Court Farm

About

Run by Brian Sheen, the Roseland Observatory is open to anyone who has an interest in Astronomy. Follow us on twitter @WOWAST!

Story

About The Observatory

The Observatory consists of;-

Activity Room;- can seat 30 people has a digital projector showing directly to a screen on the end wall, connects to broadband. Houses the meteorite and geology collection, spectrometers and tea making facility. Conveniently located near the campsite toilet block. Turned into TV Studio both for ITV and the BBC for outside broadcasts.

Outreach Facility;-

Is located at the top of the Camping Field.

The telescopes. The biggest reflector on site is Bill's Big Un a 9" reflector with a fixed pier in a stock proof fence. Children love climbing the ladder to look at the planets or Moon! The other fixed telescope is a 7" refractor mounted on a telegraph pole and gives splendid views of Moon and planets.

There is a range of smaller scopes, which school children and visitors can use as well. Plus Green Laser & Celestron Sky Scout to support the fixed telescopes. Large Compass, Sun Dial & Sunshine Recorder etc.

The Binoculars;- Starting with the normal 10 X 50 pair on a small tripod we have a Celestron 15 X 70 binocular on a large tripod, excellent optics, and a Revelation 25 X 100 binocular on a giant tripod.

Weather Station. Based on a Maplin "Professional Weather Station" it measures rainfall, wind speed, temperature as well as a number of derived parameters. Its relay station is located in the window of the outreach facility store- for benefit of our visitors.



Area 51 contains;-

The Observatory Studio with dividing roof now finished houses medium sized scopes (150 - 200mm) under ideal conditions. Cameras can be fitted to allow brighter objects to be imaged and or viewed on computer screens. Good for GCSE Astronomy project work. The scopes include the LX90 200mm, 150" Skywatcher refractor, 200mm Orion Reflector. Supported by an ETX 105 and Celestron 15 X 70mm binoculars. Is supported by a computer notebook running Stellarium on to a computer flat screen. A portable Sidereal Clock and Giant Compass allows RA & Dec to be understood!

Mission

To educate people and feed their enthusiasm.