The United States Naval Observatory (USNO) is a scientific and military facility that produces geopositioning, navigation and timekeeping data for the United States Navy and the United States Department of Defense. Established in 1830 as the Depot of Charts and Instruments, it is one of the oldest scientific agencies in the United States, and remains the country's leading authority for astronomical and timing data for all purposes.
Timeline of telescopes, observatories, and observing technology.
The Carte du Ciel and the Astrographic Catalogue were two distinct but connected components of a massive international astronomical project, initiated in the late 19th century, to catalogue and map the positions of millions of stars as faint as 11th or 12th magnitude. Twenty observatories from around the world participated in exposing and measuring more than 22,000 (glass) photographic plates in an enormous observing programme extending over several decades. Despite, or because of, its vast scale, the project was only ever partially successful – the Carte du Ciel component was never completed, and for almost half a century the Astrographic Catalogue part was largely ignored. However, the appearance of the Hipparcos Catalogue in 1997 has led to an important development in the use of this historical plate material.
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.
The Paris Observatory, a research institution of the Paris Sciences et Lettres University, is the foremost astronomical observatory of France, and one of the largest astronomical centers in the world. Its historic building is on the Left Bank of the Seine in central Paris, but most of the staff work on a satellite campus in Meudon, a suburb southwest of Paris.
Ernest Amédée Barthélemy Mouchez was a French naval officer who became director of the Paris Observatory and launched the ill-fated Carte du Ciel project in 1887.
Sir David Gill was a Scottish astronomer who is known for measuring astronomical distances, for astrophotography and geodesy. He spent much of his career in South Africa.
Leiden Observatory is an astronomical institute of Leiden University, in the Netherlands. Established in 1633 to house the quadrant of Rudolph Snellius, it is the oldest operating university observatory in the world, with the only older still existing observatory being the Vatican Observatory.
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 Royal Observatory of Belgium, has been situated in the Uccle municipality of Brussels, Belgium, since 1890. It was first established in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode in 1826 by King William I of the Netherlands under the impulse of Adolphe Quetelet. It was home to a 100 cm (39 in) diameter aperture Zeiss reflector in the first half of the 20th century, one of the largest telescopes in the world at the time. It now owns a variety of other astronomical instruments, such as astrographs, as well as a range of seismograph equipment.
Robert Lewis John Ellery was an English-Australian astronomer and public servant who served as Victorian government astronomer for 42 years.
Grubb Parsons was a historic manufacturer of telescopes, active in the 19th and 20th centuries. They built numerous large research telescopes, including several that were the largest in the world of their type.
The University of Illinois Astronomical Observatory, located at 901 S. Mathews Avenue in Urbana, Illinois, on the campus of the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign, was built in 1896, and was designed by Charles A. Gunn. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 6, 1986, and on December 20, 1989, was designated a National Historic Landmark.
The Bordeaux Observatory is an astronomical observatory affiliated with the University of Bordeaux. Built in Floirac, France in 1893 its lenses were focused between +11 and +17 degrees declination. Until 1970 it had taken over 4,000 photographic plates. Bordeaux Observatory is home to a large collection of instruments and archives from well over a century of astronomical activities. Until the 2016 it was actively used until the institution moved to a new location at the University. In the French language the name is Observatoire de Bordeaux.
The Toulouse Observatory is located in Toulouse, France and was established in 1733.
The Great Melbourne Telescope was built by the Grubb Telescope Company in Dublin, Ireland in 1868, and installed at the Melbourne Observatory in Melbourne, Australia in 1869. In 1945 that Observatory closed and the telescope was sold and moved to the Mount Stromlo Observatory near Canberra. It was rebuilt in the late 1950s. In 2003 the telescope, still in use as an observatory, was severely damaged in a bushfire. About 70% of the components were salvageable; a project to restore the telescope to working condition started in 2013.
The National Astronomical Observatory of Chile is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the Department of Astronomy of the University of Chile (UCh). It is located on Cerro Calán, a hill in the commune of Las Condes. The commune is an eastern suburb of Santiago located in Santiago Province of the Santiago Metropolitan Region. OAN was founded in 1852 and became a part of UCh in 1927. The facility on Cerro Calán was completed in 1962.
The Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, is a former scientific institution in South Africa. Founded by the British Board of Longitude in 1820, its main building is now the headquarters building of the South African Astronomical Observatory.
The Astronomical Society of Victoria (ASV) is an amateur astronomy club in the state of Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1922, making it one of the oldest such clubs in the country, and with some 1500 members it claims to be one of the largest amateur astronomy organisations in the southern hemisphere. Membership is open to all with an interest in astronomy, and the society caters for people with a wide range of ages, backgrounds, abilities and interests.
Potsdam Great Refractor is an historic astronomical telescope in an observatory in Potsdam, Germany.
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