Last night's light pollution - worse than normal?

ThunderChild (Chris) · #1 25-01-2006, 08:28 AM

After a few cloudy nights, was happy last night when I noticed the sky was completely free of clouds.

So got in a little looking, but the viewing seemed quite poor.
For anyone in Melbourne, did the light pollution on the horizons seem worse than normal? Most horizons were aglow - to my newbie eyes, it seemed worse than normal.

Can anyone confirm this - or am I just realising how bad it *always* is, and haven't noticed before?

astrogeek (Leon) · #2 25-01-2006, 09:33 AM

Thats how bad it always is. I almost never observe from my house any more, once you've seen dark skys you just never want to go back. I have a nice place about 25min away though that is just outside mel, and quite a bit darker, where I go to observe now.

ThunderChild (Chris) · #3 25-01-2006, 10:45 AM

Hmmm..... looks like I'll be scouting out some half decent places which are reasonably close for day-to-day observing (if they exist). Obviously not going to be dark skies, but ...

I reckon I know of a place which would take around 1/2 hour to get there at night time (in Officer). Will definitely check it out sometime soon, but I wonder if there's anywhere else to try.

Does anyone know any darker locations which wouldn't be too hard to get to from the Eastern/South Eastern suburbs of Melbourne? Am I being completely unrealistic?

ving (David) · #4 25-01-2006, 11:50 AM

the seeing was great last night from my place, 8-9/10!!!
the transparence was zero tho

GO AWAY CLOUDS!!!!

OneOfOne (Trevor) · #5 25-01-2006, 01:00 PM

I think the problems may be related to the bushfires. Monday I noticed everything had a "golden" glow to it, and figured it was the smoke. Last night, the skies at first seemed clear in places, but still wasn't clear.

I hope this year is clearer than last, see my earlier post about last year. Tonight is looking promising, Wednesday, just have to wait until the sun goes down.

astrogeek (Leon) · #6 25-01-2006, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThunderChild

Does anyone know any darker locations which wouldn't be too hard to get to from the Eastern/South Eastern suburbs of Melbourne? Am I being completely unrealistic?

No sorry, I am a northerner (Preston). Should be possible to improve the view by driving out a bit so it is realistic. I go to a place just off the Hume Hwy called Kallculo (Can't remember spelling but it's something like that). Like I said it's only just out of melbourne but the skys are noticably darker

Leon

#7 25-01-2006, 02:18 PM

Yeah it is really cruddy here, the whole of Adelaide as far as I can see is covered in quite thick smoke from bushfires, I think they are on Kangaroo Island well to the south. Visibility only about 3-4km in spots, aint summer great.!!

Stu · #8 26-01-2006, 05:16 PM

It's definitly the bushfires. Come on guys, the sun orange! The light around shadows is orange and where ever you go it smell like the neighbour is having a barbeque.

janoskiss (Steve H) · #9 26-01-2006, 05:42 PM

There's been a lot of smog around and also a near constant thin cloud cover. Probably mostly to do with the bushfires. For planets, light pollution does not matter. For deep sky you do need to get away from the city. Just get as far from CBD as you can. The number of stars you can see goes up very quickly with distance for the first 100 or so km. In the city you can see a handful of the brightest stars with the naked eye. 100km from the city you can see several 1000. In-between it's roughly an exponential increase.

But even from where you live you should be able to see many of the brighter open clusters through binos and the scope, Orion Neb, Eta Carina, and make something of the big globs: omega centauri (NGC 5139) and 47Tuc (NGC 104).

rumples riot · #10 26-01-2006, 06:09 PM

I would say one of two things has caused your problem. First the bush fires in Victoria have even affected Adelaide. The transparency has been aweful for days here. So it is not unreasonable to assume that you guys are going to be affected. Second your weather may be experiencing a temperature inversion. This will cause the smog to build up a little more than normal and make transparency worse than normal.

comalies · #11 26-01-2006, 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by astrogeek

Thats how bad it always is. I almost never observe from my house any more, once you've seen dark skys you just never want to go back. I have a nice place about 25min away though that is just outside mel, and quite a bit darker, where I go to observe now.

i live in west preston, and some nights are actually pretty good considering how close it is to the cbd. ive managed to see quite a lot, actually.

but still, id say last night (25/01) was the worst night so far. i stood outside for 10 mins trying to see the large magellanic cloud with the naked eye and couldnt. i can usually see it within 3 secs walking from a lighted house.

OneOfOne (Trevor) · #12 27-01-2006, 01:20 PM

Maybe I should move to Preston from Bentleigh, I have yet so see the LMC or SMC with the naked eye from my backyard. Mind you, the first time I EVER saw the clouds with the naked eye was at camp in Ballarat! They were so obvious I wondered why I never saw them from home...and I am still looking!

Stu · #13 27-01-2006, 06:10 PM

The smoke was really bad tonight driving home! I think we'll have to wait a week or two.

danielsun · #14 28-01-2006, 01:50 AM

Its definately the bush fires!!! The other two nights when it was clear it was the worst seeing ever for me!! But i seen it coming when just before sunset i could see the orange haze from the horizon fading up to zenith was obvious for a bad nights seeing!!!