Ella Broomberg, U6 DT

Visit to the UCLO in Mill Hill

By Emma Bernholt, U4 Aesc

One cold and clear Friday night in February, I visited University College London Observatory in Mill Hill. They’re the domes you pass on your way to Brent Cross. First, we were given a overview of the history of the observatory. It opened in 1929, because in 1925 UCL was offered the Allen telescope and needed a place to use it. We next visited one of the twin Celestron C14 telescopes, bought in 2010. We saw how the computer software moves the telescope and dome to the position needed to see the planets and the stars.

The Radcliffe has 2 different telescopes on the same base; it is huge and weighs 11 tonnes!

We then saw the Radcliffe. Built in 1901, it moved to the Observatory in 1938. The Radcliffe has 2 different telescopes on the same base. One takes images, and the

other is used ‘hand-and-eye’. It is huge and weighs 11 tonnes. This telescope is stored in the biggest dome. You can only change its direction by hand as it’s so old! However, if you can’t reach the eyepiece then you can move the floor up! Finally we visited the Fry, which was made in 1862 and donated to the observatory in 1930. I really enjoyed this part of the visit, as we were allowed to observe the moon which is a very rare experience. The part of the moon we focused on had a large crater, as an asteroid had smashed it. I loved looking at the moon so closely as I was able to see all the fine detail.

I learnt that some students in 2014 discovered a supernova (death of a star) which had already been there for a week but no one had noticed! I really enjoyed the visit and would highly recommend it to anyone even if you are not interested in the topic of space as it’s really fascinating.