The observatory and associated teaching laboratory, formally opened by Sir Patrick Moore on 20th May 2002, is named after Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw. Dame Kathleen generously donated the original Celestron 11" telescope. She is a former Pro-Chancellor of the University, Lord Mayor of Manchester, outstanding mathematician and a keen amateur astronomer.

The dome was designed and built by Dr Glynn Marsh, a prominent local amateur astronomer. Situated on the roof of the Physics Department, the observatory has excellent views of most of the sky. The observatory was first used in 2001 with the MPhys students investigating its capabilities. The prime use at this stage was CCD imaging. You can see some of the images taken in the image gallery. Since then, MPhys students have carried out more quantitative investigations into sunspots, high and low resolution spectroscopy, and calibration of the system sensitivity.

Latitude 54° 0' 39" N

Longitude 2° 47' 03" W