Merle,
If only Australia had higher mountains than it does, I might have worked there
at some time. There at great observatories there, but at too low altitude for
some work. I'm sorry I haven't yet visited.
As you know, Australia's highest mountain, Mount Kosciuszko, named for one of
my relatives in the Polish half of the family, is just 2222 meters high.
That's the same height as the mountain we chose to adopt as the base for the
Southern wing of our US National Observatory, in Chile, at Cerro Tololo; this
is in the foothills of the Andes, in the world's driest desert, the Atacama.
The skies there are almost always clear, and rainfall is very slight; it's
three times drier than Southern Arizona, where our Northern observatory is
based.
When you see them, do you recognize the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds?
And does the Coal Sack stand out nicely against the bright Milky Way background
in Centaurus? I'm just trying to get an idea of how *dark* it may be at your
place, so close to Sydney as to be within the glow of the city.
I share your appreciation of clouds, and enjoy painting them into my landscapes
paintings. Astronomers never like to see clouds at nighttime, however. Photos
of observatories with photogenic clouds in the sky are considered bad publicity
in our field.
--Joe
> Merle Lester <merlewiitpom@...> wrote:
>
> joe...i see the night sky beautifully..best air quality in the world here
>they say..it's beautiful..what i love are the cloud formations...before you
>drive up to the mountain top...you go across very flat ground..mainly veggie
>farms... and i always look at the clouds...one can get almost a 360%
>view,..magical..i do love clouds... yes beautiful..stars et all..merle
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