Interesting page on light pollution

[Starkler (Geoff)]

A very interesting page on light pollution and its effects re distance from population centres here

Walkers equations suggests :

significant sky degradation begins at increases of 10% above natural background, this occurs at:

10km from city of 3,000
25km from city of 30,000
50km from city of 180,000
100km from city of 1 million
200km from city of 5 million

for Melbourne with pop. 2.5m: (old data?)
distance in km:... 10......20......30......40......50. .....60......80......100
I:......................158....28.. .....10......5........3.......2.... .....1.......0.5

Conclusion: Taketh thy telescope to darketh sky

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

Well Geoff, when I visit Melbourne for NACAA over easter it will be full moon anyhow !
Hopefully when i come back home the clouds will have started to clear & I will be able to see something !

[Muddy Diver]

My camping trip to capertree at easter should place me ideally then. Yippeeee!

[ving (David)]

I live about 60ks from the center of sydney
the milkway shines dimly at zenith and the lmc and smc are quite discernable... i like it

[Vermin (Tom)]

I miss this sight so much:

<table border="1" width="841"><tbody><tr><td width="119">>7.1(darkest skies)</td> <td width="47"> 1x </td> <td width="653"> Incredible! The Milky Way contains an enormous amount of structure all the way to the horizon and you can easily see your way around by it's light. The Zodiacal light now encircles the entire ecliptic. There are no sources of sky-glow along any part of the horizon. Many meteors are visible. >15 minutes exposure;</td></tr></tbody></table>

I remember laying awake in my swag under the stars unable to sleep because of this mindblowing view.

[ThunderChild (Chris)]

Originally Posted by Vermin

I remember laying awake in my swag under the stars unable to sleep because of this mindblowing view.

It would be cool to capture some of those moments wouldn't it?
My wife and I climbed to the top of Mt Kilimanjaro, which is higher than Everest base camp - with all clouds and much of the dust/atmosphere below us. Umpteen miles from civilisation.
I couldn't believe how many stars there were!
My only regret is that I didn't have any binoculars with me.

The major downside to any potential overnight observing (if anyone was able to take a scope up in the first place!) was the bitter cold and thin air.

[vespine]

Only having just bought my scope, I live closer then 10km to Melb, good to know that travelling out 30km to my folks place will make a significant difference because I've been impressed with what I've seen so far already!

This weekend tho, driving out 3 hours to a friends farm towards the grampians, can't wait! praying for clear skies, NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO BUY A NEW SCOPE until after the weekend !

[astroron (Ron)]

Having observed with a 11"SCT from the 9000ft site on Mauna Kea, it was truly remarkable,one of the most memorable observing highs of my observing life,(and it wasn't through lack of oxygene).
The Milky Way was fantastic,the sight made me think that I could walk among the stars.

[GrampianStars (Rob)]

Originally Posted by vespine

..................
This weekend tho, driving out 3 hours to a friends farm towards the grampians, can't wait! praying for clear skies.........!

Don't forget dark sunglasses

the 12" lightbridge will knock your eyeballs off with the view

the stars are soo bright here 7mag
you sometimes don't need a red light to read starmaps

[Starkler (Geoff)]

Originally Posted by vespine

This weekend tho, driving out 3 hours to a friends farm towards the grampians, can't wait!

Its great to experience truly dark skies as you will out that way, but the danger is after doing so you probably wont enjoy observing from home so much once you know what you're missing.

[acropolite (Phil)]

Speaking of light pollution, in the area that I live a major road reconstruction has just been completed. The junction where I turn off is approximately 800 metres down a hill and used to have a single (and totally unnecessary) sodium vapour light, totally unnecessary considering there is no foot traffic in the area whatsoever. The junction has been replaced with a roundabout and TEN, yes 10, vapour lights. There is still no footpath and no likelyhood of foot traffic. IMHO the incorporation of 10 unnecessary lights at a roundabout is a waste of taxpayers money, spoils the night sky and costs me, the ratepayer, money that would be better spent elsewhere. We shouldn't have to journey to dark skies; there should be sensible guidelines and practical installations that minimise the impact on the night sky.

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

Sounds Awsome Ron, I would so love to go to Mauna Kea.
Phil, there is something you can do about it !
Lobby you local council to adopt Australian Standard "control of the obtrusive effects of outdoor lighting" (cant remember the #)
Also to use full cutoff fittings, the Australian standards for roadway lighting were updated last year & the limiting of "Spill" & "Glare" provisions have tightened up substantially.