Organization | Astronomy Department, University of Virginia | ||||||
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Observatory code | I18 | ||||||
Location | Albemarle County, Virginia, United States | ||||||
Coordinates | 37°52′41.35″N78°41′34.92″W / 37.8781528°N 78.6930333°W Coordinates: 37°52′41.35″N78°41′34.92″W / 37.8781528°N 78.6930333°W | ||||||
Altitude | 566 m (1857 ft) | ||||||
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For the mountains in Tajikistan, see the Fann Mountains.
Fan Mountain Observatory (or Fan Mountain Station of Leander McCormick Observatory), an observatory operated by the Astronomy Department of the University of Virginia in southern Albemarle County, Virginia. It was opened in 1966 with a 31-inch (790 mm) Tinsley reflector, with a 40-inch (1,000 mm) Baker-Schmidt astrometric reflector following in 1972, to extend the parallax work of the McCormick Observatory, which was suffering from light pollution from growing Charlottesville, Virginia by this time.
Today both telescopes have been outfitted with state-of-the-art instruments and are operated nightly by university students and faculty. The primary instruments for the 40-inch (1,000 mm) telescope are a 2048x2048 SITe CCD for direct imaging and a fiber-fed visible wavelength spectrograph, FOBOS, for general spectroscopy and precision radial velocity measurement. The 31-inch (790 mm) telescope supports a 1024x1024 HAWAII-1 based HgCdTe infrared camera operating between 0.8 and 2.5 µm. This camera is capable of direct imaging in an 8.5 x 8.5' (2.5 x 2.5 mrad) field with 0.5" (2.4 µrad) pixels as well as polarimetry and grism spectroscopy.
Fan Mountain observatory hosts a "public night" twice each year when eyepieces are placed on the two telescopes for general viewing. At other times, the facility is closed to the public, including the grounds and road up to the observatory.
The Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) is an optical telescope for astronomy located on 10,700-foot (3,300 m) Mount Graham, in the Pinaleno Mountains of southeastern Arizona, United States. It is a part of the Mount Graham International Observatory.
The United Kingdom Infra-Red Telescope (UKIRT) is a 3.8 metre (150 inch) infrared reflecting telescope, the second largest dedicated infrared telescope in the world. It is located on Mauna Kea, Hawai'i as part of Mauna Kea Observatory. Until 2014 it was operated by the Joint Astronomy Centre in Hilo. It was owned by the United Kingdom Science and Technology Facilities Council. UKIRT is currently being funded by NASA and operated under scientific cooperation between Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center, the University of Hawaii, and the U. S. Naval Observatory. The telescope is set to be decommissioned after completion of the Thirty Meter Telescope as part of the Mauna Kea Comprehensive Management Plan.
Yerkes Observatory is an astronomical observatory located in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, United States. The observatory was operated by the University of Chicago Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics from its founding in 1897 to 2018. Ownership was transferred to the non-profit Yerkes Future Foundation (YFF) in May 2020, which began restoration and renovation of the historic building and grounds. Re-opening for public tours and programming began May 27, 2022.
Palomar Observatory is an astronomical research observatory in San Diego County, California, United States, in the Palomar Mountain Range. It is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Research time at the observatory is granted to Caltech and its research partners, which include the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Yale University, and the National Optical Observatories of China.
McDonald Observatory is an astronomical observatory located near unincorporated community of Fort Davis in Jeff Davis County, Texas, United States. The facility is located on Mount Locke in the Davis Mountains of West Texas, with additional facilities on Mount Fowlkes, approximately 1.3 kilometers (0.81 mi) to the northeast. The observatory is part of The University of Texas at Austin. It is an organized research unit of the College of Natural Sciences.
The Apache Point Observatory is an astronomical observatory located in the Sacramento Mountains in Sunspot, New Mexico, United States, approximately 18 miles (29 km) south of Cloudcroft. The observatory is operated by New Mexico State University (NMSU) and owned by the Astrophysical Research Consortium (ARC). Access to the telescopes and buildings is private and restricted.
