Noticed an odd thing while google earth'ing though areas of Melbourne.

Not many streetlights and a lot of overhead cables.

Are all the telephone cables hung above ground?

I'm more interested in the lack of streetlights as I'm an amateur astronomer and it would be great to be able to use my telescope from home without having to bother with loads of light pollution from sodium streetlights. (Currently 6 that overspill my garden in Scotland)

Would be interested to hear about any astronomy groups which are active in Melbourne too.

My current group that I run for anyones interest: http://www.scottishastronomers.com

Cheers

Paul

I have a telescope but I'm not really active enough to be called an Amateur Astronomer. Street lightening anywhere in Australia tends to be much less powerful than it is in UK and in many suburbs non-existent. Most of the existing wiring is overhead with many of the street lights attached to the poles or suspended on the wires, this means that the lights are mainly on one side of the road only, most streets only have a footpath on the same side as the cables, pedestrians tend to walk down the road in dark clothing with their back to the traffic.

The new suburbs and developments generally have underground wiring with UK style street lights. Twenty years ago in New South Wales, the government of the day said that they would have all the cables placed underground within 40 years, they certainly don't look like they are half way though the job, in fact, they don't seem to have even started. Astronomy is generally very popular in Australia possibly because you do not have to travel very far to get away from the light pollution. I'm on the northern outskirts of Sydney and 15-20kms does it for me but I still have pretty good seeing from my own back garden.

I just happend to be looking at this site earlier, so here is the link: http://www.iceinspace.com.au/63-519-0-0-1-0.html

I was only looking at it for info on the solar eclipse tomorrow, so not sure if it is what you need, but, it may have links ...

Not an astronmer in any way but enjoy a bit of star gazing. It's amazing how much more you see even from Sydney city centre vs London.

There are some decent free downloadable planetarium programs too - Stellarium is quite good.

Seconded for Stellarium.
Although it's true that you can get a better view from an Australian city than a British one (because of there being less light pollution), if you want to look at the stars, head out bush and go camping. When we were in the motorhome, we made a couple of stops quite literally in the middle of nowhere and got sore necks from looking up at the stars and seeing millions more than we had ever seen before

Great info, thanks folks.

Hardly any streetlights eh? Just gives me yet another reason to emigrate!

Can't wait!

Generally I need to travel at least 50 miles to get mag 5.5 skies and twice that for really dark skies.

Wonder if I should ship the scope or sell it and buy another!

Cheers

Paul

Up here we have less light pollution than many other places we have lived in or have visited. There is no streetlighting where we are.

On a clear night we get 'stellar' (groan) views of the Milky Way. If I had more time I would sit out and look more often.

Only 45k SE from Melbourne.

A mate of mine at work is a serious astronomer/star gazer.

EDIT I'll ask him about his contacts and groups.

Thanks BadgeIsBack! Oooh I can't wait now! hehe

Cheers

Paul

You're in luck - he is coming over tomorrow funnily enough. He often talks about the money he is going to spend on his next telescope - I had to sit down when he first told me. We discussed it in the winter and I offered him up here for a night session. He subscribes to something like Aussy Astronomer etc and is quite a smart guy.

And thanks for the tip on that software - might give it a go. And you are welcome to come over and have a look from here too.

This is an astronomy site worth looking at then.

Most manufactured goods in Australia are imported and the retailers are all threatening price increases of 30% over the next few weeks because of the declining value of our dollar. This could well be just a marketing thing but I might use it as an excuse to get that camera and a few other things that I need. The currency of most of our trading partners has also dropped so the price increases may or may not happen.

Try Google Sky too.

well, i wouldnt call myself an amateur astronomer but i do have a telescope. we've just moved from legoland to bush blocks with no street lights whatsoever so see many more stars. last night we watched the international space station fly over...

The sky here in Tassie is just breath taking. After watching the skies deteriate rapidly in Newcastle (UK) for many years. You forget just what is being lost due to light pollution.

He talks about the Astronomical Society of Victoria
http://www.asv.org.au/index.php?opti...d=75&Itemid=78

80bucks pa.

* Club Meetings at the Societies Burwood premises, using the ASV's 50cm telescope;
* Observing Sessions at the ASV's Leon Mow Dark Sky Site north of Melbourne; (Northcote Ithink).
* Society Activities including the Star-be-Que, observation nights, seminars and visits;
* The Society's Sections, where members meet to discuss specialist astronomical interests;
* The Society's email Newsgroup and Discussion Group.

He says use of library in Botanical gdns. Use of Royal Observatory and equipment.

This might sound really thick, but..... do we see the same stars here as in the the Uk? Great bear etc?