Keele Observatory

[philj]

Ive been meaning to get along to this obs for years, finally popped in last night, well worth a look, especially the Grubb 12.5" refractor.

The 24" Newts not too bad either

[davefrance]

Went there last year, they were very welcoming and we had a very pleasant couple of hours there. Pity it is so near to Stoke on Trent as the light pollution was very evident.

[estwing]

Wasn't bad when it was built!!

[bish]

Had a look at Jupiter through the big frac - of course it was a great view. The 24" was being repaired when I went. Would like a look through the 24" but don't think they stick an ep on that one?

[nightfisher]

lovely, might have to pay a visit some time

[estwing]

to be honest the view of Jupiter was barely better than I get with the moonshane....

[philj]

The 24 inch is being refitted with new encoders and stuff, thats taking some time apparently (its all volunteers doing the maintenance) also theres an sbig camera on it, not used for visual much apparently. The 12.5" objective needs a clean apparently which entails objective removal and splitting, no eady task I can imagine, so that could account for the poor jupiter image but what were the atmospherics like when you looked through it estwing? Even the best optics look poor on bad nights.

[estwing]

Cloud 50/50 wind speed was very low

[James Albinson]

Thank you for your kind words! You and the other responders are welcome to visit Tuesdays 8pm-10pm, Sat 1pm - 3pm; please see our website www.astro.keele.ac.uk/Observatory  for other events...

We have our 150mm Lunt solar Halpha scope back from repair, so operators permitting and with clear skies, we can show a fantastic view of the Sun. We also have the herschel wedge more or less worked out for the 12in so we can show a white light solar view safely. (We stop down the 12" to 6in).

To clarify some comments in this thread:  

We are affected by skyglow from Stoke - it can't be helped - but views are better towards the south/west.

Cleaning the 12in OG is an extremely non-trivial task which we will do only after extensive preparation.

The Hindle 17in was removed from the 12in to make the 12in easier to use, which it is now. We will probably remount the Hindle on a fork mount that has been made available, at some point in the future.  I still intend to put some sort of small TV system up for the benefit of wheelchair observers who cannot reach the eyepiece.

The 24in, when reengineering is completed, will be a ccd instrument only. We intend to restart the program of extrasolar planet observing interrupted earlier.

There sould be some sort of a Keele Obsy section elsewhere on this site, but I won't have time to do much there for a while due to family matters.

Regards, James Albinson

[philj]

Hi James

Thanks for the tour and the freindly welcome. I really enjoyed the tour and will be back again for sure. I am well impressed with your set up and tske my hat off to you sll for the hard work and dedication that youve put into the place. Keep up the good work