Isle of Man

County Coordinator:  Gary Kerwin:  gary@iomastronomy.org

Astronomers

Butterworth, Charles Frederick [FRAS] (1870-1947), born Stretford, Lancashire and was educated in Manchester. Although he wanted to study chemistry, due to family press, he left school at 15 and joined the cotton trade. A career in business gave him the means to follow his interests in astronomy, allowing him to establish an observatory by 1910 at his home in Poynton, Cheshire, then at Port St. Mary on the Isle of Man. A prolific observer of variable stars he used a 6-inch Grubb refractor along with 10-inch and 15-inch reflecting telescopes. His other interests included, botany, geology, and ornithology, he was also a competent musician (see Cheshire; Obit., MNRAS, 40 (1947), 40-1; Kewin 2011).

Observatories

Butterworth’s Beach Villa Observatory [BBVO] (1927-47),  established by Charles Frederick Butterworth at his home ‘Beach Villa’ in Port St. Mary. The wooden observatory with conical dome was equipped with a 6-inch Grubb refracting telescope on an equatorial mounting (Kewin 2011).

Astronomy Groups

Isle of Man Astronomical Society (IMAS) was first established in 1894 as a division of the Liverpool Astronomical Society .  Reports of meetings in the IoM Times variously name it the ‘Douglas Astronomical Society’, ‘Isle of Man Astronomical Society’ and ‘Manx Astronomical Society’.  The current group meet regularly at their observatory located in dark sky site (OS: SC 28680 78949).

Isle of Man Observatory [IOMO] (199- ), Higher Foxdale, Foxdale, established by the Isle of Man Astronomical Society. The domed building, with an attached meeting room, houses a 16-inch SCT catadioptric telescope on an equatorial mounting.