Quote:
|
Originally Posted by iceman
Shame you can't make it! You'd love the dark skies!  |
Mike,
The skies are darker in Western Australia than they are in the Eastern States.
Northern parts of Western Australia (Kimberleys etc) have some of the darkest skies in the world along with some regions of Africa. Some parts of New Zealand are also very good. The West Coast of the South Island North of Haast is very dark. The very southern part of the West Coast of the South Island around Dusky Sound, which is not accessible by road, is very dark also. That having been said, in terms of absolute limiting magnitude, the skies at Lostock were certainly good, particularly so considering the close proximity to Sydney and the Central Coast (I can't drive to Dusky Sound in 2 hours
). In addition, the seeing was superb on 2 of the 3 nights. It is rare to get pretty dark skies, good transparency and good seeing combined together, Lostock excelled in this regard.
Roger would be better travelling North than East if he wants dark skies. Of course we would welcome him in the East for the social side of things to add to the festivities
CS-John B