Quote:
Originally Posted by Camelopardalis
And for those of us bad/unlucky planetary wannabes without a monster travel budget, we'll have to find somewhere on the Australian continent  |
Hi Dunk,
In NSW, your best chance would probably still be Mt Kaputar.
It's over 1500m (5000)' and despite it being at a latitude of 30.2° S, on occasion it is
cool and crisp enough that it snows. Remarkable for a location near Narrabri and it
would probably be one of the most northerly locations on the continent that gets
snow. Snow gums abound up there.
What's more you can drive to the top and it is free of light pollution.
When they were looking for locations for the Anglo Australian Telescope, one
of the places they checked was Mt Kaputar before moving onto Sidings Springs where
they spent considerable time testing the seeing. Logistically Siding Springs was
an easier location to work at than Mt Kaputar. Anyone who has ever driven up the
narrow winding road to Mt Kaputar, which has had some improvements made in
recent years, will appreciate one of the reasons why. They also wanted to
site the AAO close to a major service center and Coona is more readily accessible
from Sidings Springs than Narrabri is from Mt Kaputar.
Mt Kaputar is unusual in NSW because it is so high, so remote and doesn't
have the characteristics of those long stretches of "mucky" turbulent mountain weather
you get in extended mountain ranges such as the Snowy or the Blue Mountains.
It is an isolated volcanic plug.
It is subject to the same sort of weather you get in the surrounding plains
and when bad weather does take place it is usually typified by those build-ups of
thunder-storms in the afternoon or evenings which then clear later in the night.
From the sweeping vistas Mt Kaputar provides, it is quite a spectacle watching
dramatic lightning storms roll over Sidings Springs and the Warrumbungles in
the distance.
Over the past couple of decades, observing groups from the Sydney clubs
and some of the Queensland clubs have had outings there and it is usually
one of those locations experienced observers look back on and typically express
having had good luck with.
I plan on getting up there again in a couple of weeks time.