The Cruickshank Botanic Garden Observatory (CBGO) is a new astronomical observatory planned to be built at the Cruickshank Botanic Garden (CBG) during 2025, subject to planning consent.
The CBGO will be primarily for University staff and students to use for educational and research purposes, with occasional access by members of the public and external visitors for public engagement. It will help to re-establish the University’s strong position in astronomy in the 21st Century. The Observatory will be a state-of-the-art facility allowing year-round astronomical observations that extend and enhance the University’s astrophysical teaching and research.
The Observatory will support delivery of Aberdeen 2040 with Interdisciplinary teaching, research, outreach, and public engagement related to astronomy. It will be Inclusive with fully accessible onsite and flexible remote access to the Observatory from across the University and wider communities. The large amounts of high quality data it provides will address Interdisciplinary Challenges including Data and Artificial Intelligence.
The image shows the new John Cruickshank Telescope set up in the atrium of the Zoology building for an outreach event in October 2024.
The John Cruickshank Telescope
We have recently acquired a new professional level StellaLyra 16"-aperture telescope system, capable of performing high quality deep space astrophotography with high quality astro-imaging data output. The John Cruickshank Telescope, funded by the Cruickshank Trust, is already set up in an office in the Meston Building.
This acquisition has followed the recent growth of astrophysics-related teaching and research at the University of Aberdeen. A new BSc Physics with Astrophysics course started in September 2024. Existing undergraduate and postgraduate students use astronomical imaging, data, spectroscopy and artificial intelligence (AI) across several disciplines, in their taught courses and final-year projects. The Department of Physics has also recruited staff in recent years to boost the University's research profile in astrophysics and the related disciplines of planetary science and plasma physics.
The image shows the telescope set up in the Meston Building with remote control.
Virtually zero thermal expansion using strong carbon fibre frame
Aberration-free optics as used by HST, Keck, VLT, and most other large professional research telescopes
The Observatory
The observatory site forms part of CBG’s Nursery, presently laid to lawn. It will be adjacent to an area cultivated for nursery plants, and south of a group of glasshouses and utility buildings. Although CBG is open to the public year-round, the Nursery is not a public area, which provides higher security as an observatory site. The proposed site is also not visible from public roads, so will not affect the visual amenity of the wider area. The CBG’s Nursery is also well-shielded from local sources of light and heat, and is relatively flat.
The image shows design illustrations for the new observatory.
The new Observatory will have a traditional natural timber design with an attractive Gambrel roof mirroring the rooflines of nearby Glasshouses. Its cementitious timber-effect cladding is designed to echo functional gardening facilities appropriate to the surrounding environment. These works use appropriate materials for the natural landscaped setting of the gardens and the historic setting of the wider Old Aberdeen Conservation Area. The Observatory will further support Aberdeen 2040's Net Zero commitments by entirely supplying the required power through its own solar panels.
