Replica telescope to celebrate Stromlo centenary

Bramina said :

deye said :

Gungahlin Al said :

I’ve taken our scopes up to Stromlo a few times, but really the light pollution from the Canberra streetlights is just too bad to bother there. Why, can anyone tell me, does our government insist on lighting the sky? I thought streetlights were to light – you know – the street?

IIRC street lighting in Canberra used to have to be a particular type so as not to affect Stromlo too much. That seems to have fallen by the wayside over the last decade or so.

I guess that cutting edge astronomy these days has to be conducted in very dark places away from even small population concentrations. It probably just isn’t worth policing that rule any more.

Even if you light only the ground, it will still reflect light into the sky.

I contest the “isn’t worth it” argument. You can stand on top of Stromlo and see the actual lights in streetlights. Any light that is pointing towards the sky is light wasted and therefore energy wasted and GHG unnecessarily produced and emitted. Better light design would mean less light needed and less cost to us the taxpayers, irrespective of how you feel about climate change.

Then there is the “dark skies” argument. We have entire generations of people who’ve grown up without ever seeing the Milky Way. I personally don’t believe that is a good thing. You lose the opportunity to encourage an interest in science for your children. And it could be argued that people are a bit more humble when that amazing sight in the sky is there every night reminding you of your rather minor role in the scheme of things. My opinion anyway…

Suffice to say, if I were despot, I’d be looking for a program of replacement over time of all streetlights for more efficient and dark-sky-friendly designs. And I would stomp on the LDA for continuing to install brand new crappy lights in new suburbs…

deye said :

Gungahlin Al said :

I’ve taken our scopes up to Stromlo a few times, but really the light pollution from the Canberra streetlights is just too bad to bother there. Why, can anyone tell me, does our government insist on lighting the sky? I thought streetlights were to light – you know – the street?

IIRC street lighting in Canberra used to have to be a particular type so as not to affect Stromlo too much. That seems to have fallen by the wayside over the last decade or so.

I guess that cutting edge astronomy these days has to be conducted in very dark places away from even small population concentrations. It probably just isn’t worth policing that rule any more.

Even if you light only the ground, it will still reflect light into the sky.

Gungahlin Al said :

I’ve taken our scopes up to Stromlo a few times, but really the light pollution from the Canberra streetlights is just too bad to bother there. Why, can anyone tell me, does our government insist on lighting the sky? I thought streetlights were to light – you know – the street?

IIRC street lighting in Canberra used to have to be a particular type so as not to affect Stromlo too much. That seems to have fallen by the wayside over the last decade or so.

Sorry – release does say it will be available for public use – but skinny on details as to how…

I don’t know anything of the history of this scope, other than it getting burnt. And wondering if it will be used for public viewings.

I’ve taken our scopes up to Stromlo a few times, but really the light pollution from the Canberra streetlights is just too bad to bother there. Why, can anyone tell me, does our government insist on lighting the sky? I thought streetlights were to light – you know – the street?

I prefer to go out the back of Wamboin. Last good stargazing night, with our 8″ Dobsonian, we found five globular clusters and revisited the Tarantula Nebula. Very hard to see them from Stromlo unfortunately.

Spectra said :

Wonderful news! I didn’t know this was even happening. The loss of the original Oddie was very sad indeed, both for anyone who cares about Canberra’s history and for local amateur astronomers alike.

+1

Wonderful news! I didn’t know this was even happening. The loss of the original Oddie was very sad indeed, both for anyone who cares about Canberra’s history and for local amateur astronomers alike.