Space Place at Carter Observatory (or simply Space Place) is an observatory in

Wellington, New Zealand Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, located at the top of the

Wellington Botanic Garden The Wellington Botanic Garden in Wellington, New Zealand covers 25 hectares of land on the side of the hill between Thorndon and Kelburn, near central Wellington. The garden features 25 hectares of protected native forest, conifers, plant c ...

. The site was originally home to the Wellington City Observatory (nicknamed "The Tin Shed"), established in 1924. This was demolished and replaced by the Carter Observatory, which officially opened on 20 December 1941. Since renamed the Space Place, it is now managed by Museums Wellington, which is part of Experience Wellington, and is a public

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

and planetarium with a focus on space and New Zealand astronomy. The Observatory houses a digital planetarium as well as an historic 9-inch Cooke

refractor 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 ...

, through which evening visitors can observe a variety of

Solar System The Solar System Capitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar ...

and

deep-sky object A deep-sky object (DSO) is any astronomical object that is not an individual star or Solar System object (such as Sun, Moon, planet, comet, etc.). The classification is used for the most part by amateur astronomers to denote visually observed f ...

History

The original name, Carter Observatory, commemorates Charles Carter, who gifted his estate to what later became the

Royal Society of New Zealand Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a c ...

for the purposes of establishing an astronomical observatory in or near Wellington.

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

established the Carter Observatory in 1937; it opened in 1941, following some delays caused by the beginnings of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. It is regarded as the fifth observatory in Wellington, and was built on the site of the previous Wellington City Observatory nicknamed "The Tin Shed." Over the following decades, Carter Observatory became a base for astronomical research in New Zealand. Research began with solar investigations, and when new staff joined during the 1970s it expanded to

variable stars A variable star is a star whose brightness as seen from Earth (its apparent magnitude) changes with time. This variation may be caused by a change in emitted light or by something partly blocking the light, so variable stars are classified as e ...

, galaxies,

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ...

s and asteroids. The Observatory ran formal research programmes and assisted

amateur astronomers Amateur astronomy is a hobby where participants enjoy observing or imaging celestial objects in the sky using the unaided eye, binoculars, or telescopes. Even though scientific research may not be their primary goal, some amateur astronomer ...

in performing their own research. The Carter Observatory became New Zealand's National Observatory in 1977. In 1991, the Golden Bay Planetarium was relocated from Civic Square in downtown Wellington and incorporated into the Carter site. This merger also resulted in the establishment of a new visitor centre and gift store, which helped to diversify the Observatory’s facilities and improve the visitor experience. The Observatory’s role eventually shifted from a focus on scientific research to public education about space and astronomy. Parliament officially repealed the Carter Observatory Act in 2010 and transferred the responsibilities of the site from the Crown to the

Wellington City Council Wellington City Council is a territorial authority in New Zealand, governing the country's capital city Wellington, and ''de facto'' second-largest city (if the commonly considered parts of Wellington, the Upper Hutt, Porirua, Lower Hutt and ...

. It is now one of four institutions run by Museums Wellington as part of Experience Wellington. A digital fulldome planetarium system was installed during a refurbishment of the facility in 2010. Museums Wellington re-branded the Carter Observatory in 2015 to reflect its role in public education and tourism. It is now officially known as “Space Place at Carter Observatory” or “Space Place.”

Facilities

Space Place houses two

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to observ ...

s within its main building, as well as a planetarium. The Thomas Cooke telescope, a 9-inch Cooke refractor, serves as the primary telescope for public observing sessions. The Ruth Crisp telescope, a 16-inch Cassegrain reflector, arrived as a donation in 1968. Not far from the main building, Space Place also manages the Thomas King Observatory, previously used by the Wellington Astronomical Society. The historic

Dominion Observatory The Dominion Observatory was an astronomical observatory in Ottawa, Ontario that operated from 1902 to 1970. The Observatory was also an institution within the Canadian Federal Government. The observatory grew out of the Department of the Inter ...

is also located nearby, but this is not operated by Space Place.

The Thomas Cooke Telescope

The Thomas Cooke telescope is the main telescope in regular use at Space Place. It was manufactured in 1867 in

York, England York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a m ...

by T. Cooke & Sons, and originally installed at an observatory near Halifax, West Yorkshire. The astronomers Edward Crossley and

Joseph Gledhill Joseph Gledhill (17 November 1837 – 20 March 1906) was a British astronomer. He worked as an assistant at the Bermerside Observatory in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. In 1879 he co-authored the book ''A Handbook of Double Stars'' with ...

used the telescope over the course of several decades for their astronomical research. A Grubb & Parsons

clock drive In astronomy, a clock drive (also known as a field rotator) is a motor-controlled mechanism used to move an equatorial mounted telescope along one axis to keep the aim in exact sync with the apparent motion of the fixed stars on the celestial ...

was added to the telescope in 1879, and this still serves as the telescope's mechanical tracking system. The telescope’s original lens was a 9-inch

achromat An achromatic lens or achromat is a lens that is designed to limit the effects of chromatic and spherical aberration. Achromatic lenses are corrected to bring two wavelengths (typically red and blue) into focus on the same plane. The most comm ...

