A panorama from the Carter Observatory in the Wellington Botanic Gardens. Being located on the top of a hill, the observatory site offers a good panoramic view over Wellington Harbour, as seen in this image. The picture also shows two domed telescope housings, a canon and a radio antenna. Behind one of the observatory buildings is a human sundial.

Carter Observatory - Wellington visitor guide showing a virtual tour of 'Carter Observatory' linked to an interactive map with local and travel information. 360° panoramas from Wellington Region.

The Carter Observatory stands at a high point in the Botanic Gardens in Wellington, overlooking the city and the harbour. It is named after Charles Rooking Carter, who donated his estate for the purposes of establishing an astronomical observatory in or near Wellington, and opened in 1941.

The Carter Observatory has two main telescopes. One is the Ruth Crisp telescope is a 41-cm (16-inch) reflecting telescope made by Boller and Chivens, which was given to the observatory in the 1960's by Ruth Crisp, and is used for research. The other is the 12.5 cm (5-inch) telescope Thomas King telescope, which dates from 1882 and was used for solar observations until recently.

This picture was taken a short distance from the carter observatory, which can be seen in the hilltop to the east. The image also shows the views over Wellington Harbour from here.

By cable car from Cable Car Lane, through the historic Bolton Street Memorial Park or via the lower entrance on Glenmore Street.