James Gregory Telescope

The James Gregory Telescope stands on the campus of the University of St Andrews in Fife. Built in 1962, it is a Schmidt-Cassegrain instrument fitted with a CCD camera. Its field of view spans five square degrees, wider than most wide-field designs. The telescope uses both a mirror and a corrector plate to focus light. After first light in 1962 it was adjusted to reach up to sixteen degrees above the horizon. It remains the largest working optical telescope in the United Kingdom. Research teams from the School of Physics and Astronomy use it for programmes such as SuperWASP and studies of supermassive black holes. The instrument is named after James Gregory, the 17th-century Scottish mathematician who invented the Gregorian reflecting telescope. Although Isaac Newton later built a working reflector, Gregory’s original design came first. Visitors can view the telescope from outside its enclosure. Inside, the 37-inch primary mirror gathers starlight, though only about 33 inches are used today. The building sits among the university’s science facilities on North Haugh. On clear nights the dome opens and the telescope tracks objects across the sky. The site offers a quiet spot to watch astronomers at work.