We toured the 1.8 metre Plaskett Telescope first. It was amazing to learn that this telescope was completed in 1918, and was supplied with its 1.8 metre mirror from Belgium just before the outbreak of WW1. At getting on for 100 years old, this is an impressive facility - still being used to carry out research today, but with the addition of computer controls to orientate the telescope and digital output for photography. The telescope is named after John Stanley Plaskett, as you can just make out on the plaque.
The skeletal model was built at the same time as the telescope and shows the giant concrete archway supporting the telescope. The dome rotates, and the shutters open to make observations. The telescope itself is about 1.8 metres wide, and it was one of the largest in the world at the time. Today, the observatory's large telescopes in Hawaii are 8 metres wide!
In the main building we had a planetarium show in the small domed planetarium that holds about 20 people. There we learned about the night sky, galaxies, and star clusters, as well as nebula which are the nurseries of stars. Our guide was very friendly and knowledgeable . For example she, informed us that there are approximately 100 billion to 400 billion stars like our sun in our galaxy alone and that "shooting stars" are actually meteorites falling to earth and burning up in the atmosphere.
After an excellent lunch at Romeo's in Broadmead, we headed off to the Hive for a quick stop on the way back to the centre. The coordinator gave a brief presentation indicating that the Hive was a combination of information resource centre for business, residents, and consumers, an historical archive, and a location for display and sale of locally produced craft items.
A couple of our day tippers were particularly interested in the old telephone exchange having had personal experience in operating similar equipment in the past! These things have much more substance than cell phones!!
Check the web page for information on upcoming trips, and join the Let's Do It Day Trippers!!
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