Emu in the Sky - Milkyway Rising.

I wish I was in a location similar to yours. Not only do street lights piss me off when driving, they also prevent me from seeing stuff like that. Billboards should also go away. Trashy crap.

Dr_Evil said:

I wish I was in a location similar to yours. Not only do street lights piss me off when driving, they also prevent me from seeing stuff like that. Billboards should also go away. Trashy crap.

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We're very quickly destroying our night skies all over the world.
Unnecessary lighting and advertising, useless security lighting and neighbours that don't care leaving their lights on, all amount to the total destruction of our beautiful night skies.
Kids growing up only seeing the moon and perhaps a handful of stars at night, not realising there's a whole universe up there.

hmm don't get me started.

:beer:

RB astro said:

We're very quickly destroying our night skies all over the world.
Unnecessary lighting and advertising, useless security lighting and neighbours that don't care leaving their lights on, all amount to the total destruction of our beautiful night skies.
Kids growing up only seeing the moon and perhaps a handful of stars at night, not realising there's a whole universe up there.

hmm don't get me started.

:beer:

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Spoken like a true amateur astronomer RB. I'm fortunate to live near a small high altitude town with very dry weather, but light pollution is still an issue. I can be at 12,000 feet, 30 miles away from significant civilization, and there's still a bit of skyglow on the horizons.

Luckily it's still dark enough at that site, so there are spectacular night time vistas of the Milky Way, and Andromeda is somewhat naked eye. Anybody that comes to our outreach events there is amazed by all the stars they can see.

Being that the night sky has been such a huge part of our culture for so long, you'd think people would protect it more.

Rivem said:

Spoken like a true amateur astronomer RB. I'm fortunate to live near a small high altitude town with very dry weather, but light pollution is still an issue. I can be at 12,000 feet, 30 miles away from significant civilization, and there's still a bit of skyglow on the horizons.

Luckily it's still dark enough at that site, so there are spectacular night time vistas of the Milky Way, and Andromeda is somewhat naked eye. Anybody that comes to our outreach events there is amazed by all the stars they can see.

Being that the night sky has been such a huge part of our culture for so long, you'd think people would protect it more.

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Thanks Rivem,

I have the two hobbies with problems that make me reach for my blood pressure tablets each time, light pollution for astro and idiots shining lasers irresponsibly . :crackup:

Your location sounds wonderfully surreal.
Oh to have great views if Andromeda naked-eye !!

I remember the first time I saw it from here in my binos, very low to the horizon.
It transits at just 9° above my northern horizon, so it's deep in the muck and not very clear.
I almost had a heart-attack, so beautiful.

I managed to image it later, even though it was so low.
This was taken back in 2008.
I'll have to image it again soon. :beer:

You need NVGs to really see how many stars are out there in areas with a bunch of light pollution. I was able to mess with some high end ones and got some video through it. It was crazy how many more I could see with them. The video doesn't do it justice.

Dr_Evil said:

You need NVGs to really see how many stars are out there in areas with a bunch of light pollution. I was able to mess with some high end ones and got some video through it. It was crazy how many more I could see with them.

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Yep, NVGs are awesome.
I love using my monocular at the night sky, wish I could get a pair of NVGs.
Nice video.

RB astro said:

Yes Paul, it's my dream scope.
This is the 5" refractor.
130mm aperture f/5.8 pictured below, notice my lovely 20mW, 532nm greenie that I use for aligning the scopes sitting on top.

And like I said, I didn't use the scope for this picture, it was just a camera and 16mm wide field lens on a tripod.

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Oh man RB. That's an amazing scope. I've been wanting a Tak scope an mount similar to that one for a long time, but there's no way I could pull off that cost as a student.

Luckily I can experience good scopes through my club and education, but I'd love to have my own. Still have decent scopes, but something like that would take the cake.

Are you on CN?

Rivem said:

Oh man RB. That's an amazing scope. I've been wanting a Tak scope an mount similar to that one for a long time, but there's no way I could pull off that cost as a student.

Luckily I can experience good scopes through my club and education, but I'd love to have my own. Still have decent scopes, but something like that would take the cake.

Are you on CN?

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It's certainly an amazing scope alright, this one's the 130 but I also have the 150, which I want to install in an observatory once I build one.
I'll then sell the 130.

The 150 is much bigger and harder to handle so it's not the type of scope you want to setup and pack away at the end of each night.
The 130 is smaller and a bit easier to handle but it too needs a lot of care when setting up.

My other scope is a Meade LX200 12".

I do have an account on CN but I haven't really been on there for ages.

The main forum I use for astro is "Ice In Space", an Australian base forum, the largest in the southern hemi.
I'm also a moderator on there, check it out if you like.
{Link below}

IceInSpace

RB

RB astro said:

It's certainly an amazing scope alright, this one's the 130 but I also have the 150, which I want to install in an observatory once I build one.
I'll then sell the 130.

The 150 is much bigger and harder to handle so it's not the type of scope you want to setup and pack away at the end of each night.
The 130 is smaller and a bit easier to handle but it too needs a lot of care when setting up.

My other scope is a Meade LX200 12".

I do have an account on CN but I haven't really been on there for ages.

The main forum I use for astro is "Ice In Space", an Australian base forum, the largest in the southern hemi.
I'm also a moderator on there, check it out if you like.
{Link below}

IceInSpace

RB

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Not one, but two Takahashi refractors!!! :drool:

Wow. I've got an 8" LX90 and had a 10" LX200 classic until this year. Not a stranger to the surprising unwieldiness of quality 5"+ refractors though. It's really odd how they look a lot easier to handle than dobs, but they seem to be just as heavy and deceptively long. The clarity is amazing though, and the contrast is crazy.

I'd totally want an observatory for a scope of that caliber though. Mine take bumpy backcountry rides pretty frequently, and I'd cringe on every bump with something like that in the back of my truck.

I sold my LX200 so that I could look for a bit more FOV with a lower F-ratio, but it'll probably be either a big dob or a 5/6 inch achro. I really like my catadioptrics, but since I'm primarily working outreach, the aperture and/or clarity need to be covered.

If I'm ever down under, I'll have to come visit. Likewise, feel free to drop by for some clear skies if you ever find yourself in Colorado or New Mexico. :beer:

Rivem said:

If I'm ever down under, I'll have to come visit. Likewise, feel free to drop by for some clear skies if you ever find yourself in Colorado or New Mexico. :beer:

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You're always welcome mate.
And if I'm ever lucky enough to come over to the States I'll certainly look you up.

:beer: