page_title: Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge
section_title: Telescopes
hierarchical_section_title: Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge / Telescopes
caption_attribution_description: English: Observatory buildings containing the Northumberland Telescope (left) and Thorrowgood Telescope (right) at the Institute of Astronomy of the University of Cambridge. Covered structures in the foreground are mounts for portable telescopes.&#91;1&#93;
context_page_description: The Institute of Astronomy is the largest of the three astronomy departments in the University of Cambridge, and one of the largest astronomy sites in the UK. Around 180 academics, postdocs, visitors and assistant staff work at the department.
  Research at the department is made in a number of scientific areas, including exoplanets, stars, star clusters, cosmology, gravitational-wave astronomy, the high-redshift universe, AGN, galaxies and galaxy clusters. This is a mixture of observational astronomy, over the entire electromagnetic spectrum, computational theoretical astronomy, and analytic theoretical research.
  The Kavli Institute for Cosmology is also located on the department site. This Institute has an emphasis on The Universe at High Redshifts. The Cavendish Astrophysics Group are based in the Battcock Centre, a building in the same grounds.
context_section_description: The Institute houses several telescopes on its site. Although some scientific work is done with the telescopes, they are mostly used for public observing and astronomical societies. The poor weather and light-pollution in Cambridge makes most modern astronomy difficult. The telescopes on the site include:
  The Northumberland Telescope donated by the Duke of Northumberland in 1833. This is a 12-inch (300 mm) diameter refractor on an English mount.
  The smaller Thorrowgood Telescope, on extended loan from the Royal Astronomical Society. The telescope is an 8-inch (200 mm) refractor.
  The 36-inch Telescope, built in 1951.
  The Three-Mirror Telescope, which is a prototype telescope with a unique design to have wide field of view, sharp images and all-reflection optics.
  The Institute's former 24" Schmidt Camera was donated to the Spaceguard Centre in Knighton, Powys in Wales in June 2009.
  The Cambridge University Astronomical Society (CUAS) and Cambridge Astronomical Association (CAA) both regularly observe. The Institute holds public observing evenings on Wednesdays from October to March.
caption: Observatory buildings containing the Northumberland Telescope (left) and Thorrowgood Telescope (right) at the Institute of Astronomy of the University of Cambridge. Covered structures in the foreground are mounts for portable telescopes.
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