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Astronomical Society of Victoria
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Astronomical Society of Victoria
The Astronomical Society of Victoria (ASV) is an amateur astronomy club in the state of Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1922, making it one of the oldest such clubs in the country, and with some 1500 members it claims to be one of the largest amateur astronomy organisations in the southern hemisphere.[failed verification] Membership is open to all with an interest in astronomy, and the society caters for people with a wide range of ages, backgrounds, abilities and interests.
The society has sections dedicated to providing support for members interested in specific aspects of astronomy, including astro-photography, comets, radio astronomy, solar observing, variable stars, and deep sky observing. It owns and runs the Leon Mow (/ˈliːɒn ˈmaʊ/) Dark Sky Site, located north of Melbourne. Its major project is the restoration of the Great Melbourne Telescope.
The ASV is registered under the Associations Incorporation Reform Act 2012, and its operations are governed by its Constitution. Members elect the Committee of the society at each Annual General Meeting, and that Committee is then responsible to appoint officers, and control and manage the business and affairs of the society.
The Society's purposes are stated in its constitution as follows:
The society hosts several different types of observing sessions, aimed at different audiences, including:
For over 50 years the ASV has conducted tours and played a major role in the care of the Melbourne Observatory, adjacent to the Royal Botanic Gardens. This has now been supplemented with the Great Melbourne Telescope (GMT) Restoration Project, working closely with Museums Victoria and Royal Botanic Gardens to restore the telescope to working order so that it may be used for education and public viewing.
The telescope itself has great historical significance; at 48 inches (120 cm) it was the largest fully steerable telescope in the world when it was built in 1869, and it was the first telescope that large to be placed on an equatorial mounting, enabling it to track the stars accurately as they appeared to move across the sky. It was "hailed as a masterpiece of engineering", requiring only one assistant to control its movement. Even the rival Sydney Observatory referred to it as "one of the most important artefacts in the history of Australian science."
The telescope was upgraded by adding photographic equipment in 1872, moved to Mount Stromlo Observatory near Canberra in 1946, and rebuilt with a modern mirror in the late 1950s. As recently as 1993, it was upgraded again to take part in the world's first observations of MACHOs as evidence for the existence of dark matter. It was badly damaged in the 2003 Canberra bushfires – the temperatures were so high that the aluminium dome itself caught fire and melted onto the telescope, the Pyrex mirror shattered, and steel struts sagged.
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Astronomical Society of Victoria
The Astronomical Society of Victoria (ASV) is an amateur astronomy club in the state of Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1922, making it one of the oldest such clubs in the country, and with some 1500 members it claims to be one of the largest amateur astronomy organisations in the southern hemisphere.[failed verification] Membership is open to all with an interest in astronomy, and the society caters for people with a wide range of ages, backgrounds, abilities and interests.
The society has sections dedicated to providing support for members interested in specific aspects of astronomy, including astro-photography, comets, radio astronomy, solar observing, variable stars, and deep sky observing. It owns and runs the Leon Mow (/ˈliːɒn ˈmaʊ/) Dark Sky Site, located north of Melbourne. Its major project is the restoration of the Great Melbourne Telescope.
The ASV is registered under the Associations Incorporation Reform Act 2012, and its operations are governed by its Constitution. Members elect the Committee of the society at each Annual General Meeting, and that Committee is then responsible to appoint officers, and control and manage the business and affairs of the society.
The Society's purposes are stated in its constitution as follows:
The society hosts several different types of observing sessions, aimed at different audiences, including:
For over 50 years the ASV has conducted tours and played a major role in the care of the Melbourne Observatory, adjacent to the Royal Botanic Gardens. This has now been supplemented with the Great Melbourne Telescope (GMT) Restoration Project, working closely with Museums Victoria and Royal Botanic Gardens to restore the telescope to working order so that it may be used for education and public viewing.
The telescope itself has great historical significance; at 48 inches (120 cm) it was the largest fully steerable telescope in the world when it was built in 1869, and it was the first telescope that large to be placed on an equatorial mounting, enabling it to track the stars accurately as they appeared to move across the sky. It was "hailed as a masterpiece of engineering", requiring only one assistant to control its movement. Even the rival Sydney Observatory referred to it as "one of the most important artefacts in the history of Australian science."
The telescope was upgraded by adding photographic equipment in 1872, moved to Mount Stromlo Observatory near Canberra in 1946, and rebuilt with a modern mirror in the late 1950s. As recently as 1993, it was upgraded again to take part in the world's first observations of MACHOs as evidence for the existence of dark matter. It was badly damaged in the 2003 Canberra bushfires – the temperatures were so high that the aluminium dome itself caught fire and melted onto the telescope, the Pyrex mirror shattered, and steel struts sagged.