Welcome to the Canterbury Astronomical Society website. Thanks for stopping by at our little corner of the universe. We are a friendly, like minded, bunch of astronomers with a tendency for spending late nights out under the stars.
Membership of CAS comes with a range of benefits including access to our well equipped observatory in West Melton, training and education and the chance to rub shoulders with some great astronomical minds.
Our society has strong links to education with an active kids training programme and public open night calendar every year. Feel free to register for a free account on the site and browse around.
The Graeme Kershaw All Sky Camera is located at the RF Joyce Observatory in West Melton. The static image will update every time this page is refreshed. At night you will see stars, the moon and planets as well as an occasional meteor.
For a live view page click the image which will launch a new window with camera controls on the left hand side of the page.
This camera was made possible by the generous donation from the Kershaw Family and is a tribute to Graeme’s tireless work in the field of Astronomy.
As a CAS member you are entitled to attend all of our events throughout the year free of charge. Public open nights, our CAStronauts introduction programme, the highly entertaining nights of Kidsfest, access to practical astronomy sessions with plenty of time under the stars, Star BBQ’s and our informative lectures – all included in our membership packages.
Monthly members meeting are held at the University of Canterbury, usually with an informative guest speaker. Its a great chance to meet other members, discuss astronomy and plan your next project.
You can also attend our members nights at the observatory where we get time for training and socialising under the skies. As a paid member you get access to the observatory, training and our range of fixed and portable telescopes.
We also host a number of CAS social events such as a summer and mid winter BBQ and of course you get unlimited access to the observatory (including through the summer) and training so you can loose those L plates and become a skilled astronomer.