, which was replaced with a 9-inch Cooke photovisual objective in 1896. In 1896 or 1905, a 5-inch W. Watson & Sons guide scope was added alongside the main scope. After Crossley’s death in 1905, the telescope was purchased by Reverend Dr David Kennedy and shipped to New Zealand, where it was installed at the Meeanee Observatory at the Marist Seminary near Napier. Kennedy used the telescope to take photographs of

Halley’s Comet Halley's Comet or Comet Halley, officially designated 1P/Halley, is a short-period comet visible from Earth every 75–79 years. Halley is the only known short-period comet that is regularly visible to the naked eye from Earth, and thus the o ...

during its 1910 approach. The Wellington City Council purchased the telescope for £2000 in 1923, and the telescope was shipped from Napier to Wellington. It was later transferred to the care of the Carter Observatory under the Carter Observatory Act (1938). At the Carter Observatory site, the Cooke telescope was used for solar astronomy research as well as

flare star A flare star is a variable star that can undergo unpredictable dramatic increases in brightness for a few minutes. It is believed that the flares on flare stars are analogous to solar flares in that they are due to the magnetic energy stored in th ...

and double star monitoring programs over the following decades. In April 1968, Carter Observatory was one of the observatories involved in recording an

occultation An occultation is an event that occurs when one object is hidden from the observer by another object that passes between them. The term is often used in astronomy, but can also refer to any situation in which an object in the foreground blocks ...

of Neptune by the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

. This was part of an international project in which

U.S. Naval Observatory United States Naval Observatory (USNO) is a scientific and military facility that produces geopositioning, navigation and timekeeping data for the United States Navy and the United States Department of Defense. Established in 1830 as the Depo ...

astronomers used photometric and visual data provided by New Zealand, Australian and Japanese observers to derive an improved value for the diameter of Neptune. Due to degradation of the lens over its one hundred years of use, the photovisual objective was replaced in December 2001 with a 9-inch aplanatic objective.

The Ruth Crisp Telescope

The Ruth Crisp telescope, a 16-inch Cassegrain reflector manufactured by

Boller and Chivens Boller and Chivens was an American manufacturer of high-quality telescopes and spectrographs headquartered in South Pasadena, California. History Founded about 1946 by Harry Berthold Boller (1915-1997) and Clyde Cuthbertson Chivens (1915-2008). ...

, was donated to the Observatory in 1968 by New Zealand writer and philanthropist Ruth Crisp. Once used for research at the Carter Observatory's outstation at

Black Birch Black birch is a common name for several trees, and may refer to: * Asian black birch, the English name for '' Betula dahurica'', tree species native to eastern Asia * Black birch, a common name for ''Betula lenta'', tree species native to eastern ...

in the South Island, this telescope was later moved to the main premises in Wellington. A grant from Pub Charity allowed improvements to the installation in December 2005: the Observatory had the dome motorised, and the telescope’s primary and secondary mirrors were re-aluminised.

Planetarium

The Golden Bay Planetarium was incorporated into Carter Observatory in 1991, with the Wellington Planetarium Society gifting their Zeiss planetarium to the Observatory Board. A Sky-Skan digital

fulldome Fulldome refers to immersive dome-based video display environments. The dome, horizontal or tilted, is filled with real-time (interactive) or pre-rendered (linear) computer animations, live capture images, or composited environments. Although t ...

planetarium system was installed during a refurbishment of the site in 2010. The nine-metre planetarium seats 66 people, and is equipped with DigitalSky software running across six 4K projectors.

The Thomas King Observatory

The nearby Thomas King Observatory is also managed by Space Place, and was last refurbished in May 2001. It housed a 5-inch Grubb telescope (manufactured in 1886), and this was used for both night observations as well as solar viewing through a

hydrogen-alpha filter H-alpha (Hα) is a specific deep-red visible spectral line in the Balmer series with a wavelength of 656.28 nm in air and 656.46 nm in vacuum; it occurs when a hydrogen electron falls from its third to second lowest energy level. H-alpha ...

Gallery

Image:Space Place Entrance.jpg, The entrance to Space Place Image:Thomas Cooke Telescope Side View.jpg, Side view of the Thomas Cooke telescope Image:Thomas King Observatory.jpg, The nearby Thomas King Observatory Image:Thomas King Observatory & Space Place at Carter Observatory.jpg, The Thomas King Observatory, looking towards Space Place

References

External links

Space Place
- official site
Carter Observatory's old website

Experience Wellington
{{Astronomical observatories in New Zealand Astronomical observatories in New Zealand Buildings and structures in Wellington City Tourist attractions in Wellington City Education in the Wellington Region NZHPT Category II listings in the Wellington Region