Well, I have ordered a 3M ScopeDome from Diego and Paul at our very own Sidereal Trading and it is due in Oct , I have spoken with a skid steer/excavator company to do me a good site cut, I've liaised with a builder to construct a 4.6m X 4.6m elevated deck, to put the new dome on and costed moving my current 3.6m X 2.7m site shed from Walaroo north of Canberra, to Eagleview south of Canberra (about 80km ~$800)...so things are underway
As to what to do with my current unmotorized/unautomated 2.3m Sirius Observatory?...well?..sell it..?.. or?..I have an incredible 6" Stafire, an NJP mount.....
Mike
Last edited by strongmanmike; 31-08-2021 at 06:34 PM.
Well, I have ordered a 3M ScopeDome from Diego and Paul at our very own Sidereal Trading and it is due in Oct , I have spoken with a skid steer/excavator company to do me a good site cut, I've liaised with a builder to construct a 4.6m X 4.6m elevated deck, to put the new dome on and costed moving my current 3.6m X 2.7m site shed from Walaroo north of Canberra, to Eagleview south of Canberra (about 80km ~$800)...so things are underway
Mike
Low profile. No wind surface to catch. Noice!
Quote:
Originally Posted by strongmanmike
It's rather cool up at 1500m in the snow ...with Netflix
So cool. Never been in snow in Oz. I guess I got it out of my system. Being born in it. I hope you have some good double glazing in that big bay window?
That amount of wood would last us 3 days tops! So far this winter we've gone through 10m3 of wood - 8 bought and 2 of our own.
Very pretty though! We love the snow - as long as it doesn't fell our very brittle trees! That weekend was just cold and wet here.
nah, that round wood storage unit is just for our daily store, in easy reach, the bulk is stored in the open double garage away from the house We don't live fulltime on site either, so our wood consumption isn't huge.
My two boys have got me a brand new, reasonably decent, 18" 50cc Stihl chainsaw (MS271) for Fathers day...so I can finally cut some of my own wood too now ..I also have an electric log splitter, left for me by the previous owners.
I received an SQM sky quality meter last week, generously loaned to me by Eric Kingston (Erick on IIS), and tonight I put it to work assessing the darkness of the Eagleview night sky. I measured the sky brightness at the zenith (or as close to without pointing directly at the bright Milky Way) and took 8 readings, pointing in very slightly different directions overhead, one after another, over a 10min period at 7:20pm, 9:00pm, 10:00pm, 11:00pm, 11:45pm and 1:00am. I then discarded the highest and lowest readings in each set and averaged the other 6 readings. The results in magnitudes/square arc sec, were as follows (the bigger the number the darker the sky):
(I also did a set pointing at about 25-30 deg above the northern horizon and directly toward the Canberra light dome and the average reading was 21.79 so even that ain't too bad)
You can see the effect of the Milky Way being directly overhead at 730 and as it moved away from near the zenith and it got darker, the numbers improved. Maybe they could have improved further after 1am but I decided to finish up, as although the numbers had improved a lot with successive sets of measurements, by 1am the Milky Way was nowhere near the zenith so I didn't think there would be much improvement...? Plus I was buggered
Anyway, anything higher than 22 indicates really dark skies, so pretty happy with these results as they empirically confirm that the skies over Eagleview are indeed exceptionally dark and explain the great contrasty views I've had through my 12" Dob
I have posted the last 1am set of measurements, along with the best reading of 22.32 (which was discarded), just to show the numbers were real
I knew tonight was dark as, for only the second time in my life, I was able to detect the extremely faint Zodiacal Bridge, the very faint band of light, a result of sunlight being scattered of the tenuous disc of tiny dust particles that fill the plain of our Solar System and it is visible as a super faint band following the ecliptic and running almost perpendicular to the Milky Way. The last time I saw this phenomena was in far north QLD from my friend Tim Curruthers, Savanah Skies Observatory, near Chillagoe, which is located under dry and very dark skies 3hrs drive West of Cairns inbetween cooee and nowhere
Last edited by strongmanmike; 14-09-2021 at 04:10 PM.
Well, I have ordered a 3M ScopeDome from Diego and Paul at our very own Sidereal Trading and it is due in Oct , I have spoken with a skid steer/excavator company to do me a good site cut, I've liaised with a builder to construct a 4.6m X 4.6m elevated deck, to put the new dome on and costed moving my current 3.6m X 2.7m site shedfrom Walaroo north of Canberra, to Eagleview south of Canberra (about 80km ~$800)...so things are underway
As to what to do with my current unmotorized/unautomated 2.3m Sirius Observatory?...well?..sell it..?.. or?..I have an incredible 6" Stafire, an NJP mount.....
