Welcome to CaDAS
Cleveland and Darlington Astronomical Society (CaDAS) came into being in January 1990, following the merger of two neighbouring societies, Cleveland A.S. and Darlington A.S., which had existed since 1979 and 1980 respectively.
We meet once per month from September to June, usually on the second Friday. Meetings are held at the Planetarium, Wynyard Woodland Park, just outside Stockton, off the A177 Durham Road. Most meetings feature a talk by a guest speaker, sometimes a professional astronomer and sometimes a fellow amateur. These talks are always on a fairly non-technical level; no prior knowledge of astronomy is necessary to join the Society, and new members, novices included, are always more than welcome.
Though many of our members are casual or "armchair" astronomers, we also have several dedicated and expert observers among our ranks. Jurgen Schmoll is an experts in astrophotography who's images are regularly featured on BBC's Sky at Night program.
Many of our members own telescopes, and several have built impressive private observatories. Our founder, Dr. John McCue, has received perhaps the ultimate recognition for his work; his personal observatory has been given an official observatory code by the International Astronomical Union, and is now the Double-Star Adviser to the Deep Sky Section of the BAA.
Some years ago, we worked with Cleveland County Council to build a Public Observatory, in the Wynyard Woodland Park near Thorpe Thewles. The observatory was officially opened by the Astronomer Royal in February 1994; it now houses a comupter controlled 14" Schmidt Cassegrain telescope.
Also in conjunction with the Council, CaDAS played a major role in the construction of the magnificent Planetarium, also in the Wynyard Woodland Park. This was officially opened in November 2001.
We are always ready to welcome new members of all ages and levels of experience, from complete novice to expert!. So please come along to any meeting. See the meetings page for details of our meetings during the current season.
CaDAS Information Pack
CaDAS Information Pack (pdf file size: 335kB)
Summer Newsletter
Newsletter 2022 is now out (pdf file size: 104kB)
Website last updated 16 September 2024