The historic Townsend Teece Telescope is now open to the public for the first time since the Christchurch earthquakes.
The 126-year-old stargazing tradition takes place every Friday night during winter.
“The telescope and the tower have been beautifully restored, and now we have the opportunity to run Friday night open nights again,” Karen Pollard, Director of Townsend Teece Telescope, told 1News.
Up until the Christchurch earthquakes 12 years ago, they had been running the open nights inside the observatory tower since 1896.
“When this was Canterbury College, this telescope was donated by Townsend, by James Townsend, in 1891, and the tower was built, and the telescope was installed in 1896,” Pollard told 1News.
The Arts Centre owns most of the historic buildings, and 20 restoration projects have now been completed.
“This one took four years. We had to take it down brick by brick, put in new foundations, put in a new seismic core, and then replace all the original materials that we could find or duplicate materials to get it exactly back as it was before,” Susan Henson from the Arts Centre told 1News.
The tower itself was an $11 million rebuild, and close to $200 million has been spent on the entire site.
“We have three buildings still to complete that we are fundraising for, but we are still short of about $70 million, which is pretty tricky to find in the current economic environment,” Henson told 1News.
Now back to its former glory, sessions are filling up fast for a spot amongst the stars, and one UC astronomy graduate just can't get enough of it.
“Dealing with the biggest explosions and high-energy things is everyone's dream, right?” Zachary Lane told 1News.
Lane's passionate about the solar system.
“The idea that the universe is the biggest mystery that we have, and trying to solve that puzzle is amazing,” he said.
Given the tower is in the middle of the city, there are a lot of bright lights, but this won't ruin the experience.
“You can see nearby stars. You can see bright star clusters and double stars. Yeah, you can see all those things from the tower,” Pollard told 1News.
The tour is 30 minutes long, and be prepared to climb 75 steep stairs.
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