Anybody from Tassie?

M110 (Andrew) · #1 03-11-2006, 03:33 AM

I know there are lot of dark sites around Hobart, but any with good horizons too? This is all new to me so I have a lot to learn.
Cheers,
Andrew

iceman (Mike) · #2 03-11-2006, 08:44 AM

There's quite a few tasweigans here, including david pretorious, moonman, photon and more. I'm sure they'll chime in soon

btw

to the forum! How did you hear about us?

acropolite (Phil) · #3 03-11-2006, 01:33 PM

That's it Mike, leave me out.

All of the above and myself are North of the Oatlands demarcation line in the tropical north of the state. You can see the membership spread and possibly find more on the yet to be completed member map... (

@mojo) by hovering your mouse pointer over the red dots.

iceman (Mike) · #4 03-11-2006, 01:56 PM

whoops sorry Phil

M110 (Andrew) · #5 03-11-2006, 04:33 PM

Mike, Came looking for an Australian site after tootling around some of the overseas sites. They aren't that helpful to a newby, all there shop links are to overseas sites, most of what see is nothern hemishpere stuff. And the Americans in particular, think they are the only people in the world. So I googled and this was the first place on the list. Have been reading posts and articles for few days and haven't been anywhere else.

And Acropolite I reckon it gets as cold where you are as where I am. I do hope you do'nt live in Liawinnie(?) -9deg overnight would be TOO cold, I struggle when it's 2deg.

Thanks for the welcome, I hope I have a good stay.
Andrew

leon · #6 03-11-2006, 08:34 PM

Hi Andrew, I'm sure you will have a great time on this site, it has helped me so much since i joined earlier this year.

Welcome

Leon

Photon · #7 03-11-2006, 10:07 PM

Hi Andrew,
Welcome to the group, Acropolis, Moonman, David Pretorius and Simon are the active Northerners (Hope I haven't missed any other IIS members here). Have you contacted the AST based in Hobart? They meet at Mt Canopus every Friday evening for viewing. Check their website for details unless you have already. You will learn the good sites from them. Mt Wellington would be superb on a clear night. Let us know how you get on in hobart.
Ian Gillespie

davidpretorius · #8 04-11-2006, 07:05 AM

Hi Andrew,

Recently we had the AST (Astrnomical Society of Tasmania) meeting at the Queen Victoria Museum in Launceston and had a few chats with the Southerners about a great common viewing spot.

The answer that seemed to crop up was Oatlands or Cambeltown.

The hills and mountains of hobart really stir the air up and in and around Hobart itself.

Stay in touch and when in Launceston, please come and have a lok through our scopes.

What gear do you have?

Johno (John) · #9 04-11-2006, 08:56 PM

Gidday Andrew, as has already been mentioned the AST meet every Friday at Mt Canopus for a members' observing night and visitors are welcome. It's not a bad site although there is a bit of glow from the city to the west.

I've always thought it would be good to set up on Mt. Wellington one night but it's almost always windy and cold :-(

M110 (Andrew) · #10 05-11-2006, 08:13 AM

Ian, No I haven't been in touch with The AST yet. But I did get down to Mt Canopus for the puublic open night they had a few weeks ago. I was amazed by the clearest skies in a long time but there was about half moon high in the sky which washed out all the good stuff. But being able to look through some of the bigger scopes was cool. Yes I am planning on taking a look at membership. I'll let you know.

David, I think either Oatlands and Campbelltown would be cool, from memeory they're both got some flat land around them. My problem down here is I can find fantastic dark spots but all the hills and the mountain make the horizons a bit suspect. I have been thinking for a while about going up the mountain and having a look. Might have to wait for warm summer day though. But I am going to do it. For those from interstate who haven't been down, Mt Wellington is 1000metres high and overlooks the city. Gear wise I have a couple of pairs of binoulars and a Nexstar 80mm refractor. This is a fabulous little device, you point it at 3 bright objects and it aligns the scope for you. You then tell it to go find something and it does. A great idea for people like me without a lot of patience. But you soon start hungering for more apeture. But it's a start. Thanks for the invite when in Launceston. Without being rude or teying to get into that North South parochialism, we keep hearing down here on the news about Launceston having smog problems, how is that affecting your viewing?

davidpretorius · #11 05-11-2006, 08:19 AM

since the wood heaters started being replaced a few years back, the washing no longer stinks and for the 18 months I have been observing, I must say I have never had an issue with smog.

At Ian's we get nice dark skies and even where I am in the south of the city, I can easily see the two magellenic clouds. to the south

M110 (Andrew) · #12 06-11-2006, 12:23 AM

Just re-read my last post. Sounds like I'm on the Celestron payroll. Sorry guys

Dobman (Simon) · #13 28-11-2006, 10:24 PM

Hi M110
I'm one of the "group of Four" based in Lonny (launceston, to all you non locals!) like dave I've never found the woodsmoke to be a problem & if I drive 10 minutes out of the city I've got great clear, dark skies. I've thought of going up on the Central plateau around the lakes or near the walls of Jerusalem, i reckon you'd get pretty dark skies out there. Dave has talked about having a Tassie Star party someday.
Welcome to IIS.
Simon

M110 (Andrew) · #14 28-11-2006, 11:59 PM

Hi Simon, Since the last post I have foumd really good spot. It's about 13kms away right next to our Baskerville raceway. There's a little skyglow to the south towards the city, but other than that fantastic. Now I have to get to work on getting a bigger scope. How do you go with the bintel dob quality wise? I was wanting to get a larger scope without busting the bank, as I'm just starting out. I saw that on the Bintel website that there 10" dobs are $680 which is a lot less than an equivalent Lightbridge. There seems to to a few here that have Bintel.
Cheers for now
Andrew