Hi Dieter

 D> Tonight (12:30 am, Monday Morn) and the night before has been
 D> exceptionally clear. Even I ventured out the last 2 nights to view
 D> the starts. Bugger about the high amount of incident light though -
 D> our street lamps shine every which way, including up. Last night
 D> was pretty dismal viewing because of the light, even with my hands
 D> cupped around my eyes.

There's a full page advert for an astronomy pc program in a yank
magazine in front of me. It shows a city nightscape, nice'n pretty,
with a distinct glow in the sky above it. The writing at the top
says

    In 1878 Thomas Edison invented the light bulb.
                       Jerk.


 D> But there were plenty of stars to see anyway.

Did you happen to look out on Christmas night? The first quarter
moon was a bit under one moon width away from Jupiter by 10pm.

 D> This evening, in a valiant attempt to block out even more light, I cut
 D> out the base of a suitable large (and empty) black flower pot, and used
 D> as a sort of a monocular to reduce the amount of reflected light - worked
 D> pretty well too. Though I must remove it before wandering back inside
 D> lest I frighten the kids.

Good plan. If the inside is a bit shiny, give it a coat of flat
black spray paint. Let it dry thoroughly before wearing it, though,
unless you're real fond of UFOs...

 D> There is still a large amount of reflected haze light though, and I
 D> guess I'll have to bundle up the kids trampoline, where I have been
 D> reclining (very comfortable too) and find a suitable viewing area
 D> in the Blue Mountains, where there would be a lot less haze.

There's a small observatory at Wentworth Falls that might be worth
an enquiry (look for Kings Tableland Observatory). There's a real
gem out at Cowra, but that might be a bit far.

Trivia: on 10th February this year, Pluto will finally regain the
title of Most Distant Planet, when it passes outside the orbit of
Neptune for the first time since 7th February 1979.

Cheers

--- "Cold Weather Causes Temperature to Drop" - headline from
Stillwater (Oklahoma) News-Press

--- PPoint 1.88