Quote:
Originally Posted by Wavytone
Hehe you've learned something. Been there done that, 30 years ago, as far as Nowra, Berry and the hinterland. There's really nowhere down south any good for observing... the microclimate near the coast is bad enough with salt-laden moist air (sea breeze) and inland the farmland means dark, rich soils with loads of water = dew, really seriously bad dew. What's more the escarpment doesn't help either, I'm not sure why, whether it's hanging swamps or whatever, it still dewy and the transparency very poor at night.
To escape dew look for dry sandstone country, ideally national park, so it's well away from farmland. Clue: pale sandy soil doesn't radiate as much heat away at night as black soil does, and sandstone doesn't hold as much water.
If you're down south I would head inland... Bungonia or a ridge somewhere above the Araluen valley across to Braidwood, that's seriously dry.
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Yeah, I was actually at 600m elevation on the plateau not far SW of Nerriga and near Moreton NP (so climatologically not unlike Braidwood)... but Saturday night, the moisture easily got that far inland! It's usually a very dry site for observing, but they've had a lot of rain, there was a black snake swimming in the dam, and moist, moist air off the east! I'd imagine the coast would typically be much more humid.