Lance - Just a thought - you are more than welcome to build an observatory on top of the hill on our 120 acre property near Cooma, NSW (about 4.5 hours from Sydney and heading towards our snow fields). It's heading up into our snow country, and is in a double rain shadow - resulting in typically dry weather most of the time. The air is pretty stable and in winter it's nice and cold - down to about 20 deg F on some days, resulting in fabulous seeing.
There's no permanent accommodation, but we are building a shed to stay in, and the Murrumbidgee River runs right through the place. The top of the hill is at around 3,000 feet, which in US terms isn't high - but this is Australia.
There'd be no need to purchase land - just build the observatory - easy! As long as there was room for my 12" LX200GPS I'd be happy. There'd be no rent - I'd love someone to stay on the place just so that there's someone there from day to day. We go down every month or so for a weekend, but that's about it. Nice and private! To build on the hill you'd need a 4WD to get up there, but that's no problem over here. There's no power as such, but we were thinking of going with a decent wind turbine and/or solar anyway.
The township of Cooma is 15 mins by car, so it's close to amenities without being too close. Light pollution from that township is very low as it's tcked down in between the hills.
Anyway - just a thought - the offer is there. Have a look at our website: http://www.omaroo.net and click on the location map link in the menu.
Here's the view from the top of the hill (elevation 300 feet above the rest of the property). The second shot - those black dots are cattle:
HEY CHRIS,
Thats a hell of an offer,hope you sent Lance a pm on that one. It's a wonder everyone hasn't jumped on it,LOL.
Truly a wonderful gesture
Cheers,
Duncan
HEY CHRIS,
Thats a hell of an offer,hope you sent Lance a pm on that one. It's a wonder everyone hasn't jumped on it,LOL.
Truly a wonderful gesture
Cheers,
Duncan
Hell Yes!!! This is a great offer and I'd be on it like the proverbial fly except it is too far from me. I just wish I could find a farm up here that had a river and a place to park my caravan so i could go observing once a month or so.
Yes i was tempted to go there, but the one in Coonabarabran has a comfy
room 4the little woman who i have to keep happy! You see i am on a quest
to build an observatory/home for part time use and Coona is on the short
list for the following reasons: #1 love small towns, #2 Siding Springs Ob.
& #3 They have some B & B's that might take me up on my offer to build
an observatory at their place for a win/win for both of us....
Lance - Just a thought - you are more than welcome to build an observatory on top of the hill on our 120 acre property near Cooma, NSW (about 4.5 hours from Sydney and heading towards our snow fields). It's heading up into our snow country, and is in a double rain shadow - resulting in typically dry weather most of the time. The air is pretty stable and in winter it's nice and cold - down to about 20 deg F on some days, resulting in fabulous seeing.
There's no permanent accommodation, but we are building a shed to stay in, and the Murrumbidgee River runs right through the place. The top of the hill is at around 3,000 feet, which in US terms isn't high - but this is Australia.
There'd be no need to purchase land - just build the observatory - easy! As long as there was room for my 12" LX200GPS I'd be happy. There'd be no rent - I'd love someone to stay on the place just so that there's someone there from day to day. We go down every month or so for a weekend, but that's about it. Nice and private! To build on the hill you'd need a 4WD to get up there, but that's no problem over here. There's no power as such, but we were thinking of going with a decent wind turbine and/or solar anyway.
The township of Cooma is 15 mins by car, so it's close to amenities without being too close. Light pollution from that township is very low as it's tcked down in between the hills.
Anyway - just a thought - the offer is there. Have a look at our website: http://www.omaroo.net and click on the location map link in the menu.
Here's the view from the top of the hill (elevation 300 feet above the rest of the property). The second shot - those black dots are cattle:
___________________________________ ____________________
Your on my short-short-triple-short list! w/your spread you could start a
Dark Sky Community! Like i say Coona in the sights for a good-hard look
to put a quality observatory at for US ALL TO USE! i have seen
everything in the North & a good bit in the South too. Now i want to SEE
it all, plus have braggin' rights to one of the finest amateur astronomer
observatories in the Southern Hemisphere. Thanx Chris, OZ RULES! If
Coona don't want me & my scopes i'll be ringing ya up!
Glad to be of service Lance - sounds like a great thing you're looking to do. When the time comes for you to seriously look around, let's talk. We have a great place, it's a shame to keep it to ourselves - and I've been thinking of building an obs there anyway.
If you're into fishing, then we have trout in the river too.
The final photo is of our current accommodation - but we're working on that soon. Very pleasant still...
Lance, I suggest you visit the country and tour around for a while before making a decision, Australia's a huge diverse place with a lot of variation in real estate prices.
___________________________________ ________________________
What a nice set-up! talk about a sweet place to call home! Who ever
gets to be the new owners of this obsevatory will be star struck for
sure!
Lance, I suggest you visit the country and tour around for a while before making a decision, Australia's a huge diverse place with a lot of variation in real estate prices.
Yes, that's a gimmie...... after a lot of research on my own and talkin'
to allot of Aussies.... i come with this "sketch":
Anything past -35 is just to low, so it won't matter to me how dark it is...
Far North OZ, too wet. Same w/the entire East Coast.
NW corner: Cyclones
So, when i think of places that are, Good for a observatory/home,
in a place w/some "life"..... the short 1st to look at list would be
(with the above factors) Coonabarabran & some where outside of
Alice Springs...
Just to start with..... ya gotta start some where.
Hi all,
Lance i'm sure if you look around you'll find somewhere.
Maybe outback Queensland (Longreach) or somewhere similar.
Of course the drawback being hot and dusty.
Maybe build underground like Coober Pedy in Sth. Aust.
Cheers
Duncan
Not going lower than -35 will cut off quite a bit of the SCP area. Yes it's circumpolar, but if you stay up too far, it becomes 'seasonal', not 'all year'.
And some of the best objects in all the sky are in the SCP region: Magellanic clouds, Omega Centauri, 47Tuc, Carina, etc.
Glad to be of service Lance - sounds like a great thing you're looking to do. When the time comes for you to seriously look around, let's talk. We have a great place, it's a shame to keep it to ourselves - and I've been thinking of building an obs there anyway.
If you're into fishing, then we have trout in the river too.
The final photo is of our current accommodation - but we're working on that soon. Very pleasant still...
Got it Lance - thanks. Some very intriguing ideas there. Sounds great!
I've attached a zipped Google Earth KMZ placemark file (this forum won't let me attach an uncompressed one). Unzip it and import it into G/E and then, by depressing your mouse' scrollwheel and moving the mouse around you'll be able to see the lay of the land in pseudo 3-D.
Oh - and the Tidbinbilla Deep Space Tracking Center (heavily involved in the Cassini-Huygens mission) is a mere 85km (53m) away if you want the biggest radio dish (70 metres) in Australia along with two other 34 metre dishes.
Yes i was tempted to go there, but the one in Coonabarabran has a comfy
room 4the little woman who i have to keep happy! You see i am on a quest
to build an observatory/home for part time use and Coona is on the short
list for the following reasons: #1 love small towns, #2 Siding Springs Ob.
& #3 They have some B & B's that might take me up on my offer to build
an observatory at their place for a win/win for both of us....
be well, Lance
Coona has it all. Plenty to do outside astronomy.
It is competative when it comes to obs in the back yard.
A drive out to SSO is like driving through a mushroom field.
Hopefully I won't be leaving this town in a hurry.
see ya soon mates!
Plenty to do outside astronomy.
