Quote:
Originally Posted by baileys2611
Mike, summary for you because I think I've rambled on a bit below: the overall conditions have been 'good' - but not 'great' and that's changed recently. About three years ago it was clear days and cold clear nights in winter, very little humidity or moisture. Lately it's hard to pick.
Some detail
We have great dark skies, very little to no light pollution unless you are pointing south and low on the horizon - that's where Canberra sits and you get some interference there. I can see the large and small Magellanic Clouds on most dark nights (when there's little to no moon and I don't have superman eyes).
Seeing varies because of a few factors, the relative humidity is high in Spring and the upper atmosphere wind conditions are different to those near the ground - we often have a pretty high jetsteam. I use this site to gauge upper atmosphere conditions and temper that with those on the ground.
Fog happens but normally in the mornings. The weather has changed a bit recently, it used to be many mornings in winter, and was often a 'pea souper' but lately it's harder to pick. Nights - not so much, if it's a clear day it's normally a clear night and winter in Canberra (and Murrumbateman) has normally been clear days and cold nights.
Poor Paul in Adelaide soaks up a lot of the moisture before it comes here, we often get the 'leftover' weather from Adelaide in winter. In summer an easterly comes in from the coast and brings the moisture with it. Spring, we're getting jetstreams off the south so it can be frustrating and Autumn is normally good results. |
Thanks a lot for that Simon. We are contemplating a move back out to a rural location near Canberra and obviously Murrumbateman is an option. I have had feedback from Anthony Wesley and Dave Herald already and you all seem to confirm that the main potential problematic issue is fog..? The development of Fairly could be problematic in the future too, so that would need to be avoided and will likely degrade the quality of the night sky as time goes on if it were to in anyway mimic Googong and Bungendore....never the less the area is probably a good compromise.
Thanks for that seeing site, hadn't seen it before. My last OT question, have you found it to be relatively accurate?
Mike