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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Astro Paradise for the Bucket List .... (1 Viewer)

Chosun Juan

Given to Fly
Australia - Aboriginal
Hi Chosun,

Unfortunately some of these dark sky parks, although very dark, still have distant light glow.

Hopefully, in this Australian reserve, there really are no visible light glows in the distance.

With the latitude of Australia it might be free of auroral light.

I wonder if there is anywhere left on Earth with absolutely no human caused light glow.
Also no aircraft lights and no artificial satellites.

Regards,
B.
 
Hi Chosun,


I wonder if there is anywhere left on Earth with absolutely no human caused light glow.
Also no aircraft lights and no artificial satellites.

Regards,
B.

the answer is clearly no even today. There are some 5000 satellites currently in orbit. Firms are already planning to add several tens of thousands more to provide global internet links, so astronomers will be forced into space to find uncluttered skies.
 
One for the astrophotographers or the dedicated night sky binocular viewers ...... :cool:

"The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) has officially named the new River Murray International Dark Sky Reserve, in South Australia's Mid Murray district, as one of the most magnificent places on Earth to see the night sky."

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?st...615&id=1436614396390388&fs=1&focus_composer=0
https://www.9news.com.au/national/s...d2f2-4262-9070-dba1e8303504?ocid=Social-9News





Chosun :gh:
The best southern night sky I have ever seen in my life is Milford Sound in New Zealand once the the bar closes. Absolutely no distant light glow because you are in a sound. I spent half the night observing with my binoculars wishing I had a big light bucket Dobsonian telescope.
 

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Excellent news!! All IDA recognised sites engage with the surrounding councils and residents and report on their activities and (quite often) repeat the SQM sky brightness readings to monitor how the sites are changing. Great news to see more recognised. They might not all be perfect, but they show wider engagement and commitment to recognising the impact of light pollution and ways to keep it under control. Nice to know how dark these places actually are.. helps to plan where I might want to go on holiday!

Peter
 
The foremost place for observatories is on the Big Island of Hawaii. The Moana Kea Observatories are at the summit, over 13,000 ft. There are 13 telescopes funded by 11 different countries.
The reasons are simple, very dark skies from the lack of light pollution, high elevation and the low humidity at this area.
It is easy to get to Hawaii and also to get a tour at the summit, sorry no chance to view at an observatory unless you have made very special arrangements.
Very cold up there, with snow year around, our tour provided heavy parkas.
I was there last year, we stopped for an observation viewing at the visitor center down at mid mountain.
The star show is incredible.

Jerry
 

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The foremost place for observatories is on the Big Island of Hawaii. The Moana Kea Observatories are at the summit, over 13,000 ft. There are 13 telescopes funded by 11 different countries.
The reasons are simple, very dark skies from the lack of light pollution, high elevation and the low humidity at this area.
It is easy to get to Hawaii and also to get a tour at the summit, sorry no chance to view at an observatory unless you have made very special arrangements.
Very cold up there, with snow year around, our tour provided heavy parkas.
I was there last year, we stopped for an observation viewing at the visitor center down at mid mountain.
The star show is incredible.

Jerry

:t: :t:
The Moana Kea skies are just amazing, a rare place where is is easy to see the zodiacal light after watching for the green flash at sunset (the latter is harder, clouds on the horizon are a killer).
The visitor center is near the astronomer residence, a very friendly bunch in my limited experience. With luck some of them will be there to point out interesting stars.
PS: bring spare batteries, the scenery is spectacular and batteries lose power when it is cold.
 
The foremost place for observatories is on the Big Island of Hawaii. The Moana Kea Observatories are at the summit, over 13,000 ft. There are 13 telescopes funded by 11 different countries.
The reasons are simple, very dark skies from the lack of light pollution, high elevation and the low humidity at this area.
It is easy to get to Hawaii and also to get a tour at the summit, sorry no chance to view at an observatory unless you have made very special arrangements.
Very cold up there, with snow year around, our tour provided heavy parkas.
I was there last year, we stopped for an observation viewing at the visitor center down at mid mountain.
The star show is incredible.

Jerry

You forget to mention stable air (low shimmer) because it's in the middle of the Pacific.
 
The best southern night sky I have ever seen in my life is Milford Sound in New Zealand once the the bar closes. Absolutely no distant light glow because you are in a sound. I spent half the night observing with my binoculars wishing I had a big light bucket Dobsonian telescope.

I think the best night sky I ever saw also was in New Zealand. Just up the road from Milford Sound on the east side of Mt Cook. I can envision Milford Sound being pretty awesome, but I wasn't there at night.
 
The best southern night sky I have ever seen in my life is Milford Sound in New Zealand once the the bar closes. Absolutely no distant light glow because you are in a sound. I spent half the night observing with my binoculars wishing I had a big light bucket Dobsonian telescope.
Beautiful beautiful place :t:

but ........ the sandflies! Jaysuz !! It's like a living h*ll on earth !!! :eek!:

Yeeeeeeee-ouch !!!!





Chosun :gh:
 
Beautiful beautiful place :t:

but ........ the sandflies! Jaysuz !! It's like a living h*ll on earth !!! :eek!:

Yeeeeeeee-ouch !!!!

B :)
I didn't notice those. I try too keep enough alcohol in my blood so if a fly bites me it drops dead.B :)

They seem to be less active at night - though a citronella candle or three helps.

Come sunrise though - Holy Hector !

I'm a Celebrity - Get me Outta Here !! :-O




Chosun :gh:
 
Binastro, post 11,
In the South African and Namibian deserts we were not disturbed by interfering light from human light sources yielding magnificent star nights.
Gijs van Ginkel
 
For the darkest skies it's fairly apparent one will have to leave Europe or the US, and quite a few other places in the Northern Hemisphere especially.

The Outback of Australia and Namibia indeed do look very dark. Too bad this image doesn't show NZ
 

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This shows NZ. I pointed (approximately) where Milford Sound is
 

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Thanks Kevin,

I tried to see the Mercury transit today with a filtered Canon 10x30IS Mk II, but cloud won and I didn't see it.
Others saw it with filtered binoculars.

Regards,
B.
 
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