The Canterbury Astronomical Society's observatory
is located near West Melton, a small township west of
Chrischurch (see the map).
This facility was established in 1963 originally as a dark sky site with a satellite tracking station; the space age had just dawned and the new moving
lights in the sky were of great interest.
The observatory's existence is entirely due to the generous bequest of
R. F. Joyce, a founding member and first president of the Canterbury
Astronomical Society.
This enabled a piece of land to be bought in rural Canterbury and the
establishment of the observatory's first instrument, a modest satellite
tracking scope, which saw important use in the early days of the space age.
The observatory has since gone from strength to strength with the addition of a dome containing a 16" Newtonian reflector which was subsequently replaced with a 14.5" Cassegrain reflector designed for photometry. A meeting room with kitchen facilities - a place to gather for a chat and warm-up.
A number of other buildings meeting numerous purposes have been added with the whole observatory going thorugh an expansion and major maintance period in recent years, with a 10 fold increase in available flat area for telescopes, and numerous upgrades to take advantage of modern technology.
The telescopes on site include the 14.5" Cassegrain reflector in the main dome with a 4" refracting guide scope, a 12" Meade GPS Schmidt Cassegrain, a 5" Cooke Refractor on loan from Carter Observatory, a 24" Dobsonian and others with assorted smaller apertures.
In November 2005 the Society was delighted to receive a grant of $50,000 from the Eureka Trust towards the cost of a new larger main instrument and related equipment. A fully automated Meade RCX400 telescope of 16" (41cm) aperture has been installed, as well as a CCD camera, and Canon digital SLR camera specifically designed for astrophotography. The 16" telescope has been housed in the roll-off roof building on the eastern side of the site, which has been renovated for the purpose.
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Left: The Society's Meade RCX400 16" reflector. |
| Right: The 5" Cooke refractor, on loan from Carter Observatory |
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Left: Ben and Dave receiving instruction from Lionel about the 14in scope |
| Right: Ben, Ian and Russell using the 12" Meade |
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MAP: How to get to the West Melton Observatory.