bintel 10" Dob. It is 2 minutes to fire up in the beer garden and 2 minutes to pack away.

It has been out on 2 nights and then 2 mornings in the last 5 days at 4:30am to view the amazing planet display before sunup and off I go to work.
I have also downloaded SkySafari Pro 5 for the iPad which is an amazing tool for planning viewing and then finding the subjects.
In short, when all the ticks line up I am off to dark skies with both scopes.
In the meantime, I am finally enjoying this hobby from my backyard because it is spontaneous, easy and dead set enjoyable in spite of the light dome around me.
Be encouraged.
Steve

Allan_L (Allan) · #7 18-01-2016, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OffGrid

G'day Iain,

Whilst the pursuit of dark or darker skies is desirable and even necessary, it has been a disappointing exercise for me in the 15 month since Deb bought me the Meade LX 90 8" ACF.
In spite of many events at Bretti and the local Pony Club, cloud, work or domestic events has permitted me to get to only one.
The same situation at home in that it takes near 30 minutes to setup the LX90, so only Friday and Sat nights without clouds has been an option.

My fix, I just bought a Bintel 10" Dob. It is 2 minutes to fire up in the beer garden and 2 minutes to pack away.

It has been out on 2 nights and then 2 mornings in the last 5 days at 4:30am to view the amazing planet display before sunup and off I go to work.
I have also downloaded SkySafari Pro 5 for the iPad which is an amazing tool for planning viewing and then finding the subjects.
In short, when all the ticks line up I am off to dark skies with both scopes.
In the meantime, I am finally enjoying this hobby from my backyard because it is spontaneous, easy and dead set enjoyable in spite of the light dome around me.
Be encouraged.
Steve

Hi Steve,
And the bonus is that you will see a lot more with a 10" DOB than you will with an 8" SCT (and for less than a third of the cost).

Hope to see you (and Iain) at Bretti or Mangrove Mt soon for some dark skies soon.

grimsay (Iain) · #8 18-01-2016, 08:43 PM

Glad to hear I'm not the only one Steve. I went with dob too for the easy of setup, it is a breeze but not second nature yet.

Main thing for me know is figuring out what to look at and how to navigate to it. I know I will see more in darker skies but in some respects the light pollution makes for easier navigation - simpler skies - just need to identify some bright object to search for.

A drive to Mulbring or Mummorah will be on the cards this weekend I think, it's the backyard until then!

Where do I find out more about Bretti and Mangrove Mt. Allan?

Edit: all good Allan, I have found and subscribed to the thread.

OffGrid (Steve) · #9 18-01-2016, 08:48 PM

Yep Allan,
I guess you are right on the Dobs benefits but I would not part with the SCT. The accuracy on the goto and tracking makes for easy viewing of targeted objects, but just not suitable for a quick peek such as I have just done on the Luna terminator 10 minutes ago.
As for the Dob, Iain definitely got started in the right place and that was from the valuable experience of those on IIS.

Your well organised star nights have not been out of my sights since getting the first scope and yes Deb and I will continue on our efforts to get to more of them.
Hope to see you there sometime also Iain but don't discount what you can achieve in your backyard with your Dob.

Clear Skies
Steve

iandix (Ian) · #10 23-01-2016, 03:28 PM

I might give Mulbring a go as well... I have been looking for a place I can use my 8" SCT .. "street lights street lights everywhere" near me..

Kaibis (Cassie) · #11 23-01-2016, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grimsay

In time I will be itching for darker skies. Just have to justify driving off into the night for hours to my wife left with our 2yr old.

That is easy, do some swaps with her... let her drive off into the night for hours while you have the 2yo. In the early years my husband and I did a lot more tag-teaming to get a night (or day) off, then we did having joint nights off.

wayne anderson (Wayne) · #12 23-01-2016, 06:48 PM

Hi ian, mulbring sports park is still ok compared to newcastle sky but not as dark as we would like, a few lights from passing cars and some houses near by but it is still much darker than newcastle area you can even see the milky way something rare in newcastle.( if local lights are annoying you can just use a small tarp tied to some tomato stakes, it worked ok for me as light shield) and its only around 30 to 40mins from newcastle area.
Many years ago i used to work afternoons in the newcastle area finishing at 10:00pm and would set up my old 8 inch lx200 there near what is now the playground area near the old tennis club, i would be there for a few hours before heading home to central coast. I have not setupt the 12 inch lx 200 there as my sky at home in ellalong is darker and so much more convenient.