Having raised almost £90,000 we are now helping to raise funds to restore the Altazimuth Pavilion which will house the new telescopes. If you would still like to contribute to this project our aim is to reach £100,000. 

The Altazimuth Pavilion at the Royal Observatory dates back to 1896. The buildings name comes from the instruments it originally housed – these measured the altitude (position on the horizon) and azimuth (position east along the horizon). Sadly the building is suffering from severe environmental issues, and the current instrument is too large for the dome it sits under and cannot be used. As such the building has not been used as a working observatory for over 60 years.  

For the first time since the 1950s we have the opportunity to restore the status of the Royal Observatory as a working observatory, transforming it into a site that can produce stunning still and moving images of astronomical objects despite the light polluted setting.

Our ambition is to restore the  building and install two new telescopes, a small (4-inch wide) high quality lensed telescope and one large (14-inch wide) reflecting telescope, which together with a suite of accessories would capture and stream images and videos of planetary, lunar, deep sky and solar targets here in the heart of Greenwich. This will be associated with displays on the ground floor enabling public access to imagery during the daytime.  The project will inspire the next generation of astronomers through associated learning and research programmes, produce stunning images for exhibitions, planetarium shows and the media and provide opportunities for facilitated public access and observing sessions. The equipment that will be housed in the renovated building will lay the foundations for future plans to allow remote access to the telescope from anywhere in the world.