Summer Milky Way at Taichung, Taiwan

[Robin Lee]

I was in Taiwan during 2012 summer for research project in observing extragalactic objects. My supervisor and I went for Great Snow Mountain in Taichung during a weekend before typhoon struck. Needless to say, the sky was absolutely clear and the cloud was below our feet at 2632m altitude.


Fireball at Great Snow Mountain Taichung by robinlkm, on Flickr

I got REALLY lucky when I was making this 10 minutes exposure as part of the summer Milky Way mosaic. This fireball was so bright that it casted a shadow under our feet.


Summer Milky Way @ Great Snow Mountain, Taiwan by robinlkm, on Flickr

600s ISO400 16mm @ f/3.2

Both of these pictures were taken with unmodified Canon 550D with EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L II on an "ancient" Takahashi equatorial mount.

[Gary]

Beautiful!! Thanks for sharing!

[Bergkamp_]

very beautiful!

[cataclysm]

Fantastic images Robin!

[Robin Lee]

Beautiful!! Thanks for sharing!

very beautiful!

Fantastic images Robin!

Thanks guys! As I posted this fireball image today, we had a way more spectacular fireball entering Russian sky. Truly amazing!

[lqx]

it did injure quite a few hundred people though... *cough*

[Robin Lee]

it did injure quite a few hundred people though... *cough*

Yeah, the blast wave has shocked thousands.

[Clifford60]

Robin, thanks for sharing the great photos

[starfinder]

Hi Robin,

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, and I'm left quite speechless, I can only say.... 'Holy Cow!'

Can you tell us a bit about astronomy sites in Taiwan? For example, where do astronomers go to usually? Is the Great Snow Mountain their main site? How's the transparency, light pollution like? Thanks!

PS: I passed through Taichung in Dec last year whilst on holiday. We were on our way to Sun Moon Lake where I did some stargazing with small binos.

[Robin Lee]

Hi Robin,

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, and I'm left quite speechless, I can only say.... 'Holy Cow!'

Can you tell us a bit about astronomy sites in Taiwan? For example, where do astronomers go to usually? Is the Great Snow Mountain their main site? How's the transparency, light pollution like? Thanks!

PS: I passed through Taichung in Dec last year whilst on holiday. We were on our way to Sun Moon Lake where I did some stargazing with small binos.

You're most welcomed Gary.

Normally the amateurs in Taiwan observe (I know more astrophotographers than visual observers actually) at He Huan Mountain 合歡山, Great Snow Mountain 大雪山 and Tatajia 塔塔佳。There are still some several other spots at mid southern part of Taiwan.

At He Huan Mountain, you can expect very little to none light pollution. It's darker than the site at Mersing but not significantly. Recently, there has been light pollution problem due to LED sign boards at the carpark where most astrophotographers prefer.

Great Snow Mountain, where I took these photos, is quite near to Taichung where approximately 2.68 millions populate. Therefore, you can see the light pollution from the widefield milky way picture. Nevertheless, the transparency that day was absolutely awesome as all the cloud descended a few tens of meters below our site.

I haven't been to Tatajia so I can't comment. The weather last few days was exceptionally clear that many astrophotographers flocked to Tatajia. I have seen great pictures being progressively posted to their Facebook walls. ;)

What's great about observing in Taiwan is the direct access to high altitude sites by driving. We drove all the way to Great Snow Mountain by car so there was no problem carrying heavy artilleries.

They organise annual star party at 翠峰 (Tsuei-Feng), one of the peaks of He Huan Mountain around Oct/Nov. Weather is normally the best during those months. During the summer, you can have great weather when the typhoon is forming but you need to have great mobility to take that advantage.

Hope this helps. ;)