Ok so before I begin I know there is going to be some s*** talk in here but go for it.

Anyway I was looking at the sky the othernight and noticed the lack of stars visible from anywhere in brisbane etc. So I was wondering if anyone knew of some good places to go where the night sky is very visible. Anywhere between sunny coast and gold coast really. Preferably on the southside though.

smoke some bongs and go to the planeterium ftw.

Hey I was thinking the same thing recently! So good thread. I remember when I was in high school we did some astronomy thing out on the fields at Nudgee HS - I can't remember what it was like. I suspect it's not as good as going out into the country some though. I would have thought going west would be your best bet as the coastline is pretty populated between GC and SC?

Hi Protius, you still live out at Kippa Ring? Anyway, if you are, I'd go up to Mt Mee or the like. You get much darker skies up there, dark enough for decent observing anyway.

You missed a great night a couple of months ago. I took a friend of mine and my oldest son to Astrofest. It’s a great thing to do so put it in your diary for next August. The people there are all too happy to share their great telescopes. We spent a lot of time looking through a massive 30" dobsonian which you needed a tall step ladder just to look through the eye piece.

Even beaudesert has a million more stars than brisbane, I remember from being on school camp in beadesert.

I've seen shooting stars from Mt Nebo.

But realy, go a few hours west.

My dad has a decent telescope and we took it out in the backyard at bracken ridge where he lives but the sky is still quite bright up there. I haven't seen the country night sky for ages but I know its pretty breathtaking when you see the amount of stars, nebula and other galactic blobs of coolness through a telescope in the country. Even an hour out of brissy would reveal a lot more stars.

Wow 5/6 informative replies, awesome. Yeah I'm still on the far northside E.T, wow you have a good memory haha.

Hmm mt mee does have a good view, but the last time I went to mt mee things didn't go too well, but it is probably a good option, much quieter than any mountain on the southside.

What are people's opinions on mt tamborine for such star gazing?

Yeah you need to get at least 50km away from the cities if you want better viewing, 4x further if you want to see the really faint objects.

Even in light-pollution infested Carindale I can still capture the planets well enough on my webcam + 8" Dobsonian:

Space? s*** yeah!

http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~boldajis/images/20081014_jupiter.png

mt gravatt lookout??
tamborine?

Just don't flip your car next time protius.

Don't bother traveling Gold-Coast/Sunshine Coast way. Head inland. About half-way from here to Toowoomba should be easy and quick enough to get too.

If you are deadset on going towards one of the coasts, head up the mountains near Maleny and drive a bit past it, a good 30 mins and it will be sweet.

I'm not saying I want to BE on the coast, just that any distance between the coasts isn't really a bother to me. Mt gravatt look out is too covered with trees and situated too close to the city imo.

Yeah I won't be flipping my car again scuzz haha taking it ezy.

the best place i have seen yet for naked eye viewing was somewhere north of shepperton near the victorian border with nsw :D on a moonless night the ground was pitch black & the whole sky was amazingly bright. that's probably a bit far afield though ;]

fiji.

look at the sky at nighttime

haha jabroney, I was waiting for a comment like that, though it would come sooner than it did though.

We don't get s*** in the way of stars in brisbane,
When we were in fiji, we stayed on a deserted island, and whoollleeyyy f***, i swear I could see every star there ever was or is. Saw like...20 shooting stars, some that were like mini meteors fully flaming up and streaking accross the sky, we lay on the beach for like 2 hours just watching it.

This thread has made me miss that view

edit:

people dont see this enough

Yeah totally, actually I don't see it enough either! Argh for the rat race


last edited by Fireblood at 20:05:28 15/Oct/08

I live in ipswich and you cant see much..

When i go to my GF's place in kholo (10 min drive further west) the amount of stars you can see is f***ing incredible.... makes you think just looking at the sky full (people dont see this enough).

http://www.wayfaring.info/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/hollywood-walk-of-fame.jpg

brisbane is actually pretty good for light & air pollution compared to a lot of other places. obviously remote under-developed places will be the best... but places like kuala lumpur for example, on a clear night you are lucky to see the tops of the buildings. in singapore most nights you can't even see the full moon except as a blurry light through the haze.

at least in brisbane you can see most of the cool stuff right from your backyard in suburbia if you have a half decent telescope as parabol has said. i have a 4" refracter telescope & with it can see jupiter & saturn fine from my backyard.

i see lots of things on a saturday night

If you are deadset on going towards one of the coasts, head up the mountains near Maleny and drive a bit past it, a good 30 mins and it will be sweet.

I often go to a property at Maleny which is great, we're shielded from the coastal lights fairly well and makes for a great show.

Mt Mee look out.

The back side of Mt Glorious is pretty good too. Like that Maleny spot, the mountains shield it from the city lights a bit. There's a couple of park areas on the road down there you can pull into and have a pretty wide view of the sky.

Enjoy.

I rememeber camping a few hours out west and it was crazy viz. Get out there.