The Royal Observatory in Greenwich is a real observatory again as a telescope was installed at the historic site for the first time in 60 years.

The 100kg, £50,000 state of the art telescope was funded in part by a fundraising appeal which also helped raise money for a restoration of the observatory itself so it could hold a modern telescope.

The Royal Observatory was first founded in 1675 and had been a functioning observatory right up until 1957 when all the equipment was shipped off to Sussex.

Air pollution and lights from city buildings made astronomy from the city less viable and the Royal Observatory turned into just a museum and general science outreach centre.

Thanks to modern technology, stargazing can now move back into the city and the Royal Observatory can proudly call itself a proper observatory again.

The telescope is specifically designed for astronomical photography, allowing for amazing close-up photos of the Moon and other planets in our solar system, as well as capturing data on far-off alien planets on distant stars.

The main camera is cooled to -10 degress celcius to reduce electronic noise so it can produce the cleanest and clearest images of distant planets possible.

Dr Louise Devoy, curator at the Royal Observatory, said: “Sixty years ago the astronomers at Greenwich battled against light pollution and smog from the encroaching spread of London.

"Today we can use new digital cameras, filters and processing software to help us eliminate some of these effects and produce truly impressive images which can be shared with a global audience online.”

The telescope has been named after astronomer Annie Maunder, one of the first women to be employed at the Royal Observatory in 1891 and helped shape our understanding of how the sun controlled the earth’s seasonal cycles and climate.

Tours of the Observatory area available throughout the year and a live stream will be available online of what the telescope is looking at.