Suggestion for new IIS 'list' - Dark sky sites close to 'me'

[mental4astro]

Hi all,

There is a topic that gets regularly brought up, that is dark sky sites close to this city or that city. I'd like to suggest a central site within IIS for this information to be listed, maybe as a sticky in the Star Parties, Club and Community Events forum?

This information can be added to and changed by folks as access to sites changes.

A simple protocol here to regulate which city is being addressed is to start each post with 'Sydney' or 'Brisbane' or 'Melbourne' or which ever city or town the post is centered around.

Private observatories could be noted here too. There is all too little information about these great resources here in IIS. As visitors from interstate and international come to Oz, finding dark sites can be difficult, and a single place where both public and private sites can be found would be a great resource for the IIS community and the wider community.

Thoughts?

Alex.

[sheeny]

I think it has merit, Alex. The key to it being successful would be to set some guidelines for the sort of info to post, and to keep chatter in the thread to a minimum - fine to provide additional info or opinions on a site, but if its OT then don't post.

My suggestions would be:

Title: State, Region, Nearest Town, Name of Site

e.g. NSW, Sydney Metro, Kirrawee, Alice's Place
e.g. NSW, Central West, Burraga, Burraga Dam
e.g. NSW, Central Coast, Central Mangrove, Pony Club

Body:
Public or private
Description of site and facilities
Restrictions (e.g. no dogs, separate parking, subject to flooding, etc)
Camping or no camping
If public - directions to get there, GPS coords, etc
If private - best way to contact the owner (think about this people - do you really want your phone number published on a public forum? I'd suggest a PM to the relevant member of IIS).

Just my suggestions as food for thought.;)

BTW there is a lot of good information on campsites in both the WikiCamps App, and the Camps7 Book. Not all camp sites are good for astronomy, but quite a lot are, and its especially important if you want to camp at the dark sky site.

Al.

[Solitarian]

Well said and great suggestion. I see the posts all the time requesting guidance to areas for viewing.


To add to Sheenys list,

Direction and intensity of "any" light pollution (minor,major,local,distant,) an image can be added showing this.
Local weather peculiarities, eg cloud build up due to certain conditions.

Maintaining proper listing and pertinent details only in the thread might be hard, maybe separate threads , one for discussion , one as the resource.