Mexborough and Swinton Astronomical Society
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| Organization | Mexborough & Swinton Astronomical Society | ||||
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| Location | Rotherham, South Yorkshire | ||||
| Coordinates | 53°28′53″N 1°22′54″W / 53.48139°N 1.38167°W | ||||
| Altitude | 147.25 metres (483.1 ft) | ||||
| Established | 1993 | ||||
| Website | Hoober at MSAS | ||||
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 Location of J A Jones Hoober Observatory
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| Rich Field Telescope | 130mm (5 inch) refractor |
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| Deep Field Telescope | 360mm (14 inch) Schmidt-Cassegrain |
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| Founded | 1978 |
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| Type | Local Organisation |
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| Website | http://msas.org.uk/ |
J A Jones Hoober Observatory is a privately owned observatory located in South Yorkshire, England near to the villages of Hoober and Wentworth, 4 miles (6.4 km) North-northwest of Rotherham. It can be found about 300 metres (0.19 mi) east of Hoober Stand. The observatory is owned and operated by Mexborough & Swinton Astronomical Society (NPO).
The observatory consists of a 5 metres (16 ft) square building topped by a 5-metre diameter dome. The observatory was built by the members between 1991 and 1993. Originally the dome was only 4 metres (13 ft) in diameter. In 1999 a major refurbishment of the observatory was completed including a new 5 metre diameter dome, which was designed & built by the members over the preceding 3–4 years.
The observatory originally contained the Rayna Telescope, an 18 inches (460 mm) newtonian reflector on a fork mount, this was dedicated to long standing member Ray Jackson and his wife Ina. The telescope was built by Peter Drew of the Amateur Astronomy Centre, Todmorden. It was based around an 18-inch f/4.5 parabolic mirror ground by John Owen. Whilst in use the Rayna telescope was the largest telescope open to the public in South Yorkshire.
The observatory currently contains a Takahashi TOA-130F 130 millimetres (5.1 in) f/7.6 apochromatic refractor and a Celestron C14-AF XLT 14 inches (360 mm) f/11 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope on a Software Bisque Paramount goto mount. These were purchased to replace the Rayna telescope.
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