City Observatory

The City Observatory, also known as the Calton Hill Observatory, is one of Edinburgh's oldest astronomical sites, its buildings still standing on Calton Hill more than two centuries after the first telescope was set up there.

About City Observatory

The site's history begins in 1776, when the optician Thomas Short of Leith founded the first observatory here. It passed to the Edinburgh Astronomical Institution in 1812 and became a Royal Observatory after 1822, cementing its place as the centre of Scottish astronomy for well over a century.

History

The complex grew in stages: the Gothic Tower in the southwest corner is the oldest surviving part, while the Greek-temple-style Playfair Building, designed by William Henry Playfair, began construction in 1818 and houses a 6-inch (15 cm) refractor and a 6.4-inch (16 cm) transit telescope. The City Observatory remained the Edinburgh Astronomical Institution's main base until 1896, when growing city light pollution forced a move to Blackford Hill. After decades of more limited use, the entire site was restored and reopened to the public for the first time on 24 November 2018, now serving as the home of Collective, a centre for contemporary art, with the historic transit instrument kept on public display.

Location & getting there

City Observatory sits on Calton Hill in central Edinburgh, Scotland, a short walk from Princes Street and one of the city's best-known viewpoints over the Old and New Towns.

Visiting City Observatory

The restored site is open to the public as part of Collective's Calton Hill campus; check Collective's current opening hours before visiting, especially if you want to see the historic transit telescope on display.

See your named star from here

Star Register gives every named star precise coordinates, the same kind of data the observatory's historic refractor and transit telescope once used to track the sky above Edinburgh. Name a star before your visit to Calton Hill, or browse the catalogue to see stars already named.