Go North, young man!

[erick]

Well, not that young :P. But the sky looks somewhat different at 12 deg S!

I spent the weekend in Darwin and didn't expect to have any time to look up at night-time, but, while I was killing time waiting for my 2:30am flight back to Melbourne (don't ask :zzz2:), my hosts took me out to Lee Point, north of the city (Google Earth will take you there) to have a shot at spotting M31. A quick check of Stellarium told me I had some time after it rose before a quarter moon would wash out the sky. I also had not packed binoculars (d'oh!). My hosts found a pair of 4x30 (true! well that's what was printed on them) toy binoculars which actually were not absolutely hopeless - I could focus both barrels and they were roughly collimated. A quick check on Jupiter and Scorpius and I could make out one moon and saw a hint of M4.

Unfortunately, none of us knew the area, so we stayed in the car park and put up with some trees all around - and occasional car lights, some including high volume stereo! (I can see from Google Earth that I could have easily got onto the beach with a clear and light-free view to the north. Mind you, would a saltie have got me??)

Lovely to see Pegasus rising at such a sharp angle into the sky. Finally I could just make out M31 by eye but easily confirmed in the little binoculars - but by the time it had well cleared the trees, the moon stared to rise and quickly washed out the view.

Turned to the South, and in Darwin's glow, it was fascinating to see Crux already below the horizon and the pointers diving almost vertically to the same fate!

I will have to go again sometime - must plan the trip better (closer to new moon) and take the 20x80s next time!

[Blue Skies]

I always remember the first time I saw it from Pilbara latitudes: I was up in the wee hours with a pair of 7x35 binos to chase down the two Messiers in Cassiopea and just thought I'd wave the binos around a bit....and :eyepop: I couldn't believe how much brighter it was. :thumbsup:

[Bobj]

Good memories; thanks to both of you. Jo and I used to go up to the Darwin for long weekends in the 70's. The Pilbara was an old tramping ground (worked for the Main Roads Dept. from Karratha, which was a cattle station, before the town was built, to the NT border, based in Derby for 4 years and Kununurra for 10 years.)
Many, many nights spent out at the edge of the Great Sandy Desert, where the stars simply try to outshine each other. Using a pair of 7x50 binos while stretched out in the swag was a great way to spend an evening.:thumbsup:

I will digress a little....... Five of us were sent to Wallal Downs, half way between Broome and Port Hedland, to survey a new road line (1964). We were camped about 20 miles from Wallal and, one early evening we spotted a cloud of dust being raised out in the desert and heading our way. About an hour after dawn, next morning, two loaded LWB Landrovers came up to the camp. The blokes told us that they were clearing a line from Woomera Rocket Range to make sure there were no Aboriginal people out in the desert, as there was to be a test rocket fired.
Unfortunately, I never found out what transpired.

[CoombellKid]

Erik,

I few IIS'ers are planning a trip up the that area a little inland
from Cairns late next year.

regards,CS

[beren]

:) Im going up that way soon, looking forward to checking out some northern treats

[hector]

Hi All
My Wife and I on our driving honeymoon went to Cairns and the Atherton Tablelands. When we packed to go, Miriam asked where the Telescope was. I said no i wasnt going to take it but she said yes I could and so I did. (I may say no once but not twice).
I had Hector set up in the camp ground at the Millander falls caravan park and the sky was FANTASTIC. Seeing Cygnus so high from Australia was unreal. M51 looks great and you could easily see the spiral structure.
If you can get access to a scope or take one yourself it is definatly worth the effort. Be aware of the humidity though as one night the 20" fogged over in about 3 hours.
And for those people who wondered, I used the scope 3 times during a 3 week driving holiday.

[ballaratdragons]

That would be sooooo wierd to see Crux dissappear from the sky :eyepop:

I'd probably go into shock :lol:

[glenc]

We are planning a trip to Undara for 29/8/08.
That is inland from Cairns. See:
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=21081&highlight=undara

[Terry B]

It's all relative. I find it odd to see it huging the horizon upside down when I go further south as it disappears even at my latitude.

[Sausageman]

Hey Glenc,
My Wife and I visited Undarra in 1999, while on an Irish pub crawl of Qld.
No there isn't one there, it was just a spur of the moment trip to see the lava tubes.
If my memory is correct, it is about 160Km west of Ravenshoe, so it's a good drive and on dirt roads. We didn't stay there either, but the accomodation (railway carriages) looked pretty good, and the lights weren't be much of a problem then.
It is amazing how cool it is in the caves, a welcome respite that far North.
Enjoy your trip.

Mike.