Finally a new observatory site! - Update

[strongmanmike]

Wallaroo Observatory :D

Just nabbed a property outside Canberra
First photo is a 180deg view looking West towards the southern Brindabellas

At 610m ASL it enjoys 360deg full sky access and reasonably dark rural skies but most importantly...NO NEIGHBOURS! :cool:

Will be down there with Agi (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/134534735/original) my McLaren Scope, next month...can't wait :stargaze:

Sorry but after not having my scope in my own backyard for 5 years :scared: and being at the mercy of pure light pollution and crap seeing for the last year and a half now :mad2:... I am just excited...so thanks for listening :P

Mike

[TrevorW]

Congrads Mike looks lovely (apart from the clouds)

[Tandum]

Looks like the goods Mike. Do you own the top of the hill to the right as well?

[RickS]

Congrats, Mike! You'll have so much great data there'll be no time for repros :lol:

[Matt Wastell]

Congrats Mike! You must be very pleased indeed!

[DavidTrap]

Congrats on the "tree change" Mike. What sort of observatory are you planning?

610m ASL - they've been predicting snow down to 400m in some places this weekend...

I've been using CCD Commander lately - fabulous to let the imaging rig run overnight while I sleep! Can't wait until my life progresses to the point that I can move to a permanent setup!

DT

[Miaplacidus]

Ah, the serenity...

[strongmanmike]

Yes, I tried to work it better Trevor...but unfortunately NBN Co. doesn't have an office in Chile :doh:



No that hill is not part of the property but it is quite a few acres...when we inspected it I looked very carefully all around for all other houses, lights floodlights etc and couldn't spot much at all within koowee :thumbsup:



...don't coun't on it ;) :lol:



Yep, can't wait to select the observing site, have a few acres to chose from :D



Just an outside partial set-up for now = mount remains aligned and under a bag, scope comes in and out each session but noooo travelling anymore, twill be right outside my door :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Attached is the view from the front gate looking away from the house toward the southern Brindabellas :D...I think I have died and gone to heaven

[RB]

Awesome Mike, I know how hard it would've been for you to be away from a rural home setting for 5 yrs.

:thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

6 years now :sadeyes:

Cheers Andi :thumbsup:

[Nico13]

Great spot Mike,
Drove through that way a couple of years back when on hols, I think your on a winner there, very nice spot.:thumbsup:

[RobF]

Very happy for you Mike. We'll be expecting the next Southern Hemisphere digital sky survey to start soon!

[traveller]

great site Mike, when is the observatory warming party ;)

[sheeny]

Congrats Mike!

It looks the business!

Al.

[Ric]

Way to go Mike.

It's a lovely area down that way. Enjoy your dark skies.

Cheers

[strongmanmike]

Cheers boys :thumbsup:...looks like "I" won't be down there full time until mid Sept though....might make a trip or two in that time to set everything up.

Observatory will certainly need warming Bo, its cold in Canberra compared to Newcastle :cold:...summer is ok though, can be hot and dry

Mike

[multiweb]

Back under dark skies. Must be a good feeling. I can see the motivation to get out and image sky rocketing soon. :thumbsup:
So what's the first target? M8 I hope.

[strongmanmike]

Yep, I have several attempts at the Lagoon planned actually...plus then a few repro's..so bet ya can't wait :thumbsup:

Mike

[SkyViking]

That's awesome Mike, congratulations! :D
I'll be looking forward to counting the mag25 background galaxies in your images now :P

[gregbradley]

Fantastic Mike.

It looks very peaceful and you should get some great clear nights and decent seeing there with nice dark skies.

Greg.

[ZeroID]

Congratulations, looks like a bloody awesome spot. :thumbsup:
And the clouds are already breaking up. I can see you getting a few visitors with scopes in tow. Better set up the campsites first. :lol:

[RB]

Yeah it's 6 year now !
I remember drooling over your ads in S&S mag selling your stuff, isn't that right?

