Hello everyone
Iam happy to become a member of Ice in Space! I own a 8inch Dobsonian and am just starting out it is very exciting for me! Is there anyone in the Perth area that can tell me of good places around the perth surrounding areas to take my telescope for better dark sky veiwing?
Thank you
Hi Tennelle, It doesn't matter where you go that is within the Perth area,
you will suffer from light pollution, but there is one thing that you can do
to improve your observing. Pick a portion of the sky for your evening's
observing, say the southern sky, for instance; go to the southern limit
of the Perth built up area, and then the worst of the pollution will be behind you. You can do the same for any direction of observing, although
I realise that to the northern edge is a long trip from Hilton.
When you are observing across the suburbs rather than the city, you will see that the pollution decreases significantly late at night when
many house lights are turned off.
Having said all that, there are a couple of things you can do that
can help. Site your scope so that as little extraneous light as possible
is visible[ street lights, neighbour's house lights, your own house lights].
A light pollution filter can be helpful too. Importantly, wait in the dark for
at least 15 minutes before you start observing, to allow your eyes to
begin to become dark adapted, and stay away from white light during
your session; even brief exposure destroys dark adaptation.
I hope this helped; happy viewing
raymo
Thank you raymo that does help alot! We tried to go for a drive up to mundaring tonight but it was hard to find a spot that wasnt sheltered by trees hahahahaha. would love to take it to one of the weirs or dams but they close the boom gates.
Can I please ask what you mean when you say sight my scope?
I expect you thought that I had made a spelling mistake, but I meant
site, not sight. It is just another, shorter way of saying position, as in
where you position your scope. Perhaps you have an open sporting
oval of some sort nearish to you, which might be a bit darker than
your back yard, provided the floodlights are not on of course.
Hi Tennelle and welcome.
If you were happy to drive up near the weir, why not go for a drive down to lake clifton. There's plenty of different spots throughout the area. The difference between Hilton and there will astound you.
I've even set up on the end of the walkway into the lake where the stromatolites are. 50m from the car, at the end of a dead end road miles from anywhere.
And a massive amount of sky to explore.
that sounds prefect!!!! not to far from home! have you ever been near serpintine dam some one told me that is a good spot too! The ideal spot would have picnic tables and BBQ so we can feed the family. Iam so greatful for everyones help!!!
