Lockyer Observatory and Planetarium

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The Norman Lockyer Observatory and Planetarium (NLO) is a planetarium and a public access optical observatory in East Devon on the Jurassic Coast of South West England.^[1]

1 Location and instruments
2 Norman Lockyer
3 Funding
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Location and instruments

The Norman Lockyer Observatory and Planetarium is situated near a south facing cliff one mile east of the coastal town of Sidmouth, about fifteen miles southeast of Exeter and ten miles from the M5 motorway. The observatory provides modern telescopes with computer enhanced imaging, as well as maintaining some of the nation's most historic instruments, and enjoys a relatively dark night sky with a southerly aspect across the sea.

The observatory is particularly well situated for spectral analysis in astronomy, which requires a clear sky over the whole optical spectrum, because it enjoys a relatively "clean" sky to the east and south across the sea. The atmosphere is usually free of air pollution and light pollution and, as the sea has a uniform temperature, the air is also free of rising currents which can distort optical images.

The facility, which also operates an amateur radio station (call sign GB2NLO)^[2] and weather satellite station, was operated by the University of Exeter between 1946 and 1987 and transferred to the East Devon District Council in 1988. A convention center for lectures and academic conferences was added in 2005. It cooperates with undergraduate courses of the University of Exeter, the University of Plymouth and the Open Universities, and is available to any university for development projects.

[edit] Norman Lockyer

Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer,^[3] the founding editor of the scientific journal Nature in 1869, built the observatory in 1912 as a private venture, following the closure of the South Kensington Observatory, where he had been a principal researcher of solar activity and meteorology.

The Observatory's historic instruments are associated with Lockyer's pioneering work on star temperature which led to theories of stellar evolution and the foundation of astrophysics.

[edit] Funding

The facility is not funded by national or local government agencies nor does it receive ongoing grants from any organisation. The Norman Lockyer Observatory Society, a registered charity with the principal activities of promoting the public understanding of science and technology and supporting science education in schools and universities, has no endowments and must earn enough to maintain the instruments and pursue its charitable aims. In this respect it is similar to most astronomical societies in Britain but is perhaps unique among comparable larger observatories in Britain.