Holiday in Malta Sept 2016 - suggestions

[gajjer]

I am going on holiday to Paradise Bay in Malta in September. I will be traveling light - so no scope or bins. I have never been to abroad since taking up the hobby, so I have never had the opportunity to see a good night sky.

I wonder if there is a way that I could get to see the sky through a telescope while I am there. Perhaps an observatory or a generous amateur. I'm just looking for an hour or so at an eyepiece.

Any thoughts please?

cheers

gaj

[andrew63]

I would seriously consider taking a light weight pair of binoculars with you. If the skies are dark you will not regret it -  it's amazing what can be seen.  Enjoy the trip.

andrew

[Peter Drew]

I've been to Malta only once so I don't have much experience to go on. I was a bit disappointed with the sky at the time, rather hazy which negated the better declination. Everthing else was great, the sights, the food and the people. Take a trip to Gozo if you get the chance. Your 10x50 binocular would be well worth taking for all sorts of reasons. I'm sure there is an active astro society based in Malta I seem to remember having some correspondence from them in the past.

[Stu]

Gaj, I sincerely hope you get a reply with a nice offer from any members who might live in Malta. If, however, you don't, then it's definitely worth putting together a small travel scope kit to take with you.

I've taken small scopes with me on various foreign trips south and have always enjoyed the experience. To trawl around Sagitarius and Scorpius from a dark site with a nice Southern horizon is a wonderful experience, and doesn't need high power. Perhaps something like an ST80 on a photo tripod with a couple or three eyepieces and you would have a wonderful time.

[Droogie 2001]

10 hours ago, Peter Drew said:

I've been to Malta only once so I don't have much experience to go on. I was a bit disappointed with the sky at the time, rather hazy which negated the better declination. Everthing else was great, the sights, the food and the people. Take a trip to Gozo if you get the chance. Your 10x50 binocular would be well worth taking for all sorts of reasons. I'm sure there is an active astro society based in Malta I seem to remember having some correspondence from them in the past.

I have been to Malta a few times as I had family out there for a while, this was however before I got into Astronomy so sadly I did not pay much attention to the night sky

As Peter says consider Gozo or even the smaller island of Comino. This has just the one hotel on its tiny island, not sure if it will be any darker skies but one would hope so.
Hope you enjoy your holiday and definitely take some binoculars!

[ronin]

Google gives: http://www.maltastro.org/blog/

Not a lot of detail but maybe contact them.

[ronin]

Google gives: http://www.maltastro.org/blog/

Not a lot of detail but maybe contact them.

S&T lists 3: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/tag/malta/?orderby=title&order=asc

Also this but it may be private: http://znith-observatory.blogspot.co.uk/