Alston Observatory

Our centre piece is the Moses Holden Telescope, a 70 cm diameter state-of-the-art robotic telescope used for both undergraduate teaching and to encourage public engagement in science. Alongside Moses Holden Telescope we also have a range of smaller robotic telescopes ranging in size from 20 to 30 cm in diameter. Additionally, we host the historic Wilfred Hall Telescope on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Our Discovery Dome is an exciting system that allows a laptop computer and digital projector to display movies onto a planetarium dome, located in our main building, as well as enhanced planetarium shows. This enables both informative materials to be presented for evening events, and educational material for curriculum enhancement.

Capabilities have been enhanced further with our new Isabella Holden Telescope, a £50,000 wide-field DeltaRho 350 Telescope. This is a “planet hunter” enabling observers to detect worlds orbiting other stars and at the same time detect stars that vary their brightness to help further understand their life cycles. It also works in tandem with the Moses Holden telescope, which looks at a narrow field of space but in greater detail.