After more than a year of planning and fundraising by Sark Astronomy Society (SAstroS), the island now has its very own observatory. The specially designed building was pre-fabricated in Norfolk by a company called Home Observatory UK and delivered to Sark less than a week ago. Since then the three-person team of Gareth, Julie and Nathan have built it and installed the telescope on a site already prepared near the centre of the island by a group of local volunteers led by Richard Axton. The building has a room for books and other equipment and a roof that slides across to give a clear view of the sky above the telescope room. It will be officially opened next weekend at 5pm (Saturday 10th October) by Dr Marek Kukula, the Public Astronomer from Greenwich Observatory as part of the SAstroS Autumn Starfest. There will also be planetarium shows, talks, dinners with our guest astronomers and star gazing sessions. (For more details visit the events diary section of this website.)

 Pictures and Words by Sue Daly

The site near the mill

The observatory under construction in Norfolk

The team at work on Sark

Gareth, Julie & Nathan