Public Lectures for the Session 2001-2002 held in Room E7 of the Renold Building, UMIST.
Delivered to the Manchester Astronomical Society

15th November 2001

'An update on the AC''

Peter Drew
Astronomy Centre, Bacup.

The Astronomy Centre was formed in 1981 with the idea of providing a large optical telescope for members and the visiting public. Peter Drew is a professional telescope maker who moved from Bedfordshire to a windswept 12-acre hill site on the Lancashire/Yorkshire border between Bacup and Todmorden. His aim was to construct the largest optical telescope in the UK and make it available for amateur and public use. To do this meant building at least a 1-meter [40-inch] instrument and housing it in a large observatory. It also meant providing a selection of robust ancillary instruments. The project has not been easy but is now coming to fruition.

Funded by subscription, donations and with the help of local businesses and volunteer labour, the Astronomy Center was now, twenty years on, able to boast a 30-inch, f4.1, Dobsonian Newtonian reflector that had seen various re-builds over the years since it's original construction for the apparition of Halley's Comet in 1985. This was now housed in the recently completed 30-foot dome intended for a 42-inch instrument. The ancillary equipment included a 17-inch Dobsonian, a binocular mounting designed to take up to 5-inch binoculars, a 5-inch horizontally mounted solar telescope fed by a heliostat and a novel 12-inch Newtonian binocular telescope. Several observing platforms were available for members to erect their own telescopes and camera mountings.

Although modern detectors allow smaller instruments to perform as well as photographic telescopes did twenty years ago, the aim of building the biggest optical telescope in the UK is one that still draws public and media attention. However, the cost of a glass mirror proved prohibitive but the recent purchase of a 42-inch diameter, 3-inch thick, black vitreous ceramic blank weighing 400pounds and costing only £5000 from a Canadian supplier opened up the prospect of making the primary mirror on-site. With internet web cam access to a world of optical expertise, work is expected to progress rapidly in grinding and figuring this big mirror once a grinding machine is built in 2002.

In the meantime, the generous donation of a 12-inch, research grade Ealing-Beck reflector by a retired astronomical photographer living in Cheshire and the purchase of a 12-inch Meade LX200 computer controlled telescope will necessitate building observatories for both instruments.

Although already open to members on any clear night, on 24th November 2001, after twenty years in development the AC has now reached 'critical mass' and will at last commence regular Saturday open-nights to the paying public as the UK's leading amateur astronomical observing facility.

Synopsis by Kevin J. Kilburn (Secretary)

Maintained by Michael Oates
Page modified 28 October, 2006