I'm new to IIS visiting from a sister site in the US (cloudynights.com). I'm currently on a biz trip in Australia and while I have been here before I've never had the opportunity to explore southern hemisphere skies except with the naked eye. This trip I've lugged along my TV-85 knowing that there's a new moon this weekend. I'll be staying in Bryon Bay this weekend and I was curious if there were any star parties open to foreigners in that general area on Saturday the 23rd??
Since this is my first time looking at the southern skies with a telescope I'd be interested to know what the local experts suggest as the "must see" target objects (realizing I'm limited to 85mm of course). Last night I was able to get some great views in Sagg and Scorp from near my hotel in downtown Sydney - I was surprised to get such good views - expected more LP. These constellations are always too low from Seattle for the few weeks they are visible each summer.
There's a few members from around that area, perhaps you could send a PM to "glenc" or "CoombellKid" who would be able to hook you up.
Hope you get some view some lovely southern skies from a darker place than Sydney. We're observing at Kulnura (north of sydney by an hour) if you weren't at Byron.
Don't forget to check out Eta Carinae, 47Tuc, Omega Centauri, SMC, LMC in the early hours of the morning. They will blow you away!
Thanks for the nice welcome Mike and Paul. I most definitely have Omega Cent. and 47 Tuc on my list with the SMC and LMC but I'm sure to add Eta Carinea! I'll also PM the gents you mention Mike to see if I might be able to connect - I'm sure folks will be all out this weekend if they can. Having Sag and Scorp this high for me is a real treat - I could spend all weekend with just those two.
Thanks again for the warm welcome and information!
I hope you enjoy your stay Bill. I suppose it's not just the different sky but the transparency, both clarity (light pollution) and aerosols that would be a treat for you as well.
How long are you here for and will you have much of a chance to travel around....reads "outback where it is REALLY dark"
I hope you enjoy your stay Bill. I suppose it's not just the different sky but the transparency, both clarity (light pollution) and aerosols that would be a treat for you as well.
How long are you here for and will you have much of a chance to travel around....reads "outback where it is REALLY dark"
So far since arriving Sunday AM I've been through Melbourne (Sun-Tue), Adelaide (Tue-Wed), Sydney (Wed-Th) on to Brisbane tonight, then Byron Bay (Fri-Sat), Sydney (Sun-Tues) and then Auckland (Wed-Friday) and then back to Seattle.
I have a very dark sky location (nothing like the outback I'm sure) in the Cascade Mountains about 2.5 hours east of Seattle. With a 12" dob I can also pull in some decent view including the brighter nebs and galaxies from urban Seattle - when it's not actually raining the rain keeps the air clear albeit the LP you'd expect with 3.5 mil. There's less LP in the western US states as the major cities are much further apart than in the east. I was surprised to as many stars last night from downtown Sydney as I did.
That's a fair bit of travelling to do in a week and a half. Your feet will hardly have time to touch the ground.
Byron's a lovely spot, and it is nice and dark once you get a couple of miles from the coast. I hope you manage to meet up with some of the people from there and get to see the sites. Do you have any binoculars with you? Omega Cent and 47 Tuc look pretty good in binos
welcome .. I am 20 minutes out of bryon.. might be meeting up with a few others this weekend so It probably wouldn't be a problem to bring you along as well if thats still on .
failing that I do have access to a couple hundred acres just out of bryon
in the hills , while it dosn't give a full 360 view its well away from all the small towns and is pretty dark.. so will be able to work something out.
Paul - I debated bring 'bins versus a scope and finally opted for the 85. At low power I figured I could get good wide-field views on 47 Tuc and Omega Cent. (I just found Orion outside of my hotel in Bris - haven't seen that since Feb!). I ended up choosing the 85 over the 'bins because I can alway push the mag if I need to.
Hey Graham - sounds great - thanks for the tip - I'll keep in touch and see what comes off on Sat.
Hey Graham - sorry I was never able to get a message off to you regarding an outting near Byron this weekend. My hotel didn't have anything but dial-up internet (I don't have a dial up account) and my mobile phone didn't seem to work with any local cellular services. Regardless I had two great nights outs with the LMC, SMC, Eta Car, 47 Tuc, Sag, Scorp, Jupiter and a lot more - but I always got out too late to grab Omega Cent. but I'll keep trying from Sydney and NZ before I head back north.
SP near Bryon Bay on 23rd?
Bill!![[1ponders]'s Avatar](../vbiis/customavatars/avatar45_9.gif){kind=avatar}
You'll never want to go home after seeing them though 
