Hi everyone
We have now arranged a visit to the University of London Observatory at Mill Hill on Sat 15th Nov.
Opened in 1929 it houses the 8" Fry refractor and the 24-inch/18-inch twin Radcliffe refractor. Although in quite a light polluted area the observatory currently also houses four modern telescopes -- a Celestron 14 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain, a Meade 7 inch Maksutov-Cassegrain, and two Meade 10 inch Schmidt-Cassegrains that are used for teaching and research. We will have a tour of the facility starting at 20:00 by one of the astronomers and if the sky is clear will observe through the 8" Fry refractor. The event should finish 21:30. There is no parking on site, however parking is available at a nearby public carpark. From Mill Hill Broadway station the observatory is a short 10 min walk. Trains from Orpington run regularly and take about 1hr 30 mins. For those going by train we will meet at Orpington station about 17:45.Cost is £10 per person payable in advance (additionally the train from Orpington is £6 return and parking at the station is £3.70).
Please see Sue or Tom at the next meeting if you would like to come and give Tom the Treasurer your £10.
regards
Jim
Any reason why we only get to look through one of the smaller scopes?
Carole
I will ask, but I guess it's because the others are used for CCD work and have permanently mounted cameras.
This is a photo of Mill Hill Observatory from where I work, which I noticed a few weeks ago, only because the sun was shining on it, and I wondered what this shimmering marvel of engineeering was, and then looked it up on Google maps. I knew I was near Mill Hill, but not that close.
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3274/2714373245_3355b9e84b.jpg)
Tony G