OzSky 2018
April 14 - 21 2018
This is my first trip to observe southern skies - OzSky 2018. The trip was fantastic, really dark sky, beautiful observing and wonderful hosts. OzSky northern spring observing site is in Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia. There were 12 telescopes available to share between participants, and it was enough for plenty of group and personal observing. Out of 7 nights 5 were clear (one quite windy), one with some clouds passing and one cloudy until about 2:30am, then clear. Sky brightness measurments were between 21.74-21.91 mag/sq.arc.sec depending on the night. Gegenschein was visible during one of the nights. I have used 25" Dobsonian a lot, along with 18" and occasionally 30". I have also used giant motorized binoculars (see pictures). The night sky pictures below were made with Canon T6s on a static tripod with 18-75mm lens (18mm and f/3.5) controlled from iPad via WiFi. For this trip I have created a set of observing lists for southern skies, I was able to observe about 200-250 objects (I have recorded about 200). I have also prepared a photorealistic horizon for Sky Safari (or other planetarium programs that support photo horizons) as seen from OzSky observing site. Many thanks to Alan Dyer (www.amazingsky.com) for allowing to use his beautiful panorama! You can download the horizon here and here are Sky Safari instructions to import it to your device. It was very useful for planning observations - see this Sky Safari screenshot.
This was a wonderful and unforgettable experience and I am definitively coming back for more!
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