The Astronomy Centre, also known as the Amateur Astronomy Centre, is an astronomical

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...

located in northern

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

which is run by experienced amateur

astronomers An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

and is open to the

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

at certain times.

History and purpose

Founded in November 1982 by Peter Drew, Linda Simonian and Rob Miller on the site of a disused factory, high in the

Pennines The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of uplands running between three regions of Northern England: North West England on the west, North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber on the east. Commo ...

, the Centre provides opportunities for its members, schools, local community groups and the general public to observe and photograph astronomical phenomena at a range of

wavelength In physics, the wavelength is the spatial period of a periodic wave—the distance over which the wave's shape repeats. It is the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same phase on the wave, such as two adjacent crests, tro ...

s during daylight and night hours. At the time the Centre was conceived, access to equipment and expertise was unavailable for many amateur astronomers in the UK and a national centre would have provided an invaluable focal point. Developments in optical fabrication, photography and communications now permit many visitors and members to complement their home astronomical facilities, skills and experience with those of the Astronomy Centre. In keeping with the Centres original ethos, besides welcoming visitors to the facility, current members engage off-site with schools, youth organisations and community groups and also provide contributions to national, regional, local print and broadcast media.

Structures

The first permanent housing on the site was built to shelter a

aperture In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. An opt ...

Newtonian telescope The Newtonian telescope, also called the Newtonian reflector or just a Newtonian, is a type of reflecting telescope invented by the English scientist Sir Isaac Newton, using a concave primary mirror and a flat diagonal secondary mirror. Newton' ...

. Further construction took the total number of separate telescope mountings to 14 by the end of 2015. The main observatory tower is a three level round building topped by an

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...

dome with twin sliding doors. Its construction by the members was completed in April 2000.

Telescopes and other instruments

The largest optical telescope currently in regular use is a open truss Newtonian on a mount inspired by the designs of John Dobson. A mirror blank is available for a future enhancement of the facilities but construction of the UK's largest reflector since the destruction of the original

Isaac Newton Telescope The Isaac Newton Telescope or INT is a 2.54 m (100 in) optical telescope run by the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes at Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma in the Canary Islands since 1984. Originally the INT was situated at Her ...

Herstmonceux Castle Herstmonceux Castle is a brick-built castle, dating from the 15th century, near Herstmonceux, East Sussex, England. It is one of the oldest significant brick buildings still standing in England. The castle was renowned for being one of the f ...

is currently on hold. In addition to the permanently mounted 30", 20", 17", 16", 12" and 8" instruments there are fixed locations to allow a number of smaller portable items to be quickly set up if visitor numbers increase on a clear night. Many of the optical instruments were constructed by telescope maker Peter Drew, who has also provided many other societies and individuals (such as

Hoober Observatory J A Jones Hoober Observatory is a privately owned observatory located in South Yorkshire, England near to the villages of Hoober and Wentworth, South Yorkshire, Wentworth, North-northwest of Rotherham. It can be found about east of Hoober Sta ...

) with their equipment. This includes a number of cameras obscura similar to, but smaller than, the one installed on the main Observatory building.

Public and community access

Observational astronomy Observational astronomy is a division of astronomy that is concerned with recording data about the observable universe, in contrast with theoretical astronomy, which is mainly concerned with calculating the measurable implications of physical m ...

takes place on weekly open nights, for special events{{cite web , url= http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/news/14325873.IN_PICTURES__15_beautiful_images_of_the_Northern_Lights_over_Lancashire/ , title= IN PICTURES: 15 beautiful images of the Northern Lights over Lancashire and by special arrangement with keyholders. As well as the basics of visual astronomy visitors can undertake a wide range of more advanced observations guided by volunteers with long experience in safe

solar astronomy The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared r ...

, infra-red astronomy and

radio astronomy Radio astronomy is a subfield of astronomy that studies celestial objects at radio frequencies. The first detection of radio waves from an astronomical object was in 1933, when Karl Jansky at Bell Telephone Laboratories reported radiation coming f ...

References

Astronomical observatories in England Camera obscuras Planetaria in the United Kingdom Scientific observation