Mike
Shame your son isn't a Army Pilot .. schedule a Blackhawk lift as a training exercise. A novel way to move.
Shame your son isn't a Army Pilot .. schedule a Blackhawk lift as a training exercise. A novel way to move.
Ha! Last time a military helicopter was in this area it started a devastating fire, that raised thousands of hectares and quite a few properties to the ground..... with its landing lights!
But yes... seeing an Obsevatory dangling under a Chinook would look pretty cool too...
How are you for stone on the property? Maybe a fortified tower with battlements or a 5m gothic style tower for it to sit on top of?
Steve
Quote:
Originally Posted by AstralTraveller
So, Australia's highest observatory will have a 'stone tower' ??
Hi Steve and David, weeeell...aaah yes....had a builder on site today (we physically distanced properly the whole time and were in the open mountain air) discussing tje project...and I'm afraid while the stone tower option waaas discussed buuuut ruled out I'm afraid
Will be a 4.6m x 4.6m elevated (1m) very solid bearer and joist construction, wooden deck, with 12 support posts using metal RHS corner posts in extra deep footings for extra rigidity So some room on the corners for a couple of chairs, so we can relax with a coldie...and take in this view: https://pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/171678412
Mike
"Come on, you know you want your very own Castle Aargh. ... " was that the posted picture, I'm still rooting for that one.
Height is not a bad thing when you have your grass die every year and unbroken wind. Any height you can get will help, just higher up gives you smaller particles to deal with. Was more for keeping things clean than the sky.
Not an extensive set of tests tonight...just once at 11pm before retiring to a warm bed. Turned off the lights inside, went out onto our elevated southen deck, perfectly clear with just a light breeze and took 6 readings overhead, at or near the zenith....Averaged them and wadda ya know?! 22.03mag/squ arc sec..again 😁 the same average as 11pm last night, very cool. This place is certainly consistent...t'is certainly lovely and dark up here...Oh and had a close encounter with a Wombat tonight, walked out the front earlier about 730 and there it was, waddling about 5m from me, had my torch on him, he looked at me scurried away slightly then stopped looked back at me and continued waddling away..very cute ☺..tried to get a photo on my phone but couldn't coordinate the torch and camera quick enough...
22.03mag/squ arc sec..again �� the same average as 11pm last night, very cool.
That's a wonderful result Mike: Congratulations that's as dark as anywhere you'll find.
It's Bortle 1 ..... ( & about 18 times darker than my place in Melbourne.)
Not an extensive set of tests tonight...just once at 11pm before retiring to a warm bed. Turned off the lights inside, went out onto our elevated southen deck, perfectly clear with just a light breeze and took 6 readings overhead, at or near the zenith....Averaged them and wadda ya know?! 22.03mag/squ arc sec..again �� the same average as 11pm last night, very cool. This place is certainly consistent...t'is certainly lovely and dark up here...Oh and had a close encounter with a Wombat tonight, walked out the front earlier about 730 and there it was, waddling about 5m from me, had my torch on him, he looked at me scurried away slightly then stopped looked back at me and continued waddling away..very cute ☺..tried to get a photo on my phone but couldn't coordinate the torch and camera quick enough...
That's a wonderful result Mike: Congratulations that's as dark as anywhere you'll find.
It's Bortle 1 ..... ( & about 18 times darker than my place in Melbourne.)
Best
JA
Yes indeed I believe you might be right? I think the altitude makes the difference...plus, a front had recently passed through with rain and then snow, so probably cleaned the air nicely I forgot I actually got this reading, it was the highest over the two nights, I thought the 22.32 was the highest..?..I put it down to an anomaly of some sort....or, maybe I just pointed it in the perfect spot...?
I'd be happy to observe under 21.79 - the direction of the Canberra light dome! So fantastic to see the meter reading in the 22s! I've never seen that. Again, congratulations Mike - quantitative evidence you made the right choice of site
, I have spoken with a skid steer/excavator company to do me a good site cut, I've liaised with a builder to construct a 4.6m X 4.6m elevated deck, to put the new dome on and costed moving my current 
...with Netflix 
Holy crap! 
??
..had a builder on site today (we physically distanced properly the whole time and were in the open mountain air) discussing tje project...and I'm afraid while the stone tower option waaas discussed buuuut ruled out I'm afraid 
..or, maybe I just pointed it in the perfect spot...? 
