History


On April 26, 2001 the Windsor Centre took possession of the old observatory at St. Clair College. A proposal to purchase the observatory had been in place for a year when the college announced an expansion to its technical wing and needed the space currently occupied by the observatory.

Members of the centre were on hand to help remove the 2,000 pound steel and aluminum observatory from it's foundation and with the help of a crane and flatbed trailer transported the dome to it's new home in Comber.

The observatory had not been used since the lunar eclipse of August 1989 when 500 members of the public came to attend the event. After refurbishing the dome and telescope and adding a new telescope and mount. the club now regularly uses the site for nighttime observing for club members, the public, school children and other groups.

Since moving the structure the RASC - Windsor Centre has built a new foundation for the observatory and named the observatory after our founder Cyril Hallam. Built a 10 x 20 foot warm room and through a generous donation from Advantage Engineering of Oldcastle we now have a 14 x 30 foot observing deck. The most recent addition to the observatory site is a Celestron 14 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope mounted on a Paramount ME mount from Software Bisque. The Lee Telescope, named after long time member Henry Lee, was made possible by a grant from the Trillium Foundation. With the Lee Telescope installed we now have a state of the art facility to enhance our public education mandate. To find out more about setting up an observing session for your group please contact us.

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