The NASA Infrared Telescope Facility is a 3-meter (9.8 ft) telescope optimized for use in infrared astronomy and located at the Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii. It was first built to support the Voyager missions and is now the US national facility for infrared astronomy, providing continued support to planetary, solar neighborhood, and deep space applications. The IRTF is operated by the University of Hawaii under a cooperative agreement with NASA. According to the IRTF's time allocation rules, at least 50% of the observing time is devoted to planetary science.
The Calar Alto Observatory is an astronomical observatory located in Almería province in Spain on Calar Alto, a 2,168-meter-high (7,113 ft) mountain in the Sierra de Los Filabres range.
The Florence and George Wise Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by Tel Aviv University. It is located 5 kilometers west of the town of Mitzpe Ramon in the Negev desert near the edge of the Ramon Crater, and it is the only professional astronomical observatory in Israel.
The Vainu Bappu Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics. It is located at Kavalur in the Javadi Hills, near Vaniyambadi in Tirupathur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is 200 km south-west of Chennai and 175 km south-east of Bangalore.
The Royal Observatory, Edinburgh (ROE) is an astronomical institution located on Blackford Hill in Edinburgh. The site is owned by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). The ROE comprises the UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC) of STFC, the Institute for Astronomy of the School of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Edinburgh, and the ROE Visitor Centre.
The C. Donald Shane telescope is a 120-inch (3.05-meter) reflecting telescope located at the Lick Observatory in San Jose, California. It was named after astronomer C. Donald Shane in 1978, who led the effort to acquire the necessary funds from the California Legislature, and who then oversaw the telescope's construction. It is the largest and most powerful telescope at the Lick Observatory, and was the second-largest optical telescope in the world when it was commissioned in 1959.
The Norman Lockyer Observatory, the Lockyer Technology Centre, and the Planetarium, is a public access optical observatory 1 mile (1.6 km) east of Sidmouth, East Devon in South West England. It houses a number of historical optical telescopes, including the Lockyer Telescope, and is operated by Norman Lockyer Observatory Society (NLOS).
The McMath-Hulbert Solar Observatory is a solar observatory in Lake Angelus, Michigan, USA. It was established in 1929 as a private observatory by father and son Francis Charles McMath and Robert Raynolds McMath and their friend, Judge Henry Hulbert. In 1932 the observatory was deeded to the University of Michigan which operated it until 1981, at which time it was sold into private ownership again.
The Bok Telescope is the largest telescope operated solely by Steward Observatory. It finds much use from astronomers from University of Arizona, Arizona State University, and Northern Arizona University, with instruments capable of both imaging and spectroscopy. The telescope operates year-round, except during the August summer-shutdown when maintenance is performed while the weather is poor.
The Wyoming Infrared Observatory (WIRO) is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the University of Wyoming. It is located on Jelm Mountain, 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Laramie, Wyoming, U.S. It was founded in 1975, and observations began at the site in 1977. Recent research performed at WIRO includes searching for runaway stars, monitoring short-term variations in blazars, and monitoring massive binary stars.
The Ankara University Observatory (AUG), is a ground-based astronomical observatory operated by the Astronomy and Space Sciences Department at Ankara University's Faculty of Science. Established in 1959 by Dutch astronomer Egbert Adriaan Kreiken in Ahlatlıbel, Ankara. Currently, it consists of nine optical telescopes and a radio telescope, which is currently taken out of service. Old instruments are displayed in a museum at the observatory.
The Adolphson Astronomical Observatory, located atop the Center for Science and Business in Monmouth, Illinois, U.S., on the campus of Monmouth College, was built in 2013. Its largest telescope is the 20-inch reflecting Trubeck Telescope. The observatory is used for undergraduate student education, undergraduate research including the tracking and discovery of near-earth objects, and for public awareness of science.
The Embry–Riddle Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach. Hosting an array of optical instruments, this observatory is situated on the roof of the College of Arts and Sciences building in Daytona Beach, Florida.
The Yapp telescope is a 36-inch reflecting telescope of the United Kingdom, now located at the Observatory Science Centre at Herstmonceux.