Hi,
This is directed more to the people who have had the opportunity to observe under dark skies overseas e.g. Australia, USA etc.
How does Mersing compare to the dark skies in other countries? Would it be comparable?
I have gone on only 2 trips to Mersing and I felt that the first one (few years ago) was better. It was darker and no clouds at all through the nite.
I have been hearing people observing under mag 6.5-7 skies in the west and I wonder how dark Mersing is at her best.
Opinions, please!
Kay Heem
How Good Are Mersing Skies?
-
weixing
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Hi,
Never seen other countries night sky except Mersing, Batu Laya and Batam. Forget to check out the night view when was in New Zealand two years ago... it just too cold at night.
Anyway, heard from someone in US (not quite sure which part he live... lost contact for quite sometime) when the sky is good, the milky way are so bright that it can create shadow
!!!
Have a nice day.
Never seen other countries night sky except Mersing, Batu Laya and Batam. Forget to check out the night view when was in New Zealand two years ago... it just too cold at night.
Anyway, heard from someone in US (not quite sure which part he live... lost contact for quite sometime) when the sky is good, the milky way are so bright that it can create shadow
!!! Have a nice day.
Yang Weixing
"The universe is composed mainly of hydrogen and ignorance."
"The universe is composed mainly of hydrogen and ignorance." -
kochu
- Posts: 817
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- Favourite scope: Sharpstar-107PH Triplet.
- Location: Jurong West
Mersing Update
Hi all,
Here is my 2 cts worth.
During our last monthly outing to Mersing in july we had satisfying conditions till about 0300 hrs on 16 th night and from 2200 hrs onwards on 17 th.
Milky way was clear almost 160 degrees. Matthew has taken few photos of Milkyway and hope he loads those in his site.
I do not yet know how to grade the sky visibility in Mag scale, but no doubt , Mersing sky is "as good as it gets".
Another note worthy incident for the benifit of those who visit.
On 17 th night around 2200 hrs three guys in two mobikes came and enquired what we are doing there. They (we do not know same guys or another three) returned around 0100. This time one was carrying a rifle and again enquired our purpose.When we answered that we are astronomers they seemed satisfied and went back.
Because of near zero level knowledge of Malay we could not strike a conversation and find out who really they were, Police ?. or some Villege Vigilante..?
Did any others have similar experience in the past at Mersing?
Kochu/21-7-04
Here is my 2 cts worth.
During our last monthly outing to Mersing in july we had satisfying conditions till about 0300 hrs on 16 th night and from 2200 hrs onwards on 17 th.
Milky way was clear almost 160 degrees. Matthew has taken few photos of Milkyway and hope he loads those in his site.
I do not yet know how to grade the sky visibility in Mag scale, but no doubt , Mersing sky is "as good as it gets".
Another note worthy incident for the benifit of those who visit.
On 17 th night around 2200 hrs three guys in two mobikes came and enquired what we are doing there. They (we do not know same guys or another three) returned around 0100. This time one was carrying a rifle and again enquired our purpose.When we answered that we are astronomers they seemed satisfied and went back.
Because of near zero level knowledge of Malay we could not strike a conversation and find out who really they were, Police ?. or some Villege Vigilante..?
Did any others have similar experience in the past at Mersing?
Kochu/21-7-04
Re: Mersing Update
Here is my problem now. Everyone 'ooh...ahhh' over Mersing skies, says Milky Way spanning from horizon to horizon etc, but is it as good as or better than the typical 'dark skies' in the west?kochu wrote:Hi all,
Here is my 2 cts worth.
During our last monthly outing to Mersing in july we had satisfying conditions till about 0300 hrs on 16 th night and from 2200 hrs onwards on 17 th.
Milky way was clear almost 160 degrees. Matthew has taken few photos of Milkyway and hope he loads those in his site.
I do not yet know how to grade the sky visibility in Mag scale, but no doubt , Mersing sky is "as good as it gets".
Kochu/21-7-04
Has anyone seen both to compare? How about you, VinSnr?
Sometimes I wonder how they compare.
Kay Heem
Some more 2 cts worth ...
Mersing is possibly "as good as it gets" around Singapore, however, there is a visible glow of light pollution from the south (Singapore?) up to about 15 deg. We drove up and down the road from the ob site and also found quite a few flood-lit compounds and streetlamps. These were less than 1 km from the site. Obviously all this is going to have an impact however small.
