Ken Lucas. Photo supplied.Speaking with Alister Perkins, member of the Ashburton Astronomy Group based at Ashburton College, and overseeing the observatory based there. The group is celebrating 50 years this coming Saturday 10 October.  Alistair sees the observatory as a “tribute to past and present members, especially Ken Lucas who, with the assistance of Max Colville, have put a great deal of work in to get the facilities up to it’s current state”.

When the group began setting up the College Observatory, it was “just a shell of a building with no means of moving the sliding roof”.  The telescope housed there is a 9.25inch With-Browning reflector about 140 years old that was previously housed in a small circular domed roof observatory at the Ashburton High School.  When the new observatory was built on the Ashburton site on Walnut Avenue in the mid 1970s, a new mounting was built for the old telescope and the observatory is run by the local group and has, since opening in early 1986, hosted many school, scout and guide groups etc and often a second telescope is set up outside the building to cater for larger visiting groups.

The local Astronomy group meet on the last Tuesday of each month (excluding December) generally in Menorlue and the observatory is open for public viewing nights on the first Friday (second Friday if cloudy) of each non-daylight saving month (April-October).

The group was formed in May 1970 when three local members of the Canterbury Astronomical Society (Bob Evans, Stewart Launder and David Bayne) called a meeting to gauge local interest and 18 people attended.  Fifty years later the group is still operating.

The observatory will be open for public inspection from 3 – 4.30pm this Saturday 10 October as part of the 50^th celebration.  Anyone interested in attending meetings and becoming acquainted with regions beyond planet Earth can contact Ken Lucas on 3089203 or Alistair on 3089219.

By Shirley Falloon © AshColl Alumni - 6 October 2020