17th October 2020
Welcome to Murray Hull Observatory, named so to honour the man behind the construction of this observatory many decades ago in a bushland near Quorn in Flinders Ranges, South Australia. This observatory has stood against the elements for decades as an abandoned crumbling structure. We have embarked on the task of restoring it back to its former glory. Thanks to Ashley J. Parkinson and Matthew Britza whose support in its restoration will go a long way in bringing this observatory back to life for the benefit of the local community.
At Southern Cross Outreach Observatory Project (SCOOP), we have taken up its restoration as our project for this year while our public outreach activities with the mobile observatory are on hold due to COVID-19 pandemic.
We subjected the observatory to the test run for planetary viewing on 13th October 2020. We used Skywatcher 200mm Newtonian on Orion Atlas Pro Altaz/EQ-G mount. Seeing was optimal and we managed to do some decent astrophotography of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn (posted below) using ZWO 120MC planetary imager. The roller dome worked relatively well despite having one wheel missing.
We now intend to carry out further restoration including reinforcement of the dome aperture, installation of roller shutter, installation of missing wheel and door, and paint the interior and exterior. We noted that the slightly irregular shape of the dome is inherent to the design and we will leave it as such. Later, with public and council's support, we may be able to construct equipment shade, public toilet, a pergola, and restoration of the dirt road leading up to the observatory.
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