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Deep Sky Exploration (DSE), the society that operates NOVA, was starting to considering an astronomical observatory far from the light pollution of the cities in the Vestfold county in 1984. DSE started to search for suitable sites in the inner part of Vestfold, and more than 30 sites were inspected in the next two years. After applying a set of selection criteria, there were five sites left for further study.
DSE had originally intended to develop an observatory by a stepwise procedure. The plan was to set up some permanent telescope pillars on a selected site, and after a while develop this into an observatory. However, in May 1986, before any pillars had been set up, DSE decided to build up a complete observatory building with a roll-off roof and a heated side room. One of the five final sites was selected based on several criteria, among others: It was far enough from the city lights, it was not too distant from the coast cities where several of the users live, the site is on a hill without obstructions almost down to the horizon in all directions and it has fair road access.
Seven months after the decision was taken, and only five months after the
construction had started, the first observations with the observatory's two
20 cm telescopes were made. While telescopes were useable at an early moment,
it took six additional months to complete all the details making the
observatory fully operational.
The first building, later named Vega, started a new era for the DSE members
with excellent observing conditions. However, the observers started to miss
the opportunity to stay where for several nights/days. A building with beds
was needed. The side room in Vega was too small for this.
In parallel with the groving need for a dormitory, the idea was created to
move an older observatory building from Sandefjord city to NOVA. This
observatory was originally built by one of DSE's founders, and it had been
used by DSE members for several years after its construction in 1977-78. The
NOVA site was much darker and better suited for the building.
The ideas of the dormitory and moving the older observatory building to NOVA
developed into the Phoenix project. The project included a modernization plan
of the observatory building and purchase of a 40 cm Newtonian telescope. A
small workmen's hut was bought for the dormitory, and both hut and observatory
were renovated in the summer of 1988. Foundations for the buildings were
raised in middle of the autumns. Just before Christmas the same year, both
buildings were lifted up to the top of the hill by a helicopter. The
observatory building was later named Phoenix and the dormitory got the name
Sirius.
The 40 cm telescope was installed in the summer of 1989. Just half a year later
some creative minds had developed plans for a new and much better mounting for
the telescope. The light and unstable Meade mounting was to be substituted
with a 400 kg heavy steel construction with friction drivers using stepping
motors for both axis. The system had to be controlled by a PC computer.
The new mounting and computer materialized within nine months, just in time
for the official dedication of the observatory on October 20, 1990.
Representatives from the city councils in nearest cities, Sandefjord and
Larvik, turned the key starting the first operational observations with the
new Phoenix telescope. The observatory got a lot of publicity from the
dedication with headlines in several newspapers. NOVA become soon a well-known
place to all astronomical interested people in Vestfold as well as outside
this county.
Three observational groups were created in 1993: Group for CCD Observations, Group for Astrophotography and Group for Photometry. NOVA turned into the CCD age just before that, in 1992, when the first image was taken with a SBIG ST-6 camera. Currently, the observatory is equipped with ST-4 and ST-7 cameras. For astrophotography, the observatory is equipped with film forming-gas equipment and a darkroom. NOVA also got an agreement with the University of Oslo for a loan of a photoelectric photometer. The ST-7 is also suitable for most types of variable star measurements.
The most recent working group at the observatory is The Study Group for the Next Generation Telescope (NGT). That means, it started as a study group, however, the current plan is to build a robotic telescope in the 1 meter size. The NGT group consists of a team of technically very experienced people (professionals).
Further development has taken place in Vega and Phoenix since the dedication. New and larger telescops were installed into Vega in 1990 and 1992, a Meade 25 cm and a Celestron 35 cm, correspondingly. Both are Schmidt Cassegrain telescopes. One of the originally 20 cm telescopes was removed. The other is still there with its 14 cm Schmidt Camera riding piggy back. In Phoenix, both telescope and the dome has been further automatized. Today, dome rotation and shutter opening/closing is motorized and computer controlled. The telescope has also got a larger computer and new software. High-tech control consoles has been built in the dome and the side room (now the control room). The observer can control most observatory functions from these consoles.
Even further development is taking place currently. The next generation
telescope project is prototyping technology on the Phoenix telescope, slowly
converting the whole building into a robotic observatory. Within some years,
no clear skies will be wasted with telescopes not in use. The robotic
functionality will fill in the spare time with automatic observations when
there are no observers present at NOVA.
Updated July 2nd 97 by
vevadministrator@dse.no