It is located in the relatively dark countryside of Bayfordbury, Hertfordshire, 6 miles from the main university campus in Hatfield.

In 1970 the observatory was formally opened by Richard van der Riet Woolley, then Astronomer Royal.

[2] A nearby university science building houses a planetarium used during open evenings and groups visits.

The roof of the building hosts a number of the observatory's sensing equipment including a Sky Quality Meter for quantifying levels of light pollution, a coelostat for observing the Sun, and day and night-time all-sky cameras - two of six the university operates throughout the UK.

[4] Since 2010 the observatory has also grown to serve as a remote sensing station for the university's Centre for Atmospheric & Instrumentation Research.