Ron Arbour’s observatory

South Wonston, Hampshire

Pennell Observatory was founded in 1981 and named after Walter Pennell, the leading British astrophotographer who died in 1977. Originally it was a 12-foot diameter glass-fibre dome housing a 16-inch (40-cm) f/5 Newtonian. It was used primarily for astrophotography and, from 1976 onwards, supernova searching until 1997, when it was replaced with a 12-inch (30.5-cm) LX200 SCT. With home-brewed software written by David Briggs and myself it was found that the Meade could run all night unattended. The dome was therefore replaced with a roll-off roof so that the entire sky could be monitored without human intervention. The observatory has a heated control room containing three computers which now also control the 16-inch Newtonian, which is in a temporary housing behind the present observatory until a new one can be built.

E-mail : ronarbour@swonston.demon.co.uk