NAS Observatory
The Nottingham Astronomical Society Observatory was founded in the early 1980’s. A plot of land was leased from Severn Trent Water and an observatory constructed by members of the society.
A project to upgrade the Observatory site started in 2021. The following video presentation gives a history of the NAS Observatory and details the works undertaken in spring 2021 to install a Celestron C14 Schmidt Cassegrain telescope and Skywatcher ED80 telescope. We also outline the future plans to further develop the observatory facility.
Strategy for the NAS Observatory
Future Plan for the NAS Observatory
Observatory Instruments
Celestron C14 Schmidt Cassegrain telescope
Optical Design: Schmidt-Cassegrain
Aperture: 355.5mm (14″)
Focal Length: 3910mm (154″)
Focal Ratio: f/11
Highest Useful Magnification: 840x
Lowest Useful Magnification: 51x
Limiting Stellar Magnitude: 15.3
Resolution (Rayleigh) Limit: 0.39 arc seconds
Resolution (Dawes) Limit: 0.33 arc seconds
Light Gathering Power (Compared to human eye): 2581x
Optical Tube Length: 787mm (31″)
Optical Tube Diameter: 400.5mm (15.77″)
Skywatcher ED80 telescope
Optical Design: ED Doublet
Lens Coatings: Fully Multi-Coated
Glass Type: BK7/FPL-53(ED)
Aperture: 80mm
Focal Length: 600mm
Focal Ratio: f/7.5
Highest Useful Magnification: 157x
Lowest Useful Magnification: 11x
Resolution (Dawes) Limit: 1.45
Resolution (Rayleigh) Limit: 1.75
Limiting Mag: 12
OTA Length (Retract/Ext.): 22.5″
OTA Outer Diameter: 4.5625″
Building a roadway to the Observatory
In November a new track was constructed to the observatory to allow access to the site during wet conditions. The track is made from EcoDeck Earth-Press grids. The grids and labour to install them were kindly donated by members of NAS. We hope this phase of the project will allow the observatory to be accessible all year round which has been a major hindrance to using the site.
Images from the Observatory
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