[strongmanmike]

The skies will be esentially perfect to the west, north and even much of the east but not sure how good they will be to the southeast toward Canberra as we are only 9km (as the crow flies) fom the edge of the last suburb...Canberra is long and thin though and we are at the pointy end so to speak, so it will resitrict the worst of the glow to a narrower angle of horizon at least...so should be ok still :prey:. Good thing about Canberra is that it is inland and kinda high with no industry so the air is usually quite clear thus the sky glow is less intense than the likes of Newcastle and Sydney and it gets dark very quickly as you leave the edges...that's what I'm banking on anyway :lol:

Yes Rolf, back in 2002 from an outer subburb of Canberra (Ngunnawal) I was able to visually bag several Mag 15 galaxies in Cetus (darkest horizon) with my 12" LX200

Hope so Brent, dark skies but still a convenient drive

Yes Andrew that was 2006 Mt Campbell Observatory (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/55287589/original) that was certainly heaven ...hopefully again, one day :sadeyes:

Mike

[marc4darkskies]

OUTSTANDING Mike!!!!! Congrats mate - that place looks awesome for AP! :party::party:

Cheers,
Marcus

[strongmanmike]

He he he... :wink2:

[Marke]

About time :thumbsup: great news and grats , cant wait to see what you do for a permanent set up :)

[DavidTrap]

Just looked up Wallaroo on the map to work out the rough location of where you are.

My Aunt & Uncle lived in Fraser in the early 80s. Their house was on the last street in the suburb and beyond them to the north west was the border of the ACT, about 500metres away. From the map, your block will be out somewhere across those paddocks.

DT

[MattT]

I well remember the cold and clear skies of Canberra 30+ years ago...hope you have the heated boots etc. Well done Mike, livin' the dream.
Matt

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Guys :thumbsup:

Yes David you are on the right track... a few paddocks though ;) :thumbsup:

Matt, can't wait for that familiar cold :lol:...back in 06 I was at nearly 800m ASL at Mt Campbell just East of Canberra and one night was out (in the open) imaging and it nudged -7C at 4am :cold:........ :cool: I remember I didn't have a freezer suit but had on two beanies, two pairs of tracky pants two pairs of explorer soxs, ugg boots and 7 layers of clothing on, ice on everything including my shoulders...ah that's the life, of a REAL imager :D

Mike

[mozzie]

nice site mike !!!!!! your sounding really keen to get under some dark skies and flogg the guts out of your new gear...all the best to you with your move back to canberra

[Phil Hart]

nice one mike. not hard to see how much this means to you. hope it delivers lots of happiness and nice images!

[bartman]

Onya Mike you lucky so and so.....
Jealous I am, a lot.
Have fun!
Bartman

[strongmanmike]

You bet...shame it will take a while before I am up and running, wife and son move in next weekend, I won't be down for several weeks after that most likely...talk about torture :sadeyes:



Cheers Phil, it's not the Yukon but I'll take it :lol: :thumbsup:



Yes I have been jealous of enough peope for long enough...now it's my turn :P

Mike

[Ric]

Break out those Beanies again Mike, nothing has changed. :cold:

I'm at 733 ASL and had a -6 at about the same time the other day.

Cheers

[CoolhandJo]

congrates! look out here come some real cracking images!

[DavidU]

Well done Mike, this you deserve ! Look forward to some deep images.

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Boys...may try to get all my gear down there next weekend, this weekend we (wife and son) move in and I scout out observing sites (200 acre property :D)... we were supposed to go to a wedding actually but had to pull out. I'll probably still be in Newcastle until mid-late Sept though :sadeyes:

Mike

[strongmanmike]

Well we moved into the new property (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/145507420/original) on the weekend.

It was freezing in Canberra and we had no gas for the heater yet, so we huddled around two column heaters, it was like camping inside a house :cold: :lol:

I had no scope or imaging gear just my eyes and a pair of binoculars. The clouds parted for long periods on Sat night and most of Sun night to show me what the skies were like at various times throughout the night, see how much Canberra's glow affected the sky and I was able to verify the quality of view and scout the land for possible observing locations.

As a litmus test, a few things that I could see were: a bright Milky Way overhead with lots of dark lanes, both the LMC and SMC and make out the Tarantula in the LMC, 47 Tuc, the faint star in the coal sack (mag 5.3), The Andromeda Galaxy, M33 and the Zodiacal light was obvious in the western sky in the early darkness. Due to it being right near the worst of the Canberra sky glow (not to mention my astigmatism :doh: ) I had to wait until 3am (less glow as everyone in Canberra is asleep :thumbsup:) to find Sigma Octans (mag 5.5) but it was only glimpsed with averted vision. Given I have mild astigmatism, views would be better with optically perfect eyes.

