List of Public Viewing Sites?

[pike]

Hi All

I am finally starting to get back into looking up and am fed up with how bright it is in my backyard.

Is there a list available of public areas such as parks, rest stops, lookouts, etc. that people have found and are freely accessible?

I'm in Northern Sydney so my interest lies in that realm, but I'm sure others would be interested in such a list if it exists.

[DeWynter (ILYA)]

Within Sydney metro the arguably best spot is at the Northern Sydney Astronomical Society observation site: https://nsas.org.au/

The next closest sport is Katoomba Airfield - it's absolutely fantastic due to air transparency: https://bmastro.org.au/

[Stonius (Markus)]

In Melbourne, the ASV has a site at Heathcote if you're a member. I've studied the light pollution maps and for skies that dark it's hard to get anywhere that's closer to Melbourne without having to balance how much light pollution is acceptable with how far you have to drive.


Plus the facilities are worth it - Kitchen, Toilets, Showers, even bunk-rooms. And that's not to mention the 40" dob they run up there. It's pretty cool, is all I'm saying.


Markus

[By.Jove (Jove)]

https://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/...ad.php?t=35603

[glend (Glen)]

There is, was, the old Mangrove Mountain Pony Club site, which certain ISS members had gate keys for. Covid killed off Pony Club outings, and they have not started up again. Perhaps prod the thread that exists for that site, that's assuming your willing to cross the Hawkesbury River.

[sil (Steve)]

Last time i was able to get transport to somewhere to shoot I planned. I had my target picked and knew where in the sky it would be for the duration we could try. Then using google maps found where from air it looked secluded away from buildings and forest ( trees would block line of sight) then i used street view at the location to look from the ground to see if i could likely get good line of sight (in my case down close to horizon I needed).

Publicly accessible “lookouts” tend to have high trees blocking views, especially when there are commercial entities there providing the best views where trees have been removed (eg in Canberra there are public lookouts on Black mountain but none provide unobstructed views because they want you to go up to Telstra Tower and you have to pay to get access to viewing areas. Which are unobstructed. I assume the same it true all over. hill tops are great viewing locations but also rarely cleared of obstacles even if there is a road to the top and often a light too waiting. Remember the government and police dont like darkness where criminals can gather so you are never likely to find a good database I think a few hours playing in google maps will find you likely places you can get too and of course you can go during the day to check line of sight is good and there’s somewhere you can park and set up. My place was a rural location and the gate to the property was about 30m from the road so there was a short drive to the gate from the road and it was wide and safe to park and set up out of the way, clearly designed to allow truck or trailer access to the property and there were no lights at all. Was easy to find with only a little effort. I think its your best bet to use google street view for where its convenient for you to reach.

[erick (Eric)]

Look for rural sports grounds or show grounds on the outskirts of small towns.

[MortonH]

Unfortunately just about every lookout, rest stop, etc. now has LED lighting installed. Several places in the Blue Mountains have been ruined this way. Google maps/street view might help but you only need one LED light in the wrong place to render a spot useless for observing. Very frustrating.

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Originally Posted by DeWynter

The next closest sport is Katoomba Airfield - it's absolutely fantastic due to air transparency: https://bmastro.org.au/

Katoomba Airfield is not a public access site. It is private property for which the Blue Mountains Astronomical Club has permission to access the site.

Alexander Massey,
President of BMAstro.