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- MAO is the brainchild of astronomer James Barclay, who was invited by the old Nanango Shire Council and the town of Maidenwell, to build the facility adjacnet to their disused sports field
- Construction began in April 2004 and was opened to the public on August 16, by Prof. Fred Watson - head astronomer of the Anglo Australian Telescope in NSW.
- The name chosen for the South Burnett - Maidenwell Astronomical Observatory was for three reasons:
- To reduce the glow of streetlights in Maidenwell, Ergon Energy replaced at their own expense, all the old High Pressure Mercury lights with full-cut off High Pressure Sodium vapour type.
These lights do not shine up into the night skies, into drivers eyes and into homes. In other words, we have skies down to Mv 6.5. Cop that Brisbane!
- James has been an astronomer for 55 years has taken thousands of astro-images on film and digital and has written many astro related articles for magazines and newspapers.
- In 1979 he founded the Sun Coast Astronomical Society, the Brisbane Astronomical.Society in '86 and the South East Qld Astronomical Society in 1989. He taught Astronomy at Brisbane TAFE Colleges for 15 years and now conducts his yearly courses at MAO.
- Identifies the region (South Burnett) in the state of Queensland;
- Identifies the town in the region, and
- What we are all about - Astro Tourism.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 11 March 2010 14:05 |
