Accessibility
What works, and what does not
Two separate questions: whether this website is usable, and whether the observatory is. The honest answer to the second one is partly.
This website
Built to WCAG 2.2 AA. Every interactive control is a native element, so keyboard behaviour is the browser’s rather than ours. Focus is always visible and is never removed.
The sky view is decoration. The canvas is marked aria-hidden because the table beside it carries the same information in a form a screen reader can read. Remove the picture entirely and every page still tells you what is above the horizon, at what altitude and on what bearing.
With reduced motion enabled, the sky is painted once instead of ticking, all transitions collapse, and nothing else changes: every word, control and route stays exactly where it was.
Three colour modes ship, all three designed rather than derived. Red mode is deliberately low-luminance and has a narrow contrast budget; it carries exactly two text colours, both measured against the surfaces they are allowed to sit on.
The observatory
Meseta is the step-free room, with a level approach from the parking area and a door wide enough for a wheelchair. The observing pad beside it is level concrete.
The Dome Room is not accessible. Eleven steps, no handrail on the outer flight, and a 1.82 m doorway. We say so on the room’s own page rather than letting anyone discover it on arrival.
The main dome floor is reached by a ramp, but the eyepiece of the 610 mm instrument is at a height that varies with where it is pointed, and at some altitudes it cannot be reached from a seated position. We can usually re-plan a target list around this if you tell us in advance.
The site is unlit by design, which is a genuine hazard for anyone with limited night vision. Red torches are provided and we will walk you between buildings.