About

AstroObs - Craigieburn Observatory

We are located in Craigieburn, an outer Northern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (Lat: -37.59, Lon: 144.93). Skies here are Bortle Class 5 which is less than ideal but where there's a will there's a way! We constantly strive to obtain the best from the prevaling conditions and equipment we have.


That's half the fun with Astronomy!
Join us on our mission to examine the universe and learn along the way.

The Main Telescope

Currently our main telescope is a Celestron Nexstar Evolution 8HD Edge 60th Anniversary Edition (1 of only 600). We are members of the USER GROUP for this limited edition scope, some of the images captured by users are shown in the accompanying video.


The telescope can be operated at a focal length of 390mm (f1.9) via hyperstar, 1422mm (f7) via focal reducer, 2032mm (f10) native, or longer via barlow lenses.

Solar Telescope

The main telescope can be fitted with a white light filter to view sunspots (as shown in the following picture).


Also in the picture is the solar telescope mounted on the main telescope. It is a Lunt LS40THa B500 which allows imaging in hydrogen alpha. This allows prominences, filaments, spicules, plage, solar flares and the chromosphere to be recorded.

Observatory Dome

The dome is a 2.2 metre Nexdome shipped from Canada to the local distributor Sidereal Trading. The video shows area preparation and installation of the dome followed by remote operation whilst imaging.


Additions to the dome include weather monitoring, exhaust duct, dehumidifier/temperature contol, multiple cameras and alarm system. All facets can be controlled remotely.



Software

Various software packages are used to enable operation and monitoring. From controlling dew formation, cameras, mount & dome position.


The image shows Stellarium planetarium software superimposing the local area on the night sky to give an accurate portrayal of what is visible from the observatory.

Weather Monitoring

The observatory weather station reports to various weather networks including those below.

Most of the weather data relevant to the observatory can be found on our MAIN WEATHER PAGE

All sky camera

The all sky camera offers a 360° view of the sky above the observatory. High resolution images are captured and saved for processing and can be converted to movies, creating a timelapse of the sky. This allows recording of meteors passing overhead.


Every so often an image is converted to lower resolution, overlayed with weather information and uploaded to the web for online viewing.


The latest image uploaded is shown on the Sky Now page. If the camera is operating, refreshing the page every so often will show a newer image.

Aircraft monitoring

We admit, it's the geek in us ... but we also monitor air traffic around the observatory.


Utilising an ADSB receiver, we feed into the AirNav network any ADSB signals received and in return receive full access to features of the AirNav RadarBox.


The feed shown here is a live view of air traffic in our area.

Stay Tuned!

Further developments to follow.