Member’s Dark-Sky Nights

Each month near the New Moon date we head out of the city for some casual telescope observing and astrophotography under less light polluted skies.

These evenings are conducted for BAS Members and their guests and are not open to the general public. At some of these locations participants arrive well before sundown and put one of the barbeques to work while others come just for the dark-sky astronomy opportunity. These events are BYO BBQ and there is no catering provided by BAS. It is best that eveyone try and arrive on site prior to sundown as it makes equipment set-up much easier.

We often conduct simultaneous evenings at multiple locations north and south of Brisbane. This makes travel easier for members and also makes for a shorter and safer drive home at the end of the evening. Our current locations are:

Maleny Golf Club – Sunshine Coast
15 Porters Lane
North Maleny QLD 4552
Hardings Paddock – south of Ipswich
Carmichaels Rd
Goolman QLD 4306
Warwick Airport – Darling Downs
Massie Bony Mountain Road
Massie QLD 4370

The details for each month’s event are published on the BAS website on the Events Calendar and on the BAS Facebook page under Events. You are encouraged to indicate on a Facebook Event if you plan to attend one of these evenings. This makes it much easier for BAS to keep you informed of any status changes and if an events needs to be cancelled due to weather of site availability issues.

Maleny Golf Club – Sunshine Coast

The Sunshine Coast location does not have barbeque facilities available to us, so this is just an observing evening. People wishing to stay overnight will need to book accommodation at one of the excellent nearby B&Bs. There is a lock-up shed available for people wanting to leave their telescope on site for two consecutive nights of observing. Contact info@bas.asn.au for more information.

Hardings Paddock – Ipswich

This site is just 10 minutes drive south of Ipswich on the Ipswich-Boonah Road, look for the Carmichaels Road turn-off. There is an access gate to the picnic area that is locked by a visiting ranger around 6:00PM each evening. It is highly recommended that you arrive at Hardings Paddock before sundown and well before the gate is locked. BAS books a camp site for these evenings and is given a combination lock code for the gate so you can easily leave the site at any time during the evening. Two or three people make camp overnight in the site booked by BAS if they wish – but please let us know on the Facebook Event Page if you plan to camp as space is very limited.

Hardings Paddock has excellent facilities – good barbecues, covered picnic tables, water and toilets. It is recommended that you bring some mosquito spray and any telescope dew removal gear.

Warwick Airport – Darling Downs

Thanks to their generosity and support, we utilise the facilities of the Warwick Gliding Club. The club has an excellent clubhouse with bunk bed overnight accommodation, self-catering kitchen, toilet and shower facilities and excellent dark Darling Downs skies. Accommodation capacity is limited so members are encouraged make contact with event coordinator warwick@bas.asn.au so attendance numbers can be properly managed and the hospitality of the Warwick Gliding Club respected.