The Observatory, Located on the South Downs

Our Observatory is a 3m diameter fibreglass dome, located on the South Downs. This is a fantastic dark sky site, and has provided us with great views of a large proportion of the sky.

The dome currently houses a 12" Newtonian reflector telescope, donated to the Society in 1969 by one of its founding members, Derek Prince. Originally, it was housed in a wooden building, until this was replaced in 1993 with the fibreglass dome we have today. The Observatory spent much of its former life sited in Graham Boots' garden, where he regularly encouraged members of the Society and groups of local Scouts & Brownies to visit and use the telescope. In addition to his committee position of Meeting Secretary, Graham has also been awarded the title of Honorary President, in recognition of the many years he has devoted to the Observatory.

The Observatory moved to its current site in 2005.

The telescope has been modified many times over the years, and today, the only original part remaining is the primary mirror.

The Society holds weekly observing sessions at the Observatory, weather permitting, and all members are invited to attend on Thursday evenings at 1930hrs. If anyone wishes to do so, you are advised to phone Graham Boots (01903 505346) on the day to confirm whether it will be going ahead. It is also recommended that before your first observing session, you visit during daylight hours to familiarise yourself with the site and equipment. Again, please contact Graham to arrange this.

In addition to the 12" Newtonian, the Society also owns a 6" Celestron SCT. This enables us to increase the number of members using the Observatory site at any one time, and also assists in the Society’s outreach work with four local schools. These schools send regular parties of children and their teachers to the Observatory, and have been able to see the astronomical delights in the Sussex skies. If the weather is not favourable to astronomy, we have given lectures instead, which have also proved to be interesting to those attending.

For the future, the Society has recently been awarded a grant to replace the 12" Newtonian with an 11" Celestron SCT. This is a far more compact telescope, which will give us more room inside the dome, thus allowing more people inside at a time. It is also computerised, so by pressing a few buttons, it will move automatically to point to the object you wish to look at. This will make observing sessions with school children and beginners alike, much easier. We will also be purchasing a solar scope to allow use of the Observatory during daylight hours, and a wide-field scope with CCD camera for astro-imaging.

The Society’s weekly observing sessions are complimented by holding star parties. Please see the Star Parties page for more details, and for a list of items we recommend bringing to the Observatory for an observing session.