The James Gregory Telescope was constructed in 1962 by the University of St Andrews

University of St Andrews

The University of St Andrews, informally referred to as "St Andrews", is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. The university is situated in the town of St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It was founded between...

. It is of a Schmidt-Cassegrain

Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope

The Schmidt–Cassegrain is a catadioptric telescope that combines a cassegrain reflector's optical path with a Schmidt corrector plate to make a compact astronomical instrument that uses simple spherical surfaces.-Invention and design:...

 design and is fitted with a CCD

Charge-coupled device

A charge-coupled device is a device for the movement of electrical charge, usually from within the device to an area where the charge can be manipulated, for example conversion into a digital value. This is achieved by "shifting" the signals between stages within the device one at a time...

 camera.

The James Gregory Telescope is the largest working optical telescope in the UK and is still used by the School of Physics and Astronomy for research in collaborative projects such as SuperWASP

SuperWASP

SuperWASP is an international academic organisation performing an ultra-wide angle search for transiting extrasolar planets with the aim of covering the entire sky down to ~15th magnitude.-Equipment:...

 and the study of super massive black holes and their impact on galaxy structure.

The James Gregory Telescope is named after the Scottish mathematician, astronomer and University academic James Gregory, who invented the Gregorian telescope

Gregorian telescope

The Gregorian telescope is a type of reflecting telescope designed by Scottish mathematician and astronomer James Gregory in the 17th century, and first built in 1673 by Robert Hooke...

.