The Bluewater Astronomical Society is an incorporated non-profit organization that strives to: -promote basic and advanced astronomical knowledge among club members
and, -promote astronomy interest in the general public.
History of Our Club
The Bluewater Astronomical Society (Inc Feb 2011) was formerly
the Bruce County Astronomical Society. That group was started by some avid amateur astronomers in Port Elgin, ON sometime
in 1990. The main club telescope at that time was an 8-inch Meade SCT that was donated by Dr Herb Coleman, a Southampton ON
resident. He also gave the club the dome and auxiliary hardware that eventually was installed on a large trailer which served
as an observatory for club members and students of the Bruce County School Board. We held many astronomy events for thegeneral public as well while that facility was in operation.That building
eventually had to be deactivated but a new observatory is being planned to carry on our astronomical activities.
In partnership with the Bluewater Education Foundation and the Outdoor Education Centre near
Oliphant, a much larger, more capable facility has been constructed and officially opened in
September of 2011. This building, called the ES Fox Observatory (after a major donation from ES Fox Construction)is a large roll-off roof observatory (864 sq.ft) that currently houses a 12-inch reflector
donated to the BCAS by the University of Guelph in 2005. BAS will operate astronomy programs
from the facility in conjunction with the Outdoor Education Centre which will provide astronomy programs for their students
as well. The facility will also be open regularly to the general public for astronomical viewing of events like eclipses or
meteor showers. Recently a Trillium grant has been received that allowed BAS to purchase a larger telescope (28-inch
Webster) and other equipment and astronomy materials.