A Visit to Anseong Observatory and Environs
Last Saturday I took a trip down to Anseong to check out some astronomy sites. I envisaged a one and half hour trip but traffic jams soon dispelled that delusion. It was more like two and half hours.
Anseong or Ansung Observatory. The dome houses a 16 inch Meade.
You definitely need a car to get to this place. It’s about 7 kms outside of Anseong and is located on a small hill. Here it is on Google Maps During the day it is closed. We were allowed to walk around a little but only after my wife was given the OK by the caretakers.
A maddening din from a dog farm not far away could be heard and I wondered how those caretakers could live there. It also spoiled the atmosphere for me to hear the yelps of those poor dogs confined to tiny cages and a wretched life.
The caretaker told us to come back when the show starts around 6.30 that night, adding that the cost would be 25,000 won per person! That was a bit steep for me because I would not understand a word of the presentation.
While thinking about whether to return, we decided to tour the countryside and check out any viable viewing locations. A tourist book we had showed there was another observatory about 33 kms away. It appeared to be in a 5 story building, so that sounded promising. We headed off to see it.
The so-called Sondo Observatory in a secluded valley with a few houses and farms.
So much for 5 stories, though it’s technically correct. This was built in 1994 but it was past its hay-day, and from what my wife could glean from an old guy walking by, it’s very rarely used. What a waste. Here it is on Google Maps.
I got the impression that it was a tourist venture that didn’t work out. A small fishing lake was further down the valley too, which appeared to have been abandoned. The area is too hard to get to and too much out of the way for any business ventures to work of this kind. Still, it was interesting to see.
We headed back to Anseong and after dinner there revisited Anseong. The place was swarming with kids. We were already late, and then we were told that it was fully booked. However, we were given the option to wait around to get a quick tour later, when the kids were in the lecture room.
As darkness descended, I was disappointed in the sky or naked eye views in general. Although there are more stars than Seoul, there still wasn’t that many on view. On the horizon a light haze was thrown up by Anseong. So, with the naked eye, not much to see. From memory Yang Pyong, directly east of Seoul up in the mountains, was a lot better.
Up on the roof of Anseong Observatory. A telescope shed with a further 3 telescopes is bottom left.
Nonetheless, with a telescope there is plenty to see. After a friendly assistant befriended us, who spoke some English, we got to take a look in the dome and through the various telescopes they had set up. The thrill for me was seeing M13 for the first time thought the 16 inch Meade. I had also never been in an astronomy dome before–now I have, I want one!