Going for the stars despite break-ins
The Southland Astronomical Society has not given up on the stars yet.
Despite dealing with break-ins, damage to its equipment and Invercargill clubrooms, and the theft of thousands of dollars worth of equipment, the society has resumed its monthly meetings at a different location.
Committee member Joseph Roberts said the society was taking this opportunity to experiment with the way it conducted public events.
“We’re still going to be active [and] doing astronomy, but it’s going to look a little different for the next wee while,” Roberts said.
“These [break-in] events have put a difficult situation in front of us, but we’re going to utilise that to interact with people in different ways.”
The society will conduct pop-up events in Invercargill, Riverton or Bluff, depending on the weather. Its first open night of the year is planned for Saturday, April 6, at Robinson Park in Bluff.
In February, the society’s clubrooms at Sandy Point were broken into multiple times, including three times in one week. All up, it had taken a hit of $50,000 in stolen goods and damages.
The stolen items included petty cash, two laptops, a projector, a Makita cordless multi-tool kit, a 70-piece tool kit, a grinder and line trimmer, an LCD TV, tripods and binoculars.
In addition, a surveillance unit and a meteor tracking computer were damaged.
Police were investigating the break-ins, and Roberts said the society was in talks with police as well as the Invercargill City Council, which owns the building.
The remaining equipment had since been moved out of the clubrooms, but the society would stay on at Sandy Point and work with the council so it could return to the site in a safe manner, he said.
“We’re hoping we might be able to expand what we can offer [at the clubrooms] once we’ve worked through the improvements with the council.”