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Lunar Eclipse from Mt Buffalo: 16th June 2011

Total Lunar Eclipse Composite: Mt Buffalo, 16th June 2011 Takahashi FS-102 and Canon 5DmkII This is my summary of the lunar eclipse in June 2011, which I enjoyed under clear…

QHY9 vs Astro40D

Any addicted astrophotographer is always considering new equipment, and also debating the merits of several options. One of the most common questions for beginners is about the difference between digital…

Marlay Point Overnight Sailing Race 2011

Sailing in the Marlay Point Overnight Race on Lake Wellington

Airglow and other thoughts on dark sky sites

The sky at night is not black. Dark yes, but certainly not black. I now have enough data from dark sky sites in central and western Victoria and the Ice…

Cloud Forecasts for Australian Astronomers

Summary Almost all free weather websites and smartphone apps use data from the United States GFS global weather model as it is the only one openly published for all to…

Southern Skies Exhibition at Michaels Camera Store

Michaels Camera Store in Melbourne are hosting an exhibition of astrophotography images taken by members of the Astronomical Society of Victoria. The exhibition will be on in the upstairs gallery…

ASV Messier Star Party – March 13th 2010

Every March, the Astronomical Society of Victoria hosts a ‘Messier Star Party’ at its Leon Mow Dark Sky Site near Heathcote, to celebrate and observe the famous catalogue of deep…

Bioluminescence in the Gippsland Lakes

These pictures of bioluminescence in the Gippsland Lakes in my gallery have proven quite popular, so it seems time to provide a story to accompany them. But this is not…

Geminid Meteor Shower

At the end of a very enjoyable three days of astrophotography with a several other astronomers at the Leon Mow Dark Sky Site in Victoria (Australia), I caught a nice…

Back Country Skiing in NSW (2009)

Here are a select few photos from a week of back country skiing on the NSW Main Range: Whites River Hut Twilight and Moonlight over the Valley   Camping by…

CWAS Astrofest in Parkes NSW and 2009 David Malin Awards

I’ve spent the last week trapsing around NSW, starting at the Central West Astronomical Society’s 2009 Astrofest in Parkes – home of ‘The Dish’ (better in HD!): This year, though,…

Chasing Comet Lulin with Neil

On Saturday I dragged Neil Creek, a long time and astronomically minded friend, to Heathcote. A contributing factor was that I knew we'd both enjoy pointing his brand new Canon…

Phil Learns to Ski, again (2008)

The last ski of the season and Phil learns to telemark, sort of. 21st September, 2008 on the sunny slopes of Mt McKay (Falls Creek). Here's the mess we made:

Cloud Forecasts for Astronomers

Edit Oct 2009: Since I originally wrote this article, SkippySky has become available. It uses the same US GFS weather model data so the discussion about accuracy is still relevant,…