Gday, my first post and a long one at that
. Shame about the cloudy weather lately but hope the rain is getting to the bush. My lovely family bought for my 40th b'day a Bintel 200mm dob but because of time constraints, etc have only managed in the past week to "break it in" but I must say it was a lot of fun constructing the base assembly, bit like Ikea furniture
...anyhow, last Sunday night I finally got it outdoors in the backyard and started on the moon. All I can say is "amazing", akin to the excited toddler as they take their first baby steps. Prior to getting my "eye to glass" for the first time, I'd been reading all I could on the subject, websites, etc but nothing compares to actually getting amongst it. So now I can't wait for the holiday season and clear skies, which leads to one of two questions I have:
(1) Can anyone recommend a site not far from Sydney that's reasonably clear, say 1 hour drive at most that would provide good observing? Living 6km from Sydney CBD I have the tyranny of light pollution from the CBD & surrounding suburbs but also my backyard is fairly small so have a limited field of view of the northern sky.
(2) Can anyone comment on the effectiveness of Urban light pollution filters.
thanks & regards
AL