dizzy2005
17-05-2009, 01:59 PM
Until a year ago I lived in the UK (Guildford then Scotland), and being in Brisbane has got me back into astronomy.
I was out for 3 hours last night loving every minute of it (My wife thinks I must be doing something else as she cant see how I could spend 3 hours looking at the sky). (And I'm using a 60 mm toy like refractor, while I await my new 8 inch dob)
Heres whats great about briz.
1. Skies are clear more often than they are cloudy, in the uk I could wait 2 weeks for 1 cloud free night.
2. Temperatures are well above zero, in the uk its only really dark at a reasonable hour in Winter as sub zero temps would be the norm. Especially in Scotland, I'd go outside all wrapped up full of good intentions then 20 mins later be inside with a cup of tea. (I undestand sub zero is good for quality of viewing, but its not much use if your indoors)
3. It gets dark early even in summer, horray for qld's lack of daylight saving time
4. The southern sky! You still get orion but you also get a ton of great stuff to look at and I havent even seen LMC and SMC yet! I'm still learning my way arround the southern sky, good fun learning new (to me) constellations.
5. Dark skies, even in the suburbs of brisbane its still good viewing compared to a UK city, I think in the uk we had street lights every 5 meters, and they all pointed upwards instead of downwards).
Last night I was doing the scorpion and the surrounding clusters and nebulae. (it finally came out from the giant tree behind my house)
MikeD
I was out for 3 hours last night loving every minute of it (My wife thinks I must be doing something else as she cant see how I could spend 3 hours looking at the sky). (And I'm using a 60 mm toy like refractor, while I await my new 8 inch dob)
Heres whats great about briz.
1. Skies are clear more often than they are cloudy, in the uk I could wait 2 weeks for 1 cloud free night.
2. Temperatures are well above zero, in the uk its only really dark at a reasonable hour in Winter as sub zero temps would be the norm. Especially in Scotland, I'd go outside all wrapped up full of good intentions then 20 mins later be inside with a cup of tea. (I undestand sub zero is good for quality of viewing, but its not much use if your indoors)
3. It gets dark early even in summer, horray for qld's lack of daylight saving time
4. The southern sky! You still get orion but you also get a ton of great stuff to look at and I havent even seen LMC and SMC yet! I'm still learning my way arround the southern sky, good fun learning new (to me) constellations.
5. Dark skies, even in the suburbs of brisbane its still good viewing compared to a UK city, I think in the uk we had street lights every 5 meters, and they all pointed upwards instead of downwards).
Last night I was doing the scorpion and the surrounding clusters and nebulae. (it finally came out from the giant tree behind my house)
MikeD