Frequent viewing sites?

[TwistedRider]

Hi all.

I'm just curious is there is a list of known regular viewing sites, particularly in Melbourne areas.

Recently moved to North West suburbs with 0 backyard one 500 Gigawatts of local street lights :mad2:.

Hoping to find a place that is suitable for some regular astronomy, as haunting local parks at night might get me unwanted attention.

Cheers for now
Drew

[ayiana]

There used to be a lot of good spots near Melton but with the housing development explosion they've all by disappeared. You might have to try heading out further, towards Ballan. There were a couple of places you could park on Bacchus-Marsh road a little while ago - pretty quiet in terms of traffic and no street lights.

[TwistedRider]

yeah i think making friends with someone with a rural property might pay off.

[Lognic04]

It may be too far but there is always LMDSS at Heathcote. 2.5 or 2 hours from melbourne, bortle 1 or 2, but you have to be an ASV Member.

[Allan_L]

Did you look here: www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=129464

Even though I see these are mainly NSW.

[TwistedRider]

Hi Allan,
Yes lots of NSW locations.
Only 2 for Vic and unfortunately on the other side of the city.

Maybe social astronomy isn't so big in Melbourne. Or at least not this side.

[JA]

Hi TR,
Take a look at the Melbourne light pollution map attached as an image below and generated from:
https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=8&lat=-4540544&lon=16166790&layers=B0FFFFFTFFFFF

Try the link above and zoom in to your suburb to take a look at what to expect nearby
Anything YELLOW or better is OK-ish. Of course BLUE/BLACK is best if you don't mind a little travel.


Best
JA

[TwistedRider]

Thanks guys.
I may have misworded the question.

I was wondering if there are commonly used sites .
So that I'm not just 1 person or alone in the middle of the night. Safety aside, just wondering about astronomy in a grip rather than a solo activity.

But yes, light pollution is shocking in the Metro areas.