Dark sites of the world

This is NASA's satellite image of the world at night (click on the image for larger image size). It shows us the distribution of lights made by human beings and the places where we can still find dark/pristine skies. Combining the criteria of dark sky, dry climate, friendly temperature, accessibility and ... fun, here is my list of my desirable places to bring our equipment to and watch the stars:

Mongolia

Xinjiang (China)

Tibet

Afghanistan/north Pakistan

Central Asia (near the Caspian sea)

The Sahara countries

Chile

Australia

Central and Central Highland of Vietnam (just because we live in this country)

New Guinea (well, the climate here is not dry at all, but it's a great great place to travel to anyway)

And, of course, on a small boat in the middle of any ocean at night.

Let's hope we soon can make this astro-travel.

Jupiter in 28x110 update

Last night, maybe the sky was better. My view of Jupiter in the 28x110 improved compared to the previous day. I could see/detect, beside the 2 equatorial bands, the 'polar caps' of Jupiter as well (color in the areas near the 2 poles). This was clearer in the pole to the left of the picture above (southern?), and detectable in the other pole. The view is clearer when I looked in one eyepiece at one time (I think that's acceptable for binoculars this big?). So, this view is comparable with my view through small telescopes at the same magnification. Good.

The photo above is an approximation of the view at the eyepieces of the 28x110, with color slightly darker on the bands (Photo: Stellarium screenshot).

Jupiter through 28x110 binoculars

This is approximately how Jupiter and moons look through my new GarrettOptical 28x110 binoculars. (Jupiter was like this, but the moons were not like this but like light points only). Two equatorial bands were clearly seen, and one band was thicker/darker than the other. I remember from earlier use of telescopes that magnifications around 30x should reveal polar caps as well, but I have not seen these with the 28x110. Maybe seeing conditions? (Photo: Stellarium screenshot).

Jupiter as seen through 20x80 binoculars

This is approximate simulation of how Jupiter can be seen through my 20x80 binoculars. Colours will be fainter, but details on cloud bands seemed the same.

The two equatorial bands of the planet can be detected as a pair in the 20x80. Small. But definitely there.

(Photo: Stellarium screenshot)

M32, M110, M31

Few days ago I caught M32 using the 20x80 binos. Location also downtown HCMC, in, I can say, extreme light polluted sky. Thus so far I've seen all 3 members of this wonderful trio: M31, M32, M110. I first saw M31 in a pair of 7x50 binos and then caught M110 with the Fujinon 10x50 from a dark site in Thanh Hoa province. This trio should be very impressive in the 20x80 under dark sky. (Photo: Stellarium screenshot).

NGC253

I saw NGC253 (Sculptor Galaxy in Sculptor constellation) in August, 2009 using Oberwerk 20x80 binoculars from downtown of HCMC, a 7-10mil-population city. The galaxy was at near zenith at the time of observing. (Photo: screenshot from Stellarium).