Milky way in Oz

[rikyuu]

Hi,

Just got back from a trip to Perth in Australia and I had a chance to do some star gazing whilst I was there. Even with the naked eye and some binos view was simply amazing. I think I saw more than I've ever done even with my Scope in the Midlands! Even just 5 miles from the centre of Perth, in a housing suburb with streetlights and lights on in the house, I could clearly see the Milky way as a brilliant, clearly defined strip of stars running across the sky. With the binos, the view was amazing, simply filled with thousands of stars and clusters. The more I relaxed my eye and it dark adapted, the more that section of sky appeared to be completely filled with stars. There were also clearly defined clusters, many of them. Some filling the FOV (6 deg), others tightly packed groups.

The light pollution just didn't seem to fill the sky as it does here, the atmosphere must have been very clear. Needless to say, if I eventually get to live there, I'll be taking the scopes!

cheers

[Doc]

Sounds wonderful. Only twice have I seen skies like that and both times were in rural France.

[Talitha]

Wow, sounds absolutely stunning!! Are you hoping to move there eventually?

I wonder how an island can have such good transparency. You'd think it would be just the opposite with all the moisture in the air, but I've noticed on the atmospheric vapor images that sometimes it's excellent over Florida. Rarely gets that way inland where I am though, go figure.

Btw, what binos were you using?

[rikyuu]

Wow, sounds absolutely stunning!! Are you hoping to move there eventually?

I wonder how an island can have such good transparency. You'd think it would be just the opposite with all the moisture in the air, but I've noticed on the atmospheric vapor images that sometimes it's excellent over Florida. Rarely gets that way inland where I am though, go figure.

Btw, what binos were you using?

Yes, we are hoping go to Oz ASAP. We have the visas, but got them just as the house prices tumbled so now awaiting a decision on a Voluntary redundancy payment from work to boost the finances. Fingers crossed!

I didn't expect the air there to be so clear either, but I just looked up whilst in the garden and saw this amazing sky. I read Perth was quite polluted, but that was some time ago so may be it's cleaned up now, or maybe it was just luck. Either way, having slightly less cloud than Blighty, has got to be a step in the right direction!!

My binos are just cheapies, bought several years ago from 7dayshop.com. They are Eyetx, their own brand at the time. 10x42, Nitrogen filled no less. The seem to work ok, not that I've ever owned any others!

Forgot to mention that good old Orion was there, nice to see it so late in the year. The amount of stars visible by eye in the region was spectaular.

[samtheeagle]

The night sky down in Oz is pretty much beyond words. You just have to see it. It's one of the things that sticks in my mind the most from my trip down there a few years back...

[omneferuss]

It is an island Talitha.. but about the size of continental USA, or the whole of Europe

Wow, sounds absolutely stunning!! Are you hoping to move there eventually?

I wonder how an island can have such good transparency. You'd think it would be just the opposite with all the moisture in the air, but I've noticed on the atmospheric vapor images that sometimes it's excellent over Florida. Rarely gets that way inland where I am though, go figure.

Btw, what binos were you using?

[ashenlight]

Sounds amazing rikyuu, I would love to go there. Out of interest, does anyone have access to any cracking widefield shots of the sky down under, pretty much how one would see it with the naked eye? I am really intrigued by this report... the best seeing I've ever had was in Gower, Wales - can't imagine it being any better!

Amanda