Portal:Scotland/Selected article/Week 29, 2010

The Royal Observatory, Edinburgh (ROE) is an astronomical institution located on Blackford Hill in Edinburgh, Scotland. The site is owned by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). The ROE comprises the UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC) of STFC, the Institute for Astronomy of the School of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Edinburgh, and the ROE Visitor Centre. The observatory carries out astronomical research and university teaching; design, project management, and construction of instruments and telescopes for astronomical observatories; and teacher training in astronomy and outreach to the public.

The ROE Library includes the Crawford Collection of books and manuscripts gifted in 1888 by James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford. Before it moved to the present site in 1896, the Royal Observatory was located on Calton Hill, close to the centre of Edinburgh, at what is now known as the City Observatory. The original 1894 building includes two cylindrical copper domes on top of the East and West Towers. The East Dome still shelters a 36-inch (0.9 m) Cassegrain reflector that was installed in 1930. A 16/24-inch (0.4/0.6 m) Schmidt camera was installed in the West Dome in 1951, removed in 2010 to the National Museum of Scotland. The only working telescope is a 20-inch (0.5 m) reflector that was installed in 1967.