Opening of the Millennium Telescope
On the 18th of September 2009, the Millennium Telescope was formally opened by Prof. Alec Boksenberg, former Director of Greenwich Observatory, following a garden party held to thank those people who have contributed funding, materials and expertise. (A full list of acknowledgments can be found here.) Representatives from local astronomical societies and heads of science from local schools were also invited to see how they could be involved with HCO.
Attendees at the opening ceremony - Photo credit: Tim Ellis.
Project Director Christopher Taylor began proceedings by acknowledging those most involved with the project. He explained the significance of our middle initial; the Observatory is for and by the Community as local businesses have contributed a great deal over the years. Christopher gave a particular thank you on behalf of the group to Project Engineer Andrew Baxter, whose outstanding dedication to the project since its inception has been the significant driving force of the project.
Andrew Baxter and Christopher Taylor on the telescope platform - Photo credit: Tim Ellis.
Prof. Boksenberg gave an inspiring speech to the gathered party and vindicated our aims as an outreach organisation. He explained the true meaning of the word ‘amateur’ as being a lover of a subject and commended us as a group of amateur astronomers for wanting to share our experiences with others. The sky is something we all share and astronomy has a great power to bring people together.
Prof. Alec Boksenberg - Photo credit: Tim Ellis.
To that end, the Millennium Telescope will provide us a solid platform for conducting our major outreach activities. Star parties will be significantly easier to run and greatly enhanced by the capabilities of the instrument. Further to our aims, the telescope serves as a prototype for future public astronomy projects throughout the global community. We are achieving something truly unique; there are no instructions for building a public access telescope.
HCO members on the Millennium Telescope - Photo credit: Tim Ellis.
This event was profoundly important to members of the Observatory as it represents the blossoming of years of hard work and spurs us on for future development of the project. While the Millennium Telescope will take some amount of further construction and fine tuning, we are eager to begin using it for its intended purpose: opening a window on the beauty of the universe we all share.
