Hardware upgrades at OpenScience Observatory in Tenerife

The OpenScience Observatory’s Tenerife facilities finally received their long-awaited hardware upgrade, one year late due to COVID travel restrictions. PIRATE is now sporting a 24-inch astrograph, while its 17-inch predecessor has moved to COAST where it replaced the smaller 14-inch telescope.

Commissioning is well advanced, all systems are operational, and first deep-sky images by Sam Jackson will whet the appetite of telescope.org and OpenLearn users. For more information go to @PirateOU on Twitter.

Image 1: CDK24 being lifted into PIRATE dome, with the iconic Teide volcano in the background

Image 2: Commissioning PIRATE’s CDK20: Lagoon nebula, by Sam Jackson