The Canberra Astronomical Society has a long history of achievements in amateur astronomy with several members over the years having participated in research programs and having won awards for their contributions to astronomy.

In its early days, CAS members met in each other’s homes before the growth in numbers necessitated a move to a larger meeting venue. For many years the Society held its monthly meetings in the Jaeger Building on the grounds of the ANU before making a move to Mt Stromlo where the monthly meetings are held in the Duffield Lecture Theatre. However, our association with the Mt Stromlo Observatory and the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics (RSAA) goes back much farther.

From the 1970s through to the early 2000s, CAS was a regular user of the Oddie Telescope – a 9-inch refractor, a heritage instrument which was one of the original scopes at the Observatory, with “Oddie Nights” being held on a monthly basis. During the 1990s, CAS members collaborated with professional astronomers from Stromlo on research programs such as the search for Massive Astronomical Compact Halo Objects (MACHOs) a form of dark matter. We also participated in an international collaboration with professional astronomers to observe the impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter using the 26” Yale Columbia Refractor telescope at Mt Stromlo.

Over the years, CAS members have participated in other observing programs including assisting with mapping lunar surface features through by observing grazing lunar occultations (i.e. where the Moon passes in front of a bright star, which appears to graze the limb of the Moon). Members have also been engaged in long-term observations of double and variables stars with several members receiving awards for their work.

In addition to a close association with Mt Stromlo, CAS was instrumental in the establishment and staffing of the Canberra Observatory at the request of the Canberra Tradesmens’ Unition Club. The Canberra Observatory was initially set up on the roof of the “Tradies’ Club” in Dickson in 1985 where members of CAS showed Halley’s Comet to visitors and members of the public. The Observatory proved to be so popular that a larger observatory was constructed at the premises of the Downer Olympic Club. The relocated Canberra Observatory opened in 1989 with 3 research-grade telescopes available to the public 7 nights a week. The facility was later expanded to include an 11-metre planetarium, the most sophisticated in the Southern Hemisphere at the time of its opening in 1997. Later renamed to the Canberra Space Dome & Observatory, the facility won an ACT tourism award and catered to thousands of visitors each year until its untimely closure in 2008.

Today, the Canberra Astronomical Society continues its close association with the RSAA and Mt Stromlo. We have telescopes in two of the three “outreach” domes at Stromlo and still hold monthly meetings in the Duffield Lecture Theatre. CAS members regularly help out with the ANU public Nights where we open the outreach domes and man the telescopes. We also assist with crowd management. CAS also runs monthly observatory nights at Mt Stromlo.