Quote:
Originally Posted by BPO
Hi John.
It's called Benmore Peak observatory, in the South Island of New Zealand. The site's almost 2,000m ASL, and there's nothing much of anything to speak of for quite some distance in any direction.
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Well, having a wife who is a New Zealander (we all make mistakes) and having done 30+ trips to NZ in the past 10 years I know how dark it can get in some parts of the South Island of NZ, particularly towards the West Coast. I have never been to Benmore but from memory it is about 100km east of Wanaka? I know how dark it gets South West of Te Anau in Fiordland National Park around Doubtful Sound and Dusky Sound; and further North on the West Coast of the South Island around Westland National Park (Franz Joseph Glacier and Fox Glacier). Allowing for the fact the units can have a 10% (.1 mag) error I would think your reading is accurate as it would be a genuine 21.9 to 21.95 (allowing for unit tolerances). I would think this is about as high a genuine reading as anyone is going to get. This area is certainly as dark and provides as good a sky conditions as anywhere on the planet I have been to. Most importantly, transparency is always very good (when the clouds part) as airborne particulate is usually low. Some places in OZ are just as dark, but dust particulate often knocks the sky conditions back a notch. Unfortunately I don't own any "toy" telescopes to take with me when i go to NZ, so I am stuck with my 16 x 60 binos. I think your reading is right. Some of the high readings from places I know aren't nearly as dark as your area, I take with a grain of salt.
Cheers,
John B