The FutureW.Y.A.S.
A Vision for the Future
Many people from around the UK have commented that WYAS has been well known in the past for having a vision of the future and a goal to aim for. The early vision resulted in the formation of the club, the building of the Rosse Observatory and the 18-inch reflector. Successive Committees have built on their success by building a large extension with wheelchair access that now incorporates a computer room as well as toilet and kitchen facilities. Equipment levels have also improved year on year following numerous grant applications.
The Committees at WYAS have never stood still and we are now following our latest vision of the future. The current vision has a number of different levels. Although other clubs only open up once or twice per month we are still committed to opening our doors on every Tuesday evening apart from the Christmas period and during the August maintenance month. We also open on other nights depending on organised visits and clear skies.
The average of four Tuesdays per month are filled with one open night, at least one visiting speaker and two nights where we are free to fill them with whatever we decide. The content of the latter weeks has changed over the years and in 2010 we will be concentrating on talks that take the knowledge of our members to new and better levels of understanding. The talks / discussions will concentrate on astro-physics, planetary science, space flight, the history of astronomy and any other subject felt by the members to be of relevant interest.
The purchase of research grade equipment gives us the opportunity to develop our skills in both CCD imaging and photometry. This is a new area for WYAS and we hope that in the future the skills of our members will be developed to the point where research quality photometric results can be forwarded to the nearest archive facilities for use by professional astronomers. We also have ideas, when funds permit, to purchase spectroscopic equipment. As this note is being typed our engineers are working on the automation of the dome to match the rotation of the 14-inch telescope, effectively making it robotic. Once completed this will make things much easier for people with disabilities to control the main telescope whilst carrying out their own projects. The introduction in July 2010 of high speed broadband makes connections to southern hemisphere and other robotic telescopes around the World a real possibility.
The expansion of our facilities for public outreach and increasing visitor numbers has resulted in our need for another large observatory extension. This need has been emphasised by 2009 being a record year for attendance with a huge increase in visitors. We are currently planning to build a larger meeting room, for about 100 people, ancillary rooms (including additional storage) and a ground floor observing platform with a roll-off roof. Additional toilet facilities will also be built. We believe this will accommodate our needs for the future and may also permit us to build a radio telescope.
In short we are planning to create an observatory that will permit all aspects of astronomy to be pursued by people of all abilities, irrespective or any physical disabilities. We intend to build a unique facility that can be used by anyone interested in astronomy or wishing to acquire new skills.
