Airdrie Public Observatory (55° 51’ 56” N, 3° 58’ 58” W) is a fully operational, historic astronomical observatory, which is part of the library building in the town of

Airdrie, North Lanarkshire Airdrie (; sco, Airdrie; gd, An t-Àrd Ruigh) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It lies on a plateau roughly 400 ft (130 m) above sea level, and is approximately 12 miles (19 km) east of Glasgow city centre. , the town had a ...

, Scotland. There are only four public observatories operating in the United Kingdom, all of which are in Scotland. Airdrie Observatory is the smallest, and second oldest. The observatory is owned and funded by Culture NL, and operated on their behalf by the Airdrie Astronomical Association (AAA), a local astronomy club and registered charity. The current observatory curators are AAA members William Tennant and Jack Frederick.

Main telescope

Airdrie Observatory is home to a 6" Victorian

refracting telescope A refracting telescope (also called a refractor) is a type of optical telescope that uses a lens (optics), lens as its objective (optics), objective to form an image (also referred to a dioptrics, dioptric telescope). The refracting telescope d ...

with an equatorial mount and clockwork drive which is used to track objects across the sky. A manual mechanism is used to open and rotate the observatory's dome. The telescope eyepieces for the telescope provided a range between 60 and 350 times magnification. The telescope was adapted to use more modern eyepieces. In its day, the Airdrie Observatory telescope would have been considered to be a research grade telescope.

History

From 1896 to 1925 Airdrie Observatory was located in the original Airdrie Public Library (which became Airdrie Arts Centre). This library was funded in part by a £1,000 donation from

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...

, a Scottish-American philanthropist. The original 3.25“ refracting telescope was given to the town by Dr Thomas Reid, an eminent Glasgow

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and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

. This telescope is no longer in use as repairs cannot be undertaken due to its age and fragility, but it can be seen in the local history room of today's library. Eventually the library was deemed to be too small and on 25 September 1925, the current library building was opened, funded this time by Airdrie Savings Bank and by the

Carnegie United Kingdom Trust The Carnegie United Kingdom Trust is an independent, endowed charitable trust based in Scotland that operates throughout Great Britain and Ireland. Originally established with an endowment from Andrew Carnegie in his birthplace of Dunfermline ...

. The purpose-built observatory was incorporated into the new library building, with its dome on the library roof. In 2013, the observatory underwent extensive refurbishment, including the installation of a new dome, and restoration of the main telescope.

Apollo astronauts' visits

As part of AAA secretary Aileen Malone's “Walk With Destiny” project, three

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

astronauts visited the observatory between 2010 and 2012: *Brigadier General

Charlie Duke Charles Moss Duke Jr. (born October 3, 1935) is an American former astronaut, United States Air Force (USAF) officer and test pilot. As Lunar Module pilot of Apollo 16 in 1972, he became the tenth and youngest person to walk on the Moon, at ag ...

, the

Apollo 16 Apollo 16 (April 1627, 1972) was the tenth crewed mission in the United States Apollo space program, administered by NASA, and the fifth and penultimate to land on the Moon. It was the second of Apollo's " J missions", with an extended sta ...

Lunar Module Pilot, and the 10th man to walk on the Moon, visited in October 2010, and spoke to local school children about his experiences; *Colonel Al Worden, Command Module Pilot on

Apollo 15 Apollo 15 (July 26August 7, 1971) was the ninth crewed mission in the United States' Apollo program and the fourth to Moon landing, land on the Moon. It was the first List of Apollo missions#Alphabetical mission types, J mission, with a ...

visited in June 2012. Like Duke, Worden gave a talk and answered questions from local school children; *Captain Richard Gordon, Command Module Pilot on the Apollo 12 mission, visited in October 2012, giving a lecture to space enthusiasts at Glasgow Caledonian University. All three astronauts accepted the position of Honorary President of AAA.

Sir Patrick Moore Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore (; 4 March 1923 – 9 December 2012) was an English amateur astronomer who attained prominence in that field as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter. Moore was president of the Brit ...

was AAA's first Honorary President, from 2009 until his death in 2012.

Airdrie Astronomical Association

Airdrie Astronomical Association, commonly abbreviated to AAA, is a Scottish amateur astronomy club, founded on 1 May 2009. Currently the AAA operates Airdrie Observatory on behalf of Culture NL. The AAA hold weekly meetings in New Wellwynd Parish Church. Every meeting features a presentation from either a club member or guest speaker. The AAA opens the Observatory during astronomical events, at open days, at ten evening sessions between November and January, and, by arrangement, for groups wishing to visit.

References

External links

AAA Official WebsiteAAA Facebook PageWalk With Destiny
{{Use dmy dates, date=July 2019 Astronomical observatories in Scotland Public observatories Buildings and structures in North Lanarkshire Tourist attractions in North Lanarkshire 1896 establishments in Scotland 1896 in science Airdrie, North Lanarkshire