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The Genesis Dome is home to a 35.5cm (14") Meade LX200 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. The telescope is fully computer controlled, which means you don’t need to know where an object is to find it. The computer will find it for you from its database of over 64,000 objects. This makes it great for beginners to see many more objects than they would normally see. The telescopes large size means it can see objects millions of times fainter than the human eye, offering views of galaxies so distant that it has taken millions of years for the light to reach us. The dome itself is approximately 4 metres across and sits on top of a circular wall some 2m above the ground. The dome shutter which has just been renovated (click here for details) This opens up to give viewers a window on the sky and a powerful motor turns the dome around to allow access to any part of the sky. A webcam is attached to the telescope and, with a fast ethernet network running across the site, images can be beamed directly back to the clubhouse for viewing. This is particularly useful for those visitors who cannot climb the few steps into the Dome. The Genesis Dome and telescope was installed back in 2002 as part of the Genesis Project, which cost £15,000 to complete. Many organisations donated funds to the project. |
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