Alston Observatory

The Alston Observatory, 15 kilometres outside Preston, has two large telescopes, the Multiple Aperture Telescope (MAT) and the Wilfred Hall 15-inch astrographic refractor (WHT). It is also the site of the £200,000 purpose-built Astronomy Teaching Centre which houses a lecture room/planetarium, optics laboratories and dark rooms. 15 small telescopes are used to provide students with hand-on observing experience, including the use of photoelectric photometers and CCD cameras. This is the main astronomy teaching site with lectures and laboratory classes held in the afternoons and evenings giving students the opportunity to make real astronomical observations. The facilities at Alston are second to none in the university sector.