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 O'odham 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 northern hemisphere.
The United States Naval Observatory (USNO) is one of the oldest scientific agencies in the United States, with a primary mission to produce positioning, navigation and timing for the United States Navy and the United States Department of Defense.
Yerkes Observatory is an astronomical observatory located in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, U.S.A. It was operated by the University of Chicago Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics from its founding in 1897 to 2020. Ownership was transferred to the non-profit Yerkes Future Foundation (YFF) in May 2020.
The Mount Wilson Observatory (MWO) is an astronomical observatory in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The MWO is located on Mount Wilson, a 1,740-metre (5,710-foot) peak in the San Gabriel Mountains near Pasadena, northeast of Los Angeles.
A refracting telescope is a type of optical telescope that uses a lens as its objective to form an image. The refracting telescope design was originally used in spy glasses and astronomical telescopes but is also used for long-focus camera lenses. Although large refracting telescopes were very popular in the second half of the 19th century, for most research purposes, the refracting telescope has been superseded by the reflecting telescope, which allows larger apertures. A refractor's magnification is calculated by dividing the focal length of the objective lens by that of the eyepiece.
The Mauna Kea Observatories (MKO) are a number of independent astronomical research facilities and large telescope observatories that are located at the summit of Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi, United States. The facilities are located in a 525-acre (212 ha) special land use zone known as the "Astronomy Precinct", which is located within the 11,228-acre (4,544 ha) Mauna Kea Science Reserve. The Astronomy Precinct was established in 1967 and is located on land protected by the Historical Preservation Act for its significance to Hawaiian culture. The presence and continued construction of telescopes is highly controversial due to Mauna Kea's centrality in native Hawaiian religion and culture, as well as for a variety of environmental reasons.
The National Solar Observatory (NSO) is a United States public research institute to advance the knowledge of the physics of the Sun. NSO studies the Sun both as an astronomical object and as the dominant external influence on Earth. NSO is headquartered in Boulder and operated facilities at two locations, at Sacramento Peak near Sunspot in New Mexico, and at Kitt Peak in Arizona until the end of fiscal year 2017. The institute constructed the 4-meter Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in the Haleakala Observatory on the island of Maui.
The David Dunlap Observatory (DDO) is an astronomical observatory site just north of Toronto, in Richmond Hill, Ontario. Formerly owned and operated by the University of Toronto, from its establishment in 1935 until 2008; the observatory is now owned and operated by the City of Richmond Hill providing a combination of heritage preservation, unique recreation opportunities and a celebration of the astronomical history of the site. Its primary instrument is a 74-inch (1.88 m) reflector telescope, at one time the second-largest telescope in the world, and still the largest in Canada. Several other telescopes are also located at the site, which formerly also included a small radio telescope. The scientific legacy of the David Dunlap Observatory continues in the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, a research institute at the University of Toronto established in 2008.
The MDM Observatory is an optical astronomical observatory located adjacent to Kitt Peak National Observatory on Kitt Peak, west of Tucson, Arizona, in the United States. It is owned and operated by the University of Michigan, Dartmouth College, Ohio State University, Columbia University, and Ohio University. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was also part of the operating consortium in the past.
Leuschner Observatory, originally called the Students' Observatory, is an observatory jointly operated by the University of California, Berkeley and San Francisco State University. The observatory was built in 1886 on the Berkeley campus. For many years, it was directed by Armin Otto Leuschner, for whom the observatory was renamed in 1951. In 1965, it was relocated to its present home in Lafayette, California, approximately 10 miles (16 km) east of the Berkeley campus. In 2012, the physics and astronomy department of San Francisco State University became a partner.
Oregon Observatory is an astronomical observatory operated by the not-for-profit Sunriver Nature Center & Observatory in Sunriver, Oregon, United States, near Sunriver Resort. As of 2011, the observatory had eleven telescopes, and by 2013, it had twenty-three telescopes with thirteen of them 10 inches (25 cm) or more. In July 2012, the observatory was renamed the Oregon Observatory at Sunriver.
The Warner and Swasey Observatory is the astronomical observatory of Case Western Reserve University. Named after Worcester R. Warner and Ambrose Swasey, who built it at the beginning of the 20th century, it was initially located on Taylor Road in East Cleveland, Ohio, USA. The observatory, which at that time housed a 9.5-inch (24 cm) refractor, was donated in 1919 to the Case School of Applied Science. The newer 24-inch (61 cm) Burrell Schmidt telescope was built in 1939.
Brooks Astronomical Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by Central Michigan University. It is located in Mount Pleasant, Michigan (USA). The observatory was established in 1964 and is located on the roof of the Brooks Hall science building. Both the building and observatory are named for Kendall P. Brooks, instructor of astronomy and other subjects in the period of 1910-1947.
The William G. and Retha Stone Baker Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by Missouri State University. It is located in Marshfield, Missouri.
Goodsell Observatory is an observatory at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, United States. It was constructed in 1887 and was, at the time, the largest observatory in the state of Minnesota. The Goodsell Observatory and its predecessor, a smaller observatory that opened in 1878, served as a widely consulted timekeeping station, bringing national prominence to Carleton College in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Shattuck Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States.
The Principia Astronomical Observatory is an observatory located on the campus of Principia College, in Elsah, Illinois, United States. The observatory was installed on June 18, 1998. It features a 16 inch mirror and is of a Ritchey-Chretien design. The objective focal length of the telescope is 4000 mm. The control software is by the Telescope Control System written by Dave Harvey of Comsoft Software. The mirror was ground and certified by Don Loomis, former chief optician at Kitt Peak National Laboratories. The telescope was manufactured by Optomechanics Research.
The Willard L. Eccles Observatory (WEO) is an astronomical observatory located on Frisco Peak in the San Francisco Mountains of Utah (USA), about 27 km (17 mi) northwest of Milford, Utah. The observatory is owned and operated by the University of Utah, and opened in 2010. The observatory features a 0.8 m (31 in) Ritchey-Chretien telescope built by DFM Engineering on an equatorial mount. The construction of the observatory was funded by donations from the Willard L. Eccles Foundation and the E.R. & E.W. Dumke Foundation.
The Pacific Northwest Regional Observatory is an astronomical observatory at the Wallula Gap in the Horse Heaven Hills, near the Columbia River in Southeast Washington. It is owned by Alliance for the Advancement of Science Through Astronomy. The main instrument, an 0.8 meter Cassegrain reflecting optical telescope, was formerly located at Rattlesnake Mountain above Richland, Washington, where it was installed in 1971 by Battelle, dismantled in 2009, and restored at Columbia Basin College in Richland c. 2010–2011. Construction of the observatory at Braden Research Farm, owned by Whitman College, broke ground in 2011, and the telescope mirror was placed there in November 2012.
