The Grove Creek Observatory is a non-profit professional research facility, providing remote internet controlled telescopes. All staff are volunteers, who give their time for free. The facility allows research scientists, universities, amateur and professional astronomers to take CCD images and conduct research through our telescopes, via the internet from anywhere in the world.

Our mission is to share the wonders of the Southern Skies to the world-wide astronomical community.

The facility is famous for being located in one of the best night sky locations in the southern hemisphere, well away from any city lights, with a limiting visual magnitude of 7.37 and a new moon background sky magnitude of 22 (+/-0.5) . It is located 255kms by road (170kms direct), due west of Sydney, on the western edge of the Blue Mountains and the Great Dividing Range, in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. The nearest city is Bathurst (pop. 39,000) - located 59kms north/east. The closest village is Trunkey Creek (pop. 50), located 4kms west and hidden in a deep valley with protected street lights that can not be detected from the observatory.

* Although our 3.2m (10 ft) dome and solar powered shutters are fully motorised, the main dome does not automatically track
  with the telescope automatically. It will be upgraded, when/if it is required for another remote internet telescope facility.

HISTORY:

The Grove Creek Observatory was established in 1985 primarily for conducting public tours of the arrival of Comet Halley. The extensive sheep and grazing property surrounding the site where the observatory now stands, was then owned by the Lynch family. Jim Lynch the eldest son, (pictured below) already had a small private domed observatory located 2 kms south of the current facility, housing a 12.5" Dall-Kirkham designed telescope that he had been using since 1975. Jim and his two younger brothers, Tom and Mark Lynch decided that the current observatory was too small and had difficult access, to provide tours for the soon to arrive Halley's comet and decided to build a new facility, 100 metres off Grove Creek Road, on the highest hill of the property.

Jim Lynch (with a friend), Director and Founder of the Grove Creek Observatory.

The 10ft dome and C-14 telescope were purchased from Mr. Lionel Larson and shipped to "The Grove" from Bilpin, NSW. As the hundreds of bookings for Halleys Comet poured in, it soon became clear that one telescope was not going to be insufficient. A sliding roof type observatory was built, 20 meters west of the main domed building. Jim's 12.5" Dall-Kirkham telescope (now modified to a f/4 Newtonian and moved to Coffs Harbour) was moved to the main central pier of the new "Western Observatory" and the original observatory abandoned. At the peak of operation during Halley's Comet,  there were also two de-mountable buildings, serving refreshments. Over two thousand people saw the comet from Grove Creek, during the 1985/86 visit.

Visitors often commented on the beautiful views from Grove Creek as staggering views of the famous Australian Blue Mountains can be seen, as follows:

After this time, the future of the facility was unclear. In  February 1987 an astronomer from Sydney, Steven Williams (pictured below) was asked to improve the electronics of the C14 and to hold a tour. Funny enough, the tour consisted of a group of low-security prison inmates, who were on a field trip! Steven was invited to conduct tours of the facility on a commercial basis, however, Grove Creek really only consisted of the current "control room" seating up to 40 people (at a tight squeeze) the main dome and two outside toilets. At that time, there was no on-site accommodation facilities available and it became problematic for Steven to continue to run tours. Steven decided to depart Grove Creek in 1989 to work full-time at the John Tebbutts Observatory in Windsor, NSW and also at the Yullara Observatory at Uluru (Ayres Rock) in Central Australia. He also went overseas to the United States and England, to complete his astronomical studies.

 Steven Williams - The Managing Astronomer of the Grove Creek Observatory.

It was during this time, that the Lynch family left "The Grove" property and soon after the patron of the family, Jim Lynch Snr, passed away. In 1995 Jim Lynch (Jnr) decided to extend the main domed observatory building to include full accommodation, so that tourists could stay on site after using the telescopes. These extensions were built by both Jim and Alan Jones. Upon Steven Williams' return to Australia, he was requested to return to the facility as a volunteer - where all monies received from these tours went towards maintaining and upgrading the facility with new astronomical equipment.

It was a pleasant omen that this second phase of operations of the Grove Creek Observatory also started under another comet, Comet Hhyakataki, which was about five times brighter than Halleys. Tom Polakis from the USA was the very first paid visitor to stay at new accommodation facility on March the 21st, 1995. Jim Lynch then moved to Coffs Harbour in NSW in 2001 and Steven Williams has operated the facility, since that time. In 2003 the final remaining grazing area surrounding the observatory was sold off from the family's estate and the 1ha (4acres) observatory property was retained and fenced off. Hundreds of people visited and stayed at Grove Creek from 1995 to 2007. Astronomical pictures taken by these visitors have been published in many international astronomical magazines and astronomy books. The facility has often been used by the Australian and International media for live coverage of astronomical events. Grove Creek is listed in a popular book, "101 things to do before you die" and was a unique eco-tourist destination for people from all over the world. A huge influx of tours came during the closest approach to Mars in July 2003 after the "Sydney Weekender" program aired a special TV presentation about Grove Creek.

However, in May 2007 it became clear that Grove Creek Observatory would be better utilised as a fully remote controlled internet research facility and it was decided to close to the general public altogether. When Grove Creek was first built, it was the only observatory running public viewing tours under very dark skies in the area. Recent to this period, there were other observatories built to cater for the general public. Steven's decline in health and mobility was also a factor in this decision. However, the positive side of closing public tours now enables Grove Creek to provide 100% of telescope time to remote internet telescope projects, where the general public, students, amateur and professional astronomers from all over the world can use the facility remotely, with no need to attend the facility personally. This now allows greater access to Grove Creek than tours ever did!

THE STAFF ACCOMMODATION

At the rear of the main control room / domed observatory, is our comfortable accommodation facility. This provides a retreat for staff and invited visiting astronomers to maintain and use our internet remote controlled telescopes. We have a lounge area with digital TV, entertainment system, gas heating, dining table, kitchen, bathroom with flush toilet and a hot full pressure shower. No "roughing it" at Grove Creek! The kitchen area has a fridge/freezer, two microwave ovens, fan forced convection oven, filter & espresso coffee machines and a small gas oven with two hot plates and griller. All cooking utensils are available. Pure, filtered mountain rainwater is on tap from our 20,000 litre storage tank.

Mr. Geoff Gilbert (pictured below-right) and his family, purchased much of "The Grove" and lives 460 metres north of the facility. The Gilbert's are graziers who run sheep and cattle on the property and assisted us with computer and telescope resets for the internet telescopes, as well as providing us security. In April 2004, Greg Ford (pictured below-left) joined as a volunteer at Grove Creek and assists with repairs and maintenance.