Opened in the fall of 1997, the Niagara Centre Observatory is located just a 40-minute drive from St. Catharines, and available for member use.
Made possible with the generous donations of building materials by Centre members Denis Maheu and John Nemy, the original RASC Observatory features a roll-off roof design angled at a 45 degree slope towards the Southern sky.
The roll-off roof section is a reinforced garage door which runs along tracks extending out from the west side of the building. The design allows for ease of operation and quick set-up and closing times. This observatory currently houses a Mead DS-16 Newtonian Reflector Telescope.
In recent years, the centre has added several new observing pads, and has built another roll-off roof observatory to house our brand new Losmandy G-11 tracking telescope mount.
A typical observing session consists of viewing currently visible planets and deep-sky objects. Members also bring their own telescopes for a specific observing activity and to provide additional observing options for the other members. Astrophotography is also a popular activity at the observatory for members with the proper equipment.