Telescopes - Durham University

Telescopes

Open telescope dome with view of Calman Learning Centre and Science site

Images of the telescopes at the Department of Physics, Durham University

The dome begins to open above one of the department telescopes

Images of the telescopes at the Department of Physics, Durham University

Image of telescope and light entering through opening in dome

Images of the telescopes at the Department of Physics, Durham University

Telescope with view of Durham Cathedral beyond

Images of the telescopes at the Department of Physics, Durham University

Understanding the Universe with observational astronomy

We have four state-of-the-art telescopes on the roof of the Physics building

Students on our Physics & Astronomy and Physics degrees can undertake projects in observational astronomy using the four telescopes (DRACO2, East-14, Far-East-16 and West-14) on the Physics building roof and our remotely operated 0.5m telescope (pt5m) on La Palma.

The AstroLab is a level 3 option of the BSc/MPhys Physics degree courses (including the BSc/MPhys Physics and Astronomy course) in which students undertake projects in observational astronomy using the telescopes on the roof of the Physics building. The projects are term based and are equivalent to three laboratory sessions of three hours per week over a term. All projects are based on the assumption that observations will be obtained on at least seven evenings during the term.

Projects

Students undertake a variety of projects which range from the tracking of near-earth asteroids to the measurement of Hubble's constant via the study of supernovae. All projects focus on the dynamical nature of the universe. Since 1993 over a million CCD images have been taken on our undergraduate telescopes for project work. Over 300 different minor planets and comets have been observed. East-14 and West-14 are in the 10' domes on the Physics building roof above the main entrance. DRACO2 (6' dome) and Far-East-16 (15' dome) are located at the east end of the roof. These telescopes are controlled via a set of Python scripts running on workstations running Fedora and allow remote/robotic operation.