Wycombe Astronomical Society

Archive

Twenty years of Wycombe Astronomical Society


In September 2001, Wycombe Astronomical Society celebrated 20 years with a gala event attended by the local press and honoured friends of the Society - Heather Couper, Bob Lambourne and Stuart Malin. The event was attended by almost 100 people at people at Woodrow High House in Amersham, Buckinghamshire. We awarded several life membership awards to long standing members of the Society who have made outstanding contributions to Wycombe Astronomical Society over the past 20 years.





Left to right:

Roy Hickman - Centre Director, Woodrow High House
Prof. Stuart Malin - our Vice-President
Dr. Heather Couper - Renowned astronomer/broadcaster - our President
Dr. Robert Lambourne - Senior Lecturer at Open University - our Vice-President
Paul Scott - Chairman, Wycombe Astronomical Society 1999-2003


This page will contain items from the old site that are considered to be of continuing interest.

The National Lottery provides funding for a new Society telescope


In May 2001, Wycombe Astronomical Society received a lottery grant from the Awards for All Committee for the purchase of a new Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and MegaWedge for our Observatory. Society Chairman, Paul Scott said "This is fantastic news for the Society. We have been the position of having an excellent observatory but a poor telescope for several years now and this is the final piece of the jigsaw that will see a first class public observing facility in Buckinghamshire".


The Opening of the Chiltern Observatory


On a typically cloudy evening in May 1997, the Wycombe Astronomical Society closed one chapter in its history and opened a new and even brighter one. Our President, Professor Heather Couper came to open the newly built Chiltern Observatory. Heather said "it is wonderful to have an Observatory in Buckinghamshire." At that time, the observatory housed a 12-inch fork mounted Newtonian telescope. Since the opening in 1997, the telescope has been replaced with a Schmidt-Cassegrain instrument.

Left to right: Shaun Taylor, Nigel Henbest, Heather Couper, Roy Hickman and Kelvin Stephens pose in front of the observatory

The Building of the Chiltern Observatory

The buiding of the Chiltern Observatory began in 1991, shortly after planning permission was granted by Wycombe Council. The plans for the observatory were originally rejected and had to be resubmitted until approval was given. Here are some pictures of the construction of the building and the dome taken from the early 1990s.


More items to be added shortly...................