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
Date | Target Objects | Note | Status |
---|---|---|---|
26 March 2025 | M8 (Lagoon Nebula) | Astrophotography – Nebulae | Post-processing done |
28 March 2025 | WASP-167 b | Exoplanet Transit | Post-processing in progress |
28 March 2025 | NGC 3576 (Statue of Liberty Nebula) | Astrophotography – Nebulae | In queue for post-processing |
30 March 2025 | WASP-142 b | Exoplanet Transit | In queue for post-processing |
31 March 2025 | WASP-142 b | Exoplanet Transit | In queue for post-processing |
2 April 2025 | TOI-564 b | Exoplanet Transit | In 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.”