Crago Observatory 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 ...

owned by the

Astronomical Society of New South Wales The Astronomical Society of New South Wales (ASNSW) is an amateur astronomy club in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It was founded in 1954 and it has over 400 members. The society's objectives are stated in its constitution as follow ...

. It is located at

Bowen Mountain Bowen Mountain is a small town in New South Wales, Australia, in the City of Hawkesbury. It is in the foothills of the Blue Mountains. The nearest commercial centre is Kurrajong, which lies approximately 5 km to the north-east. It is n ...

, near North Richmond, which is around from

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

city. The observatory has a large rotating dome atop a concrete block building. Until 2020 it housed a 16″ ƒ/7

Dobsonian telescope A Dobsonian telescope is an altazimuth-mounted Newtonian telescope design popularized by John Dobson in 1965 and credited with vastly increasing the size of telescopes available to amateur astronomers. Dobson's telescopes featured a simplified ...

, fitted with

Argo Navis Argo Navis (the Ship Argo), or simply Argo, is one of the 48 Ptolemy's constellations, now a grouping of three IAU constellations. It is formerly a single large constellation in the southern sky. The genitive is "Argus Navis", abbreviated "Arg". ...

and ServoCAT. Then a combination of storm damage to the observatory and the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

pandemic forced the observatory to close temporarily. The society decided to take advantage of that extended break to upgrade the telescope, and commissioned the construction of a new 22" f/5 telescope. It is expected to re-open with the new telescope during 2022. There is also a wide range of eyepieces and star charts available for use with the telescope. Crago is one of the most accessible observatories to Sydney residents that does not suffer from excessive

light pollution Light pollution is the presence of unwanted, inappropriate, or excessive use of artificial Visible spectrum, lighting. In a descriptive sense, the term ''light pollution'' refers to the effects of any poorly implemented lighting, during the day ...

compared to

Sydney Observatory The Sydney Observatory is a heritage-listed meteorological station, astronomical observatory, function venue, science museum, and education facility located on Observatory Hill at Upper Fort Street, in the inner city Sydney suburb of Millers P ...

located in the city. It is named after Marion and Jack Crago, members of the flour-milling Crago family, who were active members of the society. Marion Crago suggested Bowen Mountain as the location for an observatory and, upon her death, had left money to the society.

Observatory information

Latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

: 33° 33′ 50″ S *

Longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east–west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek letter l ...

: 150° 37′ 15″ E *

Altitude Altitude or height (also sometimes known as depth) is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context ...

: 469m (1560′) *Telescope: 22″ ƒ/5 Dobsonian

References

External links

Crago Observatory

Astronomical Society of NSW
{{Portal bar, Australia, Astronomy, Stars, Spaceflight, Outer space, Solar System, Education, Science Astronomical observatories in New South Wales

Observatory information

See also

References

External links