Gilmore Douglas Gough Paul Hewett Nikku Madhusudhan Richard McMahon Max Pettini James E. Pringle Martin Rees Christopher Reynolds (Plumian Professor of Astronomy) Christopher Tout Anna Zytkow Notable past members and students Here are some notable members of the department and its former institutes. Suzanne Aigrain George Airy Robert Stawell Ball James Challis John Couch Adams Donald Clayton Arthur Eddington Richard Ellis Roger Griffin Stephen Hawking Fred Hoyle Jamal Nazrul Islam Harold Jeffreys Donald Lynden-Bell Jayant Narlikar Jeremiah Ostriker Robert Woodhouse Telescopes The Institute houses several telescopes on its site. Although some scientific work is done with the telescopes, they are mostly used for public observing and astronomical societies. The poor weather and light-pollution in Cambridge makes most modern astronomy difficult. The telescopes on the site include: The Northumberland Telescope donated by the Duke of Northumberland in 1833. This is a diameter refractor on an English mount. The smaller Thorrowgood Telescope, on extended loan from the Royal Astronomical Society. The telescope is an refractor. The 36-inch Telescope, built in 1951. The Three-Mirror Telescope, which is a prototype telescope with a unique design to have wide field of view, sharp images and all-reflection optics. The institute's former 24" Schmidt Camera was donated to the Spaceguard Centre in Knighton, Powys in Wales in June 2009. The Cambridge University Astronomical Society (CUAS) and Cambridge Astronomical Association (CAA) both regularly observe. The nstitute holds public observing evenings on Wednesdays from October to March. Public activities The department holds a number of events involving the general public in astronomy. These include or have included: Open evenings on Wednesdays during the winter, with a talk given by a member of the institute followed by observing in clear weather Hosting the Astroblast conference Annual sculpture exhibition showing work of Anglia Ruskin University Annual open day during the Cambridge Science Festival A monthly podcast, the 'Astropod', aimed at the general public (the Astropod originally ran from 2009 to 2011, and was relaunched in 2020) Extra observing nights for special events such as IYA Moonwatch and BBC stargazing live Library The institute library is housed in the old Cambridge Observatory building. It is a specialist library concentrating on the subjects of astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology. The collection has approximately 17,000 books and subscribes to about 80 current journals. The library also has a collection of rare astronomical books, many of which belonged to John Couch Adams. Achievements Among the significant