In the early 1980’s, in a ‘roll-off-roof’ shed, affectionately known as the ‘chookhouse’ was added to the site.
Work continues on this small but mighty facility at MBO. Inside we house a Solar telescope among other things and, thanks to the recent hard work of some of our committee and members, we now have a very deep and very strong concrete piling, ready to take the permanent mounting of the telescope. Next, an automated retractable roof will add accessibility to this space.
While telescopes enable us to view the night sky, solar scopes enable us to watch solar activity such as sunspots and solar flares. The sun gives off radiation and heat along with light, which makes direct observation unadvisable (definitely!) and impractical in the long term. So, to view the sun for scientific observations, we either need a cooled room for the telescope or we can make use of the Earth’s natural cooling effect. The diagram below demonstrates this [source]. At MBO, we hope to use this eco-friendly approach, combined with cutting edge technology to make precise measurements of our Sun’s activity. This is only possible because of our wonderful committee and members!
