Britain’s first purpose-built public observatory, located on the summit of Balgay Hill. Featuring a planetarium, amazing telescopes and a shop.
Joined June 2013
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- Following 618
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145 Photos and videos
Mills Observatory retweeted
Mar 31
Look how big Jupiter's magnetosphere would be if we were be able to see it
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Mills Observatory retweeted
Mar 31
This time-lapse technique that makes you truly feel that it's not the sky that's spinning, but the Earth rotating—it's amazing.
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Mills Observatory retweeted
In the rare case you haven’t seen it yet:
Here is the 10-day trajectory of Artemis II around the Moon and back.
It follows a figure-eight loop around the Moon, reaching over 230,000 miles away from Earth.
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Mar 31
Tonight is our last open night of the 2025/2026 winter season. It's been a really wet and windy 6 months with scarce viewing opportunities. Here's hoping for clearer skies for 2026/2027. We will reopen full-time on the 1st October. Thanks to all our visitors and supporters.
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Mar 17
What a brilliant little graphic.
The Pythagorean Theorem is more than an algebraic formula, it is a fundamental property of space that can be demonstrated through the physical rearrangement of areas.
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Mills Observatory retweeted
Mar 16
Depiction of the Milky Way in the Tomb of Ramesses VI.
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Mills Observatory retweeted
Halley's Comet, as depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry. The comet was seen over the skies of England in April of 1066
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Mar 17
A great little graphic demonstrating the length of days on different planets.
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Mills Observatory retweeted
Mar 11
More than 400 years ago, Galileo Galilei proposed that mass does not affect the speed with which an object falls. Now, using the world's largest vacuum chamber at NASA, we can confirm this fundamental principle of physics. x.com/i/status/2031710479748…
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Mar 11
We are delighted to be hosting the UoD's 8th Physics Science Fair @MillsObs on Saturday 21st March from 2:30pm onwards. Amongst the exhibits we'll have "banana keyboard", "magnetic loops" and "fun with fusion". No admission fee, no booking required - just turn up - all welcome.
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Mills Observatory retweeted
Mar 10
⚡️This is the clearest image ever taken of Saturn’s North Pole.
A perfect hexagonal storm is raging for decades now and it is over 30,000km across.
First spotted by Voyager 1 back in 1980s.
📷 NASA
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Mar 11
Pluto. Is it a planet or not?
Mar 10
After traveling 9 years and covering 3 billion miles, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft got this shot.
Behold! The icy mountains of Pluto.
Community note
The attached video is a 2017 NASA CGI rendering created from New Horizons' 2015 data, with exaggerated topography and enhanced colors. It is not actual footage or the spacecraft's real trajectory during its flyby at ~7,800 miles. The mission details are accurate.
nasa.gov/missions/nasa-…
science.nasa.gov/mission/new-ho…
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The mathematics present through our universe never cease to amaze.
Mar 3
Saturn's north pole is a perfect hexagonal storm!
Earth is about 12,700 km wide. This hexagon is nearly 30,000 km across. You could drop two whole Earths inside this storm and they still wouldn't touch the sides. A geometric masterpiece raging at the top of the world.
NASA
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Mills Observatory retweeted
Mar 3
Eruption on Io (Jupiter's Moon).
This image was taken from 2.8 million miles away from Io.
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Mills Observatory retweeted
Feb 25
Just awesome. Nature’s precision at the edge of the world.
Photo: Aman Chokshi
Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station, Antarctica
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Feb 25
Obviously, this all depends on the weather and the forecast for the next few evenings does not bode well for viewing. Overcast and drizzly conditions are expected with very few breaks in the cloud cover. If you are planning a visit to the observatory, please bear this in mind...
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Feb 25
Mercury, Saturn, Venus and Neptune will be either too faint or too close to the horizon, making viewing impossible. Shortly after sundown they will also set below the horizon. Mars is not visible either as it is too close to the Sun..........
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Feb 25
The only visible planets will be Jupiter and Uranus, though the latter will be extremely difficult to locate given its current location and faintness in the night sky. Other visible bodies will be the Moon and the constellations.....
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Feb 25
We would like to clarify what planets will be visible from the observatory over the next few days and into next week, if weather permits of course, as there appears to be some confusion.....
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Mills Observatory retweeted
Feb 24
What the night sky on Mars may look like.
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