The only really dark site I've been to was in the Australian outback during ex-Wallaby. This area is north of Rockhampton and I believe at least a hundred km away from towns / suburbs etc. Rockhampton was more of a town than a city anyway and for hundreds of km east, west and north of the site it was either bushland or the sea. From my recollection, the sky there was slightly blacker (spaces between stars was really black) , causing the stars to take on a 3-dimensional feel, felt like you could reach out and touch them (a little of that effect in Mersing). Through the smuggled 10x50 binos and army-issued night vision binos, scanning the milky, LMC and SMC was quite a treat. Did not bring a scope then so could not tell how much a difference the blacker sky made through a scope. Another thing about dark sites in temperate regions is that haze and high level clouds are less a of a problem. If the sky is clear, it can be crystal clear (transparancy), causing it to look darker. So was Aus really that much darker or was it merely more transparant? Hard to tell.
Nonetheless I'm quite happy with Mersing.
Mersing is possibly "as good as it gets" around Singapore, however, there is a visible glow of light pollution from the south (Singapore?) up to about 15 deg. We drove up and down the road from the ob site and also found quite a few flood-lit compounds and streetlamps. These were less than 1 km from the site. Obviously all this is going to have an impact however small.
The only really dark site I've been to was in the Australian outback during ex-Wallaby. This area is north of Rockhampton and I believe at least a hundred km away from towns / suburbs etc. Rockhampton was more of a town than a city anyway and for hundreds of km east, west and north of the site it was either bushland or the sea. From my recollection, the sky there was slightly blacker (spaces between stars was really black) , causing the stars to take on a 3-dimensional feel, felt like you could reach out and touch them (a little of that effect in Mersing). Through the smuggled 10x50 binos and army-issued night vision binos, scanning the milky, LMC and SMC was quite a treat. Did not bring a scope then so could not tell how much a difference the blacker sky made through a scope. Another thing about dark sites in temperate regions is that haze and high level clouds are less a of a problem. If the sky is clear, it can be crystal clear (transparancy), causing it to look darker. So was Aus really that much darker or was it merely more transparant? Hard to tell.
Nonetheless I'm quite happy with Mersing.
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weixing
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Hi,
Anyway, during our observation, one car did come in, but they never bother us... they just went to the seaside for a while and also after mid-night, we did saw a car passing by with a search light on top of it scanning the area as it passed by. I think they may be the local vigilante. Does anyone know is there any security issue on Mersing, such as pirate or illegal immigrant??? I think we can disscuss this safety issue on a new thread, since all of us want to have a safe trip to Mersing.
Have a nice day.
We also there at 17th July 2004, but I think didn't see you because we were at the other observation site that TASOS normally go... couldn't find the famous two coconut tree at night when we were thereAnother note worthy incident for the benifit of those who visit.
On 17 th night around 2200 hrs three guys in two mobikes came and enquired what we are doing there. They (we do not know same guys or another three) returned around 0100. This time one was carrying a rifle and again enquired our purpose.When we answered that we are astronomers they seemed satisfied and went back.
Because of near zero level knowledge of Malay we could not strike a conversation and find out who really they were, Police ?. or some Villege Vigilante..?
Anyway, during our observation, one car did come in, but they never bother us... they just went to the seaside for a while and also after mid-night, we did saw a car passing by with a search light on top of it scanning the area as it passed by. I think they may be the local vigilante. Does anyone know is there any security issue on Mersing, such as pirate or illegal immigrant??? I think we can disscuss this safety issue on a new thread, since all of us want to have a safe trip to Mersing.
Have a nice day.
Yang Weixing
"The universe is composed mainly of hydrogen and ignorance."
"The universe is composed mainly of hydrogen and ignorance." -
kochu
- Posts: 817
- Joined: Tue Sep 30, 2003 9:51 pm
- Favourite scope: Sharpstar-107PH Triplet.
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Mersing
Hi,
The coconut trees are very much there, but it has become more difficult to enter the observing ground from the road. There is good progress in paving the road, but in the process , the level of the road has come up and so become difficult to take the car.
We had to look around and luckily there was a breach in the embankment near the northern end of the plot. Hope it will be left as it is , otherwise we will have a real problem to enter our observing ground.
Kochu/21-7-04
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The coconut trees are very much there, but it has become more difficult to enter the observing ground from the road. There is good progress in paving the road, but in the process , the level of the road has come up and so become difficult to take the car.
We had to look around and luckily there was a breach in the embankment near the northern end of the plot. Hope it will be left as it is , otherwise we will have a real problem to enter our observing ground.
Kochu/21-7-04
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lucky i can speak some malay, the malaysian custom just let us go after i explained in malay that we're bringing telescopes to mersing because of bad singapore sky. he didn't even bother with our custom declaration cards.This time one was carrying a rifle and again enquired our purpose.When we answered that we are astronomers they seemed satisfied and went back.
Because of near zero level knowledge of Malay we could not strike a conversation and find out who really they were, Police ?. or some Villege Vigilante..?
as for the rifle thing, i believe this was just misunderstanding. next time make sure you bring me or wira for the trip!
cheers,
arief