La Société Guernesiaise
Astronomy Section
Observatory
The site and buildings
The Section's Observatory is located at Rue du Lorier, St Pierre du Bois, Guernsey, about 100 metres up the road from La Houguette School. It was opened in April 1991 by Heather Couper and Nigel Henbest, and a further roll-off roof building was opened by Patrick Moore (now Sir Patrick) in 1993.
The main building was constructed in 1943 as part of the German Mirus gun battery complex. It is contains a meeting room suitable for up to 20 people. An adjoining room contains a library and basic kitchen facilities.
The nearby observing building has a motorised roll-off roof. It houses the 16-inch Meade reflecting telescope and 5-inch refractor.
Externally there is a concrete pad with electricity supply, for placing telescopes, especially the 11-inch Celestron, which is mounted on a trolley.
Instrumentation includes:
§ 16-inch (40 cm) LX200 Meade computerised catadioptric telescope, permanently mounted on a concrete pier in a building with a roll-off roof.
§ 5-inch (12.5 cm) Takahashi refractor, mounted on top of the 16-inch telescope.
§ 11-inch (28 cm) Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope, mounted on a moveable trolley.
§ Coelostat for solar observing: 6-inch (15 cm) diameter, 70-ft (21 m) focal length, producing an image 7 inches (18 cm) diameter.
§ 8-inch (20 cm) Celestron f/1.5 Schmidt Camera.
§ FLI CCD camera, with flip-mirror filter holder.
§ Webcam.
§ PC computers with astronomical software and Broadband Internet access.
Visiting the Observatory
The Observatory is open to the public on certain Tuesday evenings, as shown on our events page. A donation (eg adults £1, children 50p), is requested.
The
Current projects include:
- Viewing all the Messier Objects.
- Viewing the Caldwell catalogue objects.
- Seasonal Observing Programme.
- Satellite tracking with the Meade telescope.
Past projects have included:
- Photography of one Lunar Month.
- CCD Mosaics of the Moon.
- Tri-colour CCD Imaging.
- Schmidt Camera Photography of Extended Objects.
- Perseid meteor counts.
- Partial and total solar eclipse observations.
- Total lunar eclipse observations.
- Transit of Venus observations.
- Occultation observations.
- Construction of a solar telescope.
- Construction of a vertical sundial.
Some of our results can be seen on The Gallery pages.
The Observatory, Rue du Lorier, St Peter's, Guernsey.
Telephone: (01481) 264252
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