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| Website | https://assa.saao.ac.za/ |
The Astronomical Society of Southern Africa (ASSA), formed in 1922, [1] is a widespread body consisting of both amateur and professional astronomers. There are eight autonomous centres throughout Southern Africa.
The Cape Astronomical Association was established in 1912, shortly after the 1910 appearance of Halley's Comet. Sydney Samuel Hough, HM Astronomer at the Cape, was chosen President. In 1918, the Johannesburg Astronomical Association was created, with RTA Innes, Union Astronomer, as President. In 1922 it was decided to merge the two Associations to form the Astronomical Society of South Africa after an invitation from the Cape Association. [2] In 1956 the name was amended to become the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa.
Membership is open to all interested persons. The Society publishes the on-line peer-reviewed journal Monthly Notes of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa (MNASSA). [3] In addition to MNASSA, the annual handbook Sky Guide Africa South (SkyGuide) [4] is distributed to members and is available for the public. [5]
The Gill Medal is awarded by the Council of the Society for services to astronomy with special consideration to services in southern Africa. It was established in 1955 April and was first awarded in 1956 to Harold Knox Shaw. [8] The Medal commemorates Sir David Gill, HM Astronomer at the Cape (1879–1907), renowned for his numerous researches, especially in positional astronomy and geodesy, and for his part in consolidating astronomical science in Southern Africa.
The medal has been awarded to:
Various sections exist within the Society to co-ordinate the activities of special interest groups, including the running of observational programs. They consist of the Comets and Meteor Section, Dark Sky, Deep-Sky, Education & Public Communication, Double Stars, Historical, Occultations, Solar and Variable Stars. A national Symposium, organised by one of the Centres, is held every second year. [8] Scopex, a large public outreach event, is held every year under the auspices of the Johannesburg Centre.
The autonomous local centres of ASSA hold regular meetings where visitors are welcomed. Centres are situated in Bloemfontein, [9] Cape Town, [10] Durban, [11] Hermanus, [12] the Garden Route, Midlands, Johannesburg [13] and Pretoria. [14]
Sir David Gill was a Scottish astronomer who is known for measuring astronomical distances, for astrophotography and geodesy. He spent much of his career in South Africa.
John Francis Skjellerup was an Australian amateur astronomer who spent two decades working as a telegraphist in South Africa.
Robert Thorburn Ayton Innes FRSE FRAS was a British-born South African astronomer best known for discovering Proxima Centauri in 1915, and numerous binary stars. He was also the first astronomer to have seen the Great January Comet of 1910, on 12 January. He was the founding director of a meteorological observatory in Johannesburg, which was later converted to an astronomical observatory and renamed to Union Observatory. He was the first Union Astronomer. Innes House, designed by Herbert Baker, built as his residence at the observatory, today houses the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers.
Alexander Forbes Irvine Forbes was a South African astronomer, architect and artist, best known for his discovery of periodic comets.
Ernest Leonard Johnson (1891–1977) was a South African astronomer and a former staff member of the Union Observatory in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is known for the discovery of 18 asteroids between 1946–1951, as well as several comets. On 25 August 1949, he discovered 48P/Johnson, a periodic comet expected to pass no closer than 1.2 to 1.3 AU from our planet in 2025. Johnson received the "Donohoe Comet Medal" twice before retiring in 1956. He died in 1977.
William Stephen FinsenFRAS was a South African astronomer. He discovered a number of double stars and took many photographs of Mars. He developed the Finsen eyepiece interferometer to measure very close double stars. He was the final director of Union Observatory in South Africa from 1957 to 1965.
Union Observatory also known as Johannesburg Observatory (078) is a defunct astronomical observatory in Johannesburg, South Africa that was operated between 1903 and 1971. It is located on Observatory Ridge, the city's highest point at 1,808 metres altitude in the suburb Observatory.
The N1 is a national route in South Africa that runs from Cape Town through Bloemfontein, Johannesburg, Pretoria and Polokwane to Beit Bridge on the border with Zimbabwe. It forms the first section of the famed Cape to Cairo Road.
Alan William James Cousins FRAS was a South African astronomer. His career spanned 70 years during which time he concentrated on the measurement of variable stars, including the measurement of the two sinusoidal periods of Gamma Doradus. The UBV photometric system for measuring stellar fluxes he devised in his 1990s became a standard known as the "Cousins system".
South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) is the national centre for optical and infrared astronomy in South Africa. It was established in 1972. The observatory is run by the National Research Foundation of South Africa. The facility's function is to conduct research in astronomy and astrophysics. The primary telescopes are located in Sutherland, which is 370 kilometres (230 mi) from Observatory, Cape Town, where the headquarters is located.
Harold Knox-Shaw was an English astronomer.
Michiel Daniel Overbeek, also known as Danie Overbeek, was a South African amateur astronomer and one of the most prolific variable star observers.
William Ashley Bradfield was a New Zealand-born Australian amateur astronomer, notable as a prolific amateur discoverer of comets. He discovered 18 comets, all of which bear his name as the sole discoverer.
The Natal Observatory was an astronomical observatory in the Colony of Natal from 1882 to 1911. The most important work carried out there was a study of the motion of the moon.
Michael William Feast was a British-South African astronomer. He served as Director of the South African Astronomical Observatory from 1976–1992, then became a professor at the University of Cape Town.
Ian Stewart Glass is an infrared astronomer and scientific historian living in Cape Town, South Africa.
The Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, is a former scientific institution in South Africa. Founded by the British Board of Longitude in 1820, its main building is now the headquarters building of the South African Astronomical Observatory.
John Caister "Jack" Bennett, was a South African civil servant and amateur astronomer. His mother was British and his father was from Tasmania. He attended school in Ficksburg and began to work in public service after graduating in 1934, initially in the forestry administration in Elgin before moving to the administration of Transvaal Province in Pretoria. During World War II he served as a soldier in South Africa, Egypt and Italy. In 1974 he retired from the public service. From 1985 he began to suffer from arthritis and soon afterwards his health deteriorated so much that he had to sell his house in Pretoria's Riviera neighborhood and move into a nursing home. He died on 30 May 1990 at the age of 76.
Brian Warner was a British South African optical astronomer who was Emeritus Distinguished Professor of natural philosophy at the University of Cape Town. Warner's research included cataclysmic variable stars, pulsars, degenerate stars and binary stars. He also researched and published on the history of astronomy in South Africa.
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