Hi everyone...
I live in the Northern suburbs of Melbourne, so last night I went searching for a reasonable spot with a clear view to South-West. The best I've found is at Mt Ridley at the corner of Parkside Rise and Charteris Drive just off Mt Ridley road, Melways Edition number 34, map 386, K 1.
Parking is a bit scarce and there are houses around you under construction, but you are about 200 metres up..
If anyone else has a place to view from around Melboune please post it!!
Cheers!
There are people headed for Mt Cooper - apparently the highest spot in metro Melbourne (Melway 19 G1). Usually easy parking in Prospect Hill Drive. I think the view to the SW there is quite clear - however over some miles of Melbourne suburbia.
I'm going scouting the eastern side of the Bay today for likely sites.
For pre-sunrise later in the week, I can view from a few local parks, though it has to rise over some low hills.
I am in Bentleigh so we were thinking of driving to Brighton Beach or somewhere like that. I recall getting a good view to the horizon from the end of North Road, and there is a bit of parking there. Maybe along the Beach Rd would be good too?
I've settled on Mordialloc. Should be a clear view directly across the water and there is lots of interesting foreground for composing photos. I can see sunshine out my window (though it was cloudy and smokey this morning) and the breeze seems to be slight. Cross fingers!! Three hours to go
I went to Brighton last night around 8:30. There was plenty of parking available and lots of places to set up. If you want to take photos there isn't much in the way of "foreground" but I wasn't taking any shots anyway. The comet was clearly visible but very difficult to find something to block out the sun, no buildings around there. Once the sun set I was able to find it easily. Some low cloud blocked it out before it set but it was visible for a quarter of an hour or so. I had a couple of people have a look through binoculars, I set my 11x70s on a tripod on a path.
I will be there again tonight if the weather is clear. I managed to find the comet around 4 on Sunday. It took a while as I need to find a spot where the roof of the house shielded me but the trees did not fill the rest of the sky. I said to my wife "I found it!" Then she asked where it was, to which I had to say "I have lost if again and I cant remember where it was!" It took me half an hour to find it again.
Tonight should be good with it being much higher. I must admit it is a bit of a buzz being able to see a comet in the middle of the afternoon. I wonder if they will have anything on the final "feel good article" they always have at the end of the news?
Does anyone know what the view is like from Mt Macedon? I found this site which looks like it may have potential.http://home.iprimus.com.au/foo7/chwest.html I,ll go for a drive up there today and check it out.
Bonus is that it is only 15 min up the road
It's looking hopeless today on current conditions. If we could see through the bushfire smoke that has rolled in overnight, I think we'd see heavy cloud cover. Weather man just said cloud should clear - keep those fingers crossed.
Hi daniel...I don't know of many places around East Melbourne..maybe head for the bayside???
I checked for the weather around Melbourne today..morning fog with smoke haze clearing...increaseing sunshine...ESE wind about 4 kph in the afternoon. Sattlelite picture shows cloud clearing from the west of the state as far as Adelaide..so..fingers crossed!!
BTW...Great story OneOfOne!
Hi all - thanks for all the updates. Looks like bayside will be the go.
I headed west last yesterday eveing hoping to get a glimpse as I knew of some higher places (west being along the western highway out near Myrniong) but the cloud cover came in at sunset, plus i don't think I had a great view of the horizon.
Will be Bayside tonight and hopefully the weather will be good to us - it's all very exciting.
I am surprised no one has mentioned this but the best view would have to be Mt Dandenong! It faces West and should have a great view....except for the smoke haze grrrr...!
Trouble with eastern Melbourne locations is that the skyglow from the city is right where you don't want it so you need to go that much farther out of the city heading east. Or head south towards the coast. Tonight it's going to be hazy from the smoke, but tomorrow could be okay. Fingers crossed.
Here is the sunset 10 minutes ago and 7 minutes ago!!!!
All buried in bushfire smoke!
That's luxury, Ken. Our Melbourne sun "set" several degrees above the horizon - after observing it directly through binoculars on and of for about 20 minutes since it was so well "filtered", it just slowly sank from view into a thick layer of bushfire smoke and, with it sank our hopes of seeing any sign of the comet. Venus was even a struggle.
they say the smoke in Melbourne is supposed to clear today (Tuesday) so I might be able to see it tonight. We didn't bother to drive to Brighton yesterday with all the smoke. The great thing about setting up in Brighton is you are south of the city and the sun sets opposite Werribbee or thereabouts. No city glow, and you can always fill in time watching the ferry heading for Tassie around that time!
Travelled to Brighton last night (Monday) in hope of seeing the elusive McNaught but due to smoke haze was out of luck.
Set up my binos on the tripod and hoped (and kept on hoping) but to no avail. Even poor Venus was struggling to shine through. There were a few people there hoping to catch a glimpse and people that had heard something on the news. One person did ask if the comet had "flown over us yet", so I explained where it should be and perhaps the next night (being tonight) may be better.
Supposed to be a late change coming to Melbourne - what this means, who knows. I'll be there again tonight (weather permitting).
acc. to the good people at the BOM, there is no "change" coming tonight, just "unstable air" that may or may not produce some showers or thunderstorms. Not looking good for the haze atm, with northeasterlies expected to persist. I'll try to post more up to date info later this afternoon.
Comet McNaught..viewing around Melbourne
Hi everyone...