At 3am standing at my intended observing spot (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/145509157/original) (first photo attached = 360 deg view) I counted just two single distant porch lights in a 360 deg sweep of the horizon - very cool :thumbsup: funnily enough a third distant light was visible if I walked a few metres from the intended observing site, looked like a couple of lights really...in the morning and looking through binoculars, I discovered what it was (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/145508251/original) :eyepop: 22km away - how ironic :lol:

So all up I am very happy...now to get the scope and gear down there ASAP :)

Oh and here are our new neighbours (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/145508376/original) :D...and my new get fit Worlds Longest driveway (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/145508748/original) - long way to take the Weely Bin :lol:

[gary]

Congratulations Mike,

It looks fabulous!

I struggle to see Sigma Octanis from the top of Mt Kaputar naked eye,
and that would have to be as good as observing locations get in NSW, so your
skies sound pretty good if you could make it out with averted vision despite
some Canberra light glow.

We look forward to the images!

Sounds cold enough that you could milk the cows for a midnight treat of ice cream.

[strongmanmike]

He he, yes well it was very difficult but with some perseverance I am happy that I did indeed glimpse it, it was easy from my old Mt Campbell site (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/observatorygeneral) but the SCP was located in the skies directly away from Canberras glow.

There is a lot of horse chaff around so I am worried that it will blow around in the dry summer into my electronics and onto my optics, so I've picked an observing/imaging spot furthest from that but still within 25m of a power point :thumbsup: It is quite an exposed spot though and each night this weekend it was quite breezy, brrrrrrrrr so I may need to rig up some wind breaks..?

Mike

[bartman]

No need for this:campfire:,
but more of this:stargaze: and this:astron:and this:cold:

Awesome Mike!
Have fun!
Bartman

[SkyViking]

Looking awesome Mike, and that is a serious driveway! :lol:
Have fun building your obs, I'm sure you will soon be happily imaging from your new site. :thumbsup:

It's interesting to compare limiting magnitudes. I can just glimpse magnitude 5.6 stars near the zenith from where I am (15km from Auckland CDB), so if you can see that in the glow from Canberra then I guess your overall limiting magnitude must be 6 or deeper?

[strongmanmike]

Yep two right there Bartman, been doing that for too long now, will be so awewseom to just have the gear in my own yard!! :thumbsup:



Yep 1.5km long :)



Only renting so building anything sustantial will be out of the question, but having more control over my sessions and under a dark sky will be great.



My eyesight is the main limiting factor, I need glasses to correct mostly astigmatism but a small amount of short sightedness too, it doesn't worry my day life but it would likely be enough to blur out the faintest stars at night :sadeyes:...but that means my new skies must be even a little better than they appear :thumbsup:

Mike

[gregbradley]

Sounds great Mike.

Wind could be a real problem though with your big tube scope acting like a wind sail.

I was unable to use my 12.5 inch RCOS on many a trip to my dark site observatory with 2.3m high walls due to wind. It only has to stick out above the wall by a small amount to be pushed around.

Also some wind will swirl down into the observatory. Not usually much of a problem for sleek refractors but big tubed scopes it is.

If you made a wind break perhaps an angled sheet that moved the air up and away from your observatory rather than at 90 degrees where it could create a low pressure behind the screen and cause its own swirls.

Also mounting your scope a bit lower inside. So your pier height, if you make a pier, should be lower. Seeing as we only really image when an object is higher than about 30 degrees it should be able to sit down inside protected but still see that 60 degrees of useable imaging angle.

My dark site can be windy and is a side effect of wide open spaces or being elevated with hills channelling the wind through the area.

