Astronomy Student Taylor Robotic Observatory

Thanks to the generous donations by the Taylor family, the University of Redlands hosts an automated telescope on Appleton Hall. The Astronomy Student Taylor Robotic Observatory (ASTRO) is used for research and education projects by University of Redlands students and faculty. Currently, it houses an 8-inch Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain reflecting telescope on a Paramount robotic mount. The observatory, telescope, and camera are all controlled remotely from the astronomy laboratory inside Appleton Hall. Students using the observatory have already observed a supernova in the galaxy M51 and detected the shadow of extra-solar planets (planets outside our solar system) transiting in front of their stars.

Lagoon Nebula (image made with Hydrogen-alpha, Oxygen-III and Sulfur-II filters)