Wayne County Astronomical Society
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CLUB MEETINGS: Club meetings are held as required at .
MEETING INFORMATION: The club conducts business meetings as needed. During the warmer months we meet at the observatory in Freedlander Park. Otherwise meetings are held at Montavino Wine Market in the Portage Square Plaza. The meetings start at 7:30pm and all are welcome to attend. Meeting details will be posted here whenever the next meeting is planned.
The Wayne County Astronomical Society was originally founded in 1961. In 1963 a 6" Cook refractor, built in England during the closing years of the 19th century, was installed at the Freedlander Park Observatory. The observatory was dedicated on Memorial Day of that year.
Through the efforts of our club members and assistance from the City of Wooster, we were able to raise sufficient funds to refurbish the observatory and install a new telescope, which now forms our club logo. This telescope was a Meade LXD-55 6" refractor with computerized goto. On May 26th, 2003, the 40th anniversary of the original dedication, we rededicated the observatory named the new telescope the "Jack Strater Telescope" in honor of all the work and effort Jack has given to the Society over the years. In spring of 2006, the 6" Meade refractor was replaced with a 12" Meade LX-200 Schmidt-Cassegrain which has become the new "Jack Strater Telescope."
Over the years, though there has been increasing light pollution at the observatory with Wooster's north end shopping centers are nearby, we are still able to a good number of deep-sky objects. For example, Messier object M76 (the Little Dumbell Nebula), at magnitude 10.1 - 11.5, has been viewed with the observatory telescope.
Visit The AstronomyOutreach Network for more information on Astronomy.
