Helena Observatory

About Helena Observatory

Helena Observatory is a private amateur observatory located in North Alton, NS. Its primary purpose is for me, Kathleen Walker, to have fun taking pictures of the night sky. Please note that it is not open to the public.

My objective is to take advantage of favourable weather, even if unexpected, and start taking astro images on a moment's notice, preferably without leaving the house. In order to do that, I needed a fully automatic observatory. Reaching that goal took a bit longer than I had hoped, but I have now achieved it. The entire operation, from startup, through imaging, to shut down is controlled at the click of a mouse. I ran my first fully automatic session on 2019-08-04, while I slept.

The observatory was originally located in St. Bernard, NS, under the name 'Baie Ste. Marie Observatory'. It was built in three months, in the summer of 2013. In June, 2015, it was relocated to Hall's Harbour, NS. In July, 2023, it was relocated to North Alton, NS.

The name, Helena, is short for "Helena Handbasket". It is an editorial comment on the political and social state of the world.