Airdrie Public Observatory facts for kids
The Airdrie Public Observatory is a special place in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, where you can look at the stars and planets! It's part of the local library building. Did you know there are only four public observatories in the whole United Kingdom, and all of them are in Scotland? Airdrie Observatory is the smallest of these and the second oldest.
Culture NL owns and pays for the observatory. It's run by the Airdrie Astronomical Association (AAA), which is a local astronomy club and a registered charity. The people who currently look after the observatory are Hannah Robinson and William Tennant, who are members of the AAA.
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The Main Telescope
Airdrie Observatory has a really cool, old telescope from the Victorian era. It's a 6-inch refracting telescope. This type of telescope uses lenses to make faraway objects look closer. It sits on a special stand called an equatorial mount and has a clockwork drive. This drive helps the telescope slowly move to keep pointing at stars as the Earth turns.
To look through the telescope, someone has to manually open and spin the observatory's dome. The telescope can magnify things from 60 to 350 times! It has been updated to use modern eyepieces. When it was first built, this telescope was considered very advanced, good enough for serious research.
A Look Back: History of the Observatory
The Airdrie Observatory wasn't always in its current spot. From 1896 to 1925, it was located in the first Airdrie Public Library. This first library building is now called the Airdrie Arts Centre. A famous Scottish-American helper, Andrew Carnegie, gave £1,000 to help build that library.
The very first telescope, a 3.25-inch refractor, was given to the town by Dr Thomas Reid. He was a well-known eye doctor and a generous person from Glasgow. This old telescope isn't used anymore because it's too old and fragile to fix. But you can still see it in the local history room of today's library!
Eventually, the first library became too small. So, on September 25, 1925, the current library building opened. This new building was paid for by the Airdrie Savings Bank and the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust. The new library was built with the observatory already included, with its dome placed right on the roof.
In 2013, the observatory got a big makeover. This included putting in a brand new dome and fixing up the main telescope so it could be used for many more years.
When Astronauts Visited!==
Imagine meeting an astronaut! As part of a project called “Walk With Destiny,” three real Apollo astronauts visited the Airdrie Observatory between 2010 and 2012.
- Charlie Duke: He was the Lunar Module Pilot on the Apollo 16 mission and the 10th person to walk on the Moon! He visited in October 2010 and talked to local school children about his amazing experiences.
- Al Worden: He was the Command Module Pilot on Apollo 15. He visited in June 2012. Like Charlie Duke, he gave a talk and answered questions from local students.
- Richard Gordon: He was the Command Module Pilot on the Apollo 12 mission. He visited in October 2012 and gave a lecture to space fans at Glasgow Caledonian University.
All three of these astronauts became Honorary Presidents of the Airdrie Astronomical Association. Before them, the famous astronomer Sir Patrick Moore was the AAA's first Honorary President from 2009 until he passed away in 2012.
Airdrie Astronomical Association (AAA)
The Airdrie Astronomical Association, or AAA for short, is a club for people who love looking at the stars. It started on May 1, 2009. The AAA is the group that runs the Airdrie Observatory for Culture NL.
The AAA holds weekly meetings at the New Wellwynd Parish Church. At every meeting, someone gives a presentation. It might be a club member or a special guest speaker. The AAA also opens the Observatory for special events, like open days, and for ten evening sessions between November and January. If a group wants to visit, they can also arrange a special time.
See Also
- List of astronomical observatories
