In Tassie we have to endure forestry regenration burns from around the end of March until it gets too dry to burn safely (arpund 9 months of the year).
During this time it's not comfortable to breath the air outside the house and visibility is often reduced to a couple of Km's. One morning I awoke to see smoke (not fog) settled in the valley that was so dense I couldn't see my back fence 50 metres away. I won't even put my gear outside untill the day after a very heavy rain as the filth that's in the air is unbelievable.
Forestry is totally out of control in this state and is not only destroying our environment but also our democracy.
On a recent trip to Victoria I noticed quite a bit of smoke around Melbourne, residents of that state will be peased to know that you are getting much of that smoke courtesy of forestry interests in Tasmania. ABC weather tonight showed satellite images of the smoke trail moving north & over Victoria.
If you're not happy about breathing another states polluted air and having your seeing ruined I suggest you check out this link and start writing to your local member.
FWIW forestry in Tasmania at least is exempt from ALL environmental law. Smoking isn't allowed in public places, why should forestry be any different.
We have has a lot of smoke lately - I thought someone had been burning off, visibility is terrible, hopefully over the weekend a breeze will blow it away
Seeing has been poor all week despite the still air and cloudless nights .... it's good to now know the cause. Only positive is that the sun and moon both look fantastic to the naked eye when near the horizon. A few of us in the ASV are planning to head up to Heathcote on Saturday night, so hopefully the wind will have blown all of the smoke up to Sydney by then.
yer there's been smoke for the last 10 days basically, also disgraceful seeing, despite a stable high pressure system and the nearest jetstreams being hundreds of miles away. I can see only 3 stars in Crux and a small handful of others. NELM would be around +1 for the last 10 nights. You can smell the smoke and tonight it is especially bad with the moon casting an orange glow.
Here in Vic it's the DSE (department of sustainability and environment) who are the criminals. Arsonists with protection of the law These are the same people that caused the catastrophic Wilsons Prom fire with one of their supid arson-fests. I for one am absolutely disgusted that these people are allowed to pollute the state with such filth, robbing us of our hobby, and making life a misery for those with respitory problems. I mean, we ahd 10 potentially clear nights, with likely good seeing ruined. Now, we have days of winter storms, cold fronts and rain to look forward to
On one single day recently, during the Targa Tasmania rally an event that draws national and international entries and visitors, 27 regeneration fires were lit, needless to say visitors to the state were not impressed.
Every astronomer (and taxpayer) should be aware of what is happening in Forestry, it's fuelled by legalised tax avoidance in the form of Managed Investment Schemes and no one is immune from the consequences. MIS schemes are distorting our ecomony, decimatimg our agricultural sector and causing massive environmental damage and pollution. Tasmania is just a few years ahead of the rest of Australia, but believe me if these schemes continue filthy skies will be the norm in your state in all but the hottest and driest months as is the case here.
If you have google earth here are a couple of KMZ files, take a look at the area used for forestry as well as one of the woodchip piles that are fed by the destruction of native forest. To get an idea of the size of these piles find one of the log trucks in the area.
Last edited by acropolite; 25-04-2008 at 10:18 AM.
its hopeless from an imaging point of view... the nicest weather and the worst smoke.
for those interested the DSE puts out where the burn offs are and details , i got the pic from their website http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/DSE/nrenfo...2573B700174349
seems were stuck for a while as they want to fireproof all the watercatchment areas
The most annoying thing is that they are being "spun" in the local media as either bushfires or hazard reduction burns, of which they are neither, hazard reduction burns are low intensity burns and are usually conducted in late spring.
we do experience this from dry land farmers here quite regularly, around this time of year they burn the stubble and plow it back in i think, but it has ruined a few comet apparitions in the past, trick is to drive to where there is no agriculture, except maybe grazing
yer funny how these trolls are doing their dirty work righ beofre the rainy season. As soon as winter is over, a hell of alot more "fuel" will have been generated.
Our only hope now is to get clear skies with south/southeasterly winds.
^^ forecast is for a fine night on Tuesday night (I have wednesdays off from uni ) so hopefully we'll get some serious rain and gale force antarctic winds to really cleanse the air before then.
No smoke out here in the desert , No trees to burn here either but i would love to know what rain is....but seriously we have to contend with dust over the mirror ,i can see it there but refuse to clean it properly only blow with a pinch blower...cheers kev.
Last night was the worst transparency I have ever seen on a cloudless night. From my house in Melbourne's suburbs I could only see three stars in the Southern Cross by 11pm. Very frustrating as the seeing was not bad at all and I wanted to do some lunar imaging.
I've just arrived home from a week on the NSW south coast. We drove through Gippsland on the 19th and it was disgusting from basically Melbourne to Orbost. Came home down the Bonang Highway and hit Orbost yesterday - smoked out. We overnighted at smokey Lakes Entrance - didn't bother going outside, the air was terrible. We drove home today - the smoke is still there, all the way to Pakenham.
These are the same people that caused the catastrophic Wilsons Prom fire with one of their supid arson-fests. I for one am absolutely disgusted that these people are allowed to pollute the state with such filth, robbing us of our hobby, and making life a misery for those with respitory problems. I mean, we ahd 10 potentially clear nights, with likely good seeing ruined. Now, we have days of winter storms, cold fronts and rain to look forward to 
) so hopefully we'll get some serious rain and gale force antarctic winds to really cleanse the air before then.
