University of Hertfordshire Observatory
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observatory.herts.ac.uk
University of Hertfordshire Observatory
@observatory.herts.ac.uk
The University of Hertfordshire's Observatory at Bayfordbury in the UK. Find out how to visit or study with us here: https://linktr.ee/bayfordburyobservatory
Ever wondered what the rain sounds like inside one of our steel 🔭 domes?
June 3, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Here's last night's aurora! 🔭
April 17, 2025 at 8:47 AM
April 16, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Aurora are visible in UK skies right now! 🔭
April 16, 2025 at 8:59 PM
And another view!
March 24, 2025 at 10:54 PM
View from the allsky camera! 🔭
March 24, 2025 at 10:06 PM
One of our students took these spectacular photos earlier this evening, showing what is thought to be fuel from a Falcon 9 rocket! 🔭
March 24, 2025 at 8:48 PM
And that’s a wrap for this season’s Open Evenings! Thank you to everyone that came along tonight - we had a great time, and hope you did too!

Open Evenings will return next winter - but there will still be other opportunities to visit us over the summer, so stay tuned!
March 7, 2025 at 11:43 PM
There are only a few tickets left for our last Open Evening of the season, for the 17:30 slot on Friday 7th March.
 
The theme for this Open Evening is radio astronomy. The optical telescopes 🔭 will still be open, but we'll also be showing off our unique radio interferometer 📡
February 26, 2025 at 11:22 AM
We've had a great time at @stalbanscathedral.bsky.social this week! We've been there with our mobile planetarium giving shows to local schools, and last night Dr. Emma Curtis-Lake gave a public lecture.

And now we're all back at the observatory for tonight's sold-out Open Evening!
February 7, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Here's a quick view of Jupiter, taken during a student practical session last night 🔭

From left to right, you can see three of Jupiter's moons: Europa, Ganymede and Io.

You can also see Io's shadow on the face of Jupiter - it is the small dark spot near the upper right edge.
February 4, 2025 at 5:54 PM
There is a lovely 22° halo around the Sun this morning. These halos appear when sunlight passes through hexagonal ice crystals in the atmosphere, and can often be seen in the winter months. 🔭
January 29, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Yesterday we ran the first event with our new inflatable planetarium!

From 5th-7th February, we'll be at @stalbanscathedral.bsky.social showcasing the new planetarium as part of their Science Festival Week.

To book us for your school or another event, see here: www.herts.ac.uk/bayfordbury/...
January 24, 2025 at 10:09 AM
It's a planetary parade!

Throughout Jan and Feb, you will be able to see four planets lined up in the sky. With a telescope 🔭, you can also see Neptune and Uranus to make it six planets in a row!

This picture was taken with our Allsky camera just before 6pm (GMT) on Tuesday.
January 10, 2025 at 3:34 PM
It's a frosty day here at Bayfordbury 🔭❄️
January 10, 2025 at 1:12 PM
With our James Webb Space Telescope themed Open Evening coming up on Jan 17th, here's a throwback to when one of our telescopes caught JWST heading to its new home 🔭
January 8, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Aurora sightings are being reported across the UK this evening - but unfortunately all we can see is clouds! 🔭
January 1, 2025 at 7:32 PM
It’s hard to believe our newest 🔭 is now over three years old!

The 0.6m CDK24 is a favourite of our students, and one of the most popular attractions during our public open evenings. It’s easy to see why!
December 18, 2024 at 5:13 PM
Hello world 👋

For those of you that don’t already know us, we’re the UK’s largest teaching observatory, and probably one of the busiest too!

It’s cloudy tonight, but here’s a glimpse at some of the cool things we get up to:
December 17, 2024 at 7:56 PM