Greg.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Totally agree Greg, I wanted to position myself in a spot that wouldn't be affected by family turning on lights inside (nothing worse than a paranoid astroimager yelling at everyone who turns on a light :lol:). If it were my property I would be putting in something like this (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/55284068/large)again in that spot (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/145509157/original) :D.....:sad:

In the meantime :sadeyes:...I will need to try and mitigate the breezes as you say, particularly since I am now considering a 12" or 14" ODK :D which will sit up higher :scared:

Mike

[h0ughy]

well done mate - looks awesome and i suspect there will be a void of missing photons soon

[strongmanmike]

Must admit, It will be hard hanging on here for another few weeks :nerd:

I see you had another successful AstroFest :thumbsup:

Mike

[Jeffkop]

Looks like a great site Mike. To have the perfect site means great distances are involved between you and civilization and that may not be ideal for everyone .. I know I wouldnt mind it it but then I think of the handiness of living closer to the places that sell stuff too. So it looks like a great compromise to me considering the reality of it all that there are many other "observatory using" limiting factors as well.

Look forward to the build photos and of course a plethora of those unmistakable Sidonio's. No one does blue stars quite like you.

It looks like its going to be freezing in winter and very warm in summer from the photos.

And those new neighbours .. they are the BEST neighbours around.

Enjoy your new home

[strongmanmike]

Ha ha Cheers Jeff :)

You're right it's all about compromise in the end and this is pretty well that. Currently trying to sort the best way to mitigate the winds in the exposed spot I have chosen to work from without building a full observatory (it's a rental property).

re the blue stars, Rolf (SkyViking) did a shot of M7 recently that killed me in the blue star department :lol: (nice photo though Rolf).

MIke

[marc4darkskies]

Oh stop it Mike - you are cruel and inhumane!!!

Please refrain from:

1) posting pictures of beautiful, peaceful, dark sky rural settings
2) posting world class, award winning images taken at the new site.

I'm jealous enough as it is!!! ;)

Cheers, Marcus

[strongmanmike]

:lol:...re point 2) you got nuttin to be jealous of mate ;)

Mike

[Paul Haese]

4 posts concreted into the ground with tarps tied on to them. That will be a minimal amount to pull out later and provide the wind break you need.

Measured the sky at my place a couple of weeks ago with grus right over head and it came up at 21.8 twice and 21.76 twice. With any luck your place will be as dark.

[Varangian]

That's one big sky:thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Yes that is an option :question: and more robust than the folded partition design...

They are good figures Paul, you are very lucky to have two sites. Can't imagine my skies are that good, they are quite dark and all I have though, soooo... tis what it tis :)

Mike

[MattT]

My Mum lives in Canberra and about once a year I drive up...so will be going by your place. For the bin the only way is hook it to the tow ball on the car and drive. :thumbsup:
Matt

[strongmanmike]

We'll just leave the bin at the front gate and take rubbish to it when ever we go out :)....hopefully wild animals don't tip it over...? :question:

Mike

[Peter Ward]

Gutsy move, which I've considered many times with my better half. (attached building-block view still not out of the question...but sea-spray is eventually fatal for optics! :rolleyes: ..sigh..)

To date I've decided to stay put, plus my superannuation would not be looking so super if the missus' grew *really* tired of my Asto-imaging and being stuck in the 'boonies.

Thankfully solar-imaging does not require dark skies! :)

Good luck with the relocation.

[strongmanmike]

That's the key, we aren't stuck in the boonies, it was a great compomise far enough out to have dark skies but close enough to be 30min from major shops and excellent restaurants etc :thumbsup: this outcome is very doable around Canberra because it is an isolated city, suburbia has a very defined edge and once you leave it the skies get dark very quickly.

Good luck Tuesday night too

Mike

[DavidTrap]

What about a using some screw in ground anchors and building a "relocatable observatory"?

DT

[Ric]

So true Mike

In fact the only time I can see something that resembles a light dome from Canberra in the west is when there is 100% cloud cover and the light is reflected of the cloud layer.

[strongmanmike]

You are on the better side North East but IMO South East of Qbyn is the best location as it means all the cool faint things in the southern sky remain in dark skies all night. I tried for this and nearly had a great spot in Hoskinstown but it fell through, it was twice as far out as I am now, just down the road from the Mills Cross Radio telescope and was at 815m ASL! that would have been peeeeerfect. When we are looking to purchase again I will be pushing for that side of Canberra :thumbsup: :prey:

Mike

[Peter Ward]

Sorry, that was not really what I meant: my better half considers downtown Canberra to be marginal :)