Thunderbird South: UBC’s Southern Observatory

Thunderbird South is a half-meter telescope located near La Serena, Chile, remotely operated by UBC Astronomy students Sharon Chan and Andrea Schildhorn. The telescope is predominantly used for deep-sky imaging, on-demand observing, and space domain awareness research.


Recent Observations

DateTarget ObjectsNoteStatus
26 March 2025M8 (Lagoon Nebula)Astrophotography – NebulaePost-processing done
28 March 2025WASP-167 bExoplanet TransitPost-processing in progress
28 March 2025NGC 3576 (Statue of Liberty Nebula)Astrophotography – NebulaeIn queue for post-processing
30 March 2025WASP-142 bExoplanet TransitIn queue for post-processing
31 March 2025WASP-142 bExoplanet TransitIn queue for post-processing
2 April 2025TOI-564 bExoplanet TransitIn queue for post-processing

Gallery

Our very own images of galaxies, nebulae, and other deep-sky objects

Projects

Read about our initiatives for exoplanet transit follow-up, space domain awareness, and Earth-space sustainability

Thunder Notes

An inside blog view of telescope operations, ranging from working processes of successful observations to technical mysteries such as “it was working fine yesterday.”