The Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) is a United States astronomical observatory located on Kitt Peak of the Quinlan Mountains in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert on the Tohono Oʼodham Nation, 88 kilometers (55 mi) west-southwest of Tucson, Arizona. With more than twenty optical and two radio telescopes, it is one of the largest gatherings of astronomical instruments in the Earth's northern hemisphere.
Timeline of telescopes, observatories, and observing technology.
Photometry, from Greek photo- ("light") and -metry ("measure"), is a technique used in astronomy that is concerned with measuring the flux or intensity of light radiated by astronomical objects. This light is measured through a telescope using a photometer, often made using electronic devices such as a CCD photometer or a photoelectric photometer that converts light into an electric current by the photoelectric effect. When calibrated against standard stars of known intensity and colour, photometers can measure the brightness or apparent magnitude of celestial objects.
Doi Inthanon is the highest mountain in Thailand. It is in Chom Thong District, Chiang Mai Province. This mountain is an ultra prominent peak, known in the past as Doi Luang or Doi Ang Ga, meaning the 'crow's pond top'. Near the mountain's base was a pond where many crows gathered. The name Doi Inthanon was given in honour of Inthawichayanon, the last King of Chiang Mai, who was concerned about the forests in the north and tried to preserve them. He ordered that, after his death, his remains be interred at Doi Luang, which was then renamed in his honour.
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 Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) is an astronomical observatory located on the summit of Mt.Cerro Tololo in the Coquimbo Region of northern Chile, with additional facilities located on Mt. Cerro Pachón about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) to the southeast. It is approximately 80 kilometres (50 mi) east of La Serena, where support facilities are located. The site was identified by a team of scientists from Chile and the United States in 1959, and it was selected in 1962. Construction began in 1963 and regular astronomical observations commenced in 1965. Construction of large buildings on Cerro Tololo ended with the completion of the Víctor Blanco Telescope in 1974, but smaller facilities have been built since then. Cerro Pachón is still under development, with two large telescopes inaugurated since 2000, and one in the final stages of construction as of 2023
Stardome Observatory is a public astronomical observatory situated in Maungakiekie/One Tree Hill Domain in Auckland, New Zealand.
A robotic telescope is an astronomical telescope and detector system that makes observations without the intervention of a human. In astronomical disciplines, a telescope qualifies as robotic if it makes those observations without being operated by a human, even if a human has to initiate the observations at the beginning of the night or end them in the morning. It may have software agents using artificial intelligence that assist in various ways such as automatic scheduling. A robotic telescope is distinct from a remote telescope, though an instrument can be both robotic and remote.
The Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) is located near the summit of Mauna Kea mountain on Hawaii's Big Island at an altitude of 4,204 meters, part of the Mauna Kea Observatory. Operational since 1979, the telescope is a Prime Focus/Cassegrain configuration with a usable aperture diameter of 3.58 metres (11.7 ft).
The Mercator Telescope is a 1.2 m telescope at the Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos on La Palma. It is operated by the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, in collaboration with the Observatory of the University of Geneva and named after Gerard Mercator, famous cartographer.
The Astronomical Observatory of Belogradchik or Belogradchik Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the Institute of Astronomy of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. It is located near the town of Belogradchik in northwestern Bulgaria, at the foot of the Western Balkan Mountains. The other observatory operated by the same institute is the Rozhen Observatory.
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.
SkyMapper is a fully automated 1.35 m (4.4 ft) wide-angle optical telescope at Siding Spring Observatory in northern New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the telescopes of the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics of the Australian National University (ANU). The telescope has a compact modified Cassegrain design with a large 0.69 m secondary mirror, which gives it a very wide field of view: its single, dedicated instrument, a 268-million pixel imaging camera, can photograph 5.7 square degrees of sky. The camera has six light filters which span from ultraviolet to near infrared wavelengths.
NASA Orbital Debris Observatory (NODO) was an astronomical observatory located in the Lincoln National Forest near Cloudcroft, New Mexico approximately 23 kilometers (14 mi) northeast of Alamogordo. From 1995 to 2002 it hosted two telescopes funded and operated by NASA that were dedicated to detecting orbital debris. The facility was initially called the Cloudcroft Electro-Optical Research Facility when it was completed in 1962, and was also known as the Cloudcroft Observatory. It is now privately owned by Embry-Riddle University.
IUCAA Girawali Observatory is an optical astronomy observatory run by the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune, India. The Observatory is located about 80 km from Pune, off the Pune Nashik Highway in Girawali.
National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand or NARIT is a research institute under the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, headquartered in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The main missions of the institute are to carry out, support, and promote the development of astronomy and astrophysics in Thailand through research, public outreach, and educational activities.
The Canopus Hill Observatory, located approximately 12 km from Hobart in Tasmania, Australia, is an optical astronomy observatory belonging to the University of Tasmania (UTAS). Due to the high southern latitude, the Canopus Hill Observatory is able to observe and study the Magellanic Clouds. However, the observatory has closed down due to the "encroaching light pollution from the Hobart suburbs". According to the Astronomical Society, light pollution reduces the vision of the night sky, becoming a "major menace to amateur and professional astronomers alike".
Bayfordbury Observatory is the University of Hertfordshire's astronomical and atmospheric physics remote sensing observatory, and one of the largest teaching observatories in the UK. It is located in the relatively dark countryside of Bayfordbury, Hertfordshire, 6 miles from the main university campus in Hatfield. The first telescope was built in 1969, and since then has been used as a teaching observatory for undergraduate students, staff and student research as well as for public outreach activities.
The ÇOMÜ Ulupınar Observatory (UPO) is a ground-based astronomical observatory, which was established in 2001 and formally opened on 19 May 2002. It is also known as Çanakkale Observatory or the University Observatory. The Ulupınar Observatory is part of the Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University (ÇOMÜ) Faculty of Science and Arts.
The Thai National Radio Telescope is a 40 m single-dish short-millimetre telescope located in Huai Hong Khrai Royal Development Study Centre at Doi Saket District in Chiang Mai Province, and operated by the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT). The radio observatory operates in the frequency range of 300 MHz – 115 GHz. The contract for the construction of the telescope was awarded March 2017 to the Germany company MT Mechatronics, a subsidiary of OHB SE.
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