Welcome to Mills Observatory

Mills Observatory
Glamis Road
Balgay Park
Dundee DD2 2UB

Admission is FREE to the Observatory and displays. A small charge applies to group visits and for public Planetarium Shows.

Opening Times

April to September
Tuesday  to Friday, 11 am - 5 pm
Saturday and Sunday, 12.30 - 4 pm

October to March
Monday to Friday,  4 pm -10 pm
Saturday and Sunday, 12.30 - 4 pm

The dome is open every weekday evening from October to March, weather permitting, except Public Holidays.

Gifted to the people of Dundee in 1935, with a bequest from John Mills, a linen and twine manufacturer and a keen amateur scientist, Mills Observatory was designed by the City Architect, Mr McLellan Brown in collaboration with Professor Ralph Sampson the Astronomer Royal for Scotland.

It is the only British observatory to have been built with the sole aim of encouraging public understanding of science, and is the UK's only full-time public observatory.

Built of sandstone, it has a distinctive 7-metre dome. The dome is only one of two in the world made from papier mache - the other identical dome can be found in Canada, at the David Dunlap Observatory, Toronto!