Grenland and surroundings area Astronomy Society (Grenland og Omegn Astronomiske Forening, GAF for short) is a small Norwegian Amateur Astronomical Society.
Located in the Grenland area, in Telemark. The biggest town is Skien, and the name Grenland is used for the area that incorporates the towns
Skien, Porsgrunn, Bamble (Brevik and Langesund).
There are over 100 000 people in this area, and with only 30 members - we have certainly the basis for growth. Any good ideas on how we can get more members are welcome!
We need new members!
Well, because of this, and the fact that the target for this society is the population of Grenland, we have chosen not to translate our web pages into English.
However, if you are interested, below is some more info about us, and some images of the observatory and its surroundings. Enjoy! -)
History.
Grenland og Omegn Astronomiske Forening was founded in 1986 after a session that some of the founding members had, showing of Halley's Comet to the public.
In 1989 we started constructing our observatory, situated in Bamble, a 9 km drive into the woods. Located on a small hill, overlooking some lakes nearby.
It lays beautifully on the hill top, and the night skies are quite dark.
The main telescope is a Celestron Ultima 11-PEC. The scope is also equipped with DSC, Advanced Astromaster, various eyepieces, a Lumicon giant off-axis guider and of course a solar filter.
We have also a pier mounted GEM mount outside. On this mount, we use a Zeiss 4" refraktor (Zeiss lens, the tube is built in Denmark) for mainly Solar, Lunar and Planetary observations.
There is also a toilet, 4 beds and a place to prepare food. A PC is also on hand for easier use of CCD by members. And of course a coffee machine is also available for those long nights. ;-)
A barbecue place in front of the building is also among the necessities. ;-)
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