Australia is known to be one of the best air-quality continents in the world, and on sunny nights, big cities like Sydney's Melbourne can see stars in the sky. I used to take advantage of the good weather to drive to the seaside to see the stars and the sunrise. I used to think it was the clear sky until we visited Narabri (Narrabri), in the interior of New Island. In particular, the nearby Narablei Paul Wilde Observatory's ATCA Australian Telescope Array at (Paul Wild Observatory Narrabri) discovered that the sky in Sydney, Melbourne, had been "polluted". The inland sky is at least a halo (more than double) brighter than the starry sky near Sydney, and the pure visible brightness with the naked eye makes my experience so rich that I can't help but sigh.
We live in Narrabri's RV camp, heading west from Narrabri to ATCA in inland areas with little air pollution from pure light, our car parked by the roadside, turning off the lights, we can clearly see the Milky way hanging across the sky like a silver ribbon. Even if there is a big car across the street from time to time, the bright light of the car still cannot hide the brilliant Milky way!
We drove a little further, the roadside felt a little African savanna, we found a bare tree as a foreground photographed this star, there is a desolate desert like the beauty of the star river.
After a little while, the moon rose, the moon is too bright, will soon cover up the brightness of the Milky way, we took advantage of the moon rising, we took the milky way and the moon competing with the picture.
Because the moon's brightness is too high, the milky way will slowly become dim, this time actually can still be patted star orbit, but for the first time we have no experience, we packed the equipment to go home. The next day, about the same time, we drove to ATCA..
There are a lot of small animals on the side of the road into ATCA. It's really wild here!
At the end of the road you can see an array of Australian telescopes, these giant "pot covers" placed in a six-kilometer orbit, constantly repositioned to detect the sky. Innermost orbit is not allowed into, very lucky to have a pot cover is very close to us, so we took it to the knife.
Soon the moon rose again, and the brightness of the sky increased a lot. The spectacle of the giant telescope facing the Milky way was spectacular.
But this time can try to shoot the star orbit, the result is also very shocking.
Utility information:
ATCA Australian Telescope Array (Australia Telescope Compact Array) official Web site: https://www.narrabri.atnf.csiro.au
ATCA is about 25 kilometers west of Narrabri, and the location of the site is mysterious because it can't be found on Google Maps and requires a combination of road instructions from the Web site and Google Maps satellite maps to find it.
This is the direction of the website.
https://www.narrabri.atnf.csiro.au/observing/visitors/getting.html
Using Google Maps to find a similar location, open the satellite map to see huge orbits and white telescope dots.
I marked it on the map at 30 °18 & # 39, 46.48 "S, 149 °33 & # 39, 52.00" E, GPS coordinates: 30 °18 & # 39, 46.48 "S, 149 °33 & # 39, 52.00" E
The Australian telescope array is a free-to-visit educational base, but in the area turn off electronic devices such as mobile phones to avoid interference with radio telescopes.
Other nearby attractions
Near Narrabri is one of Australia's most famous hot springs. Morri (Moree), an hour's drive north of the town, is one of Australia's most famous hot spring resorts, with almost all of its hotels offering hot springs. In addition, Burren Junction, on the west side of the town, is also said to offer very nice hot springs.
If you visit ATCA, don't miss (Mount Kaputar National Park)., just over 30 kilometers east of Narrabri. Must-visit attractions include organ stone (Sawn Rocks) and the highest point of the park: the Capata Peak viewing platform (Mt Kaputar Summit Lookout, is 1489 meters above sea level. Organ stone is a rock in the shape of an organ; on the top of Kapata, the sky is clear, 10% of the land can be seen in the new state.
Although both Sawn Rocks and Mt Kaputar Summit Lookout belong to the Karpata National Park, they are on two separate roads, starting from Narrabri, going to Sawn Rocks, and returning to the same path, and then taking the other way to Mt Kaputar Summit Lookout..
The road to Mt Kaputar Summit Lookout will also pass through some crossroads, they are some hiking routes and other viewing platforms, the more recommended are Doug Sky Lookout.
-Mount Kaputar summit walk.-this Lookout can also drive directly to.
http://www.visitnsw.com/destinations/country-nsw/moree-and-narrabri-area/narrabri/attractions/mount-kaputar-summit-walk
Doug Sky lookout - Kaputar
http://www.visitnsw.com/destinations/country-nsw/moree-and-narrabri-area/narrabri/attractions/doug-sky-lookout
Kaputar scenic drive
http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do/Driving-routes/Kaputar-scenic-drive
