"What is so good as an Observatory? The sublime attaches to the door, and to the first stair you ascend; - that this is the road to the stars. Every fixture and instrument in the building, every nail and pin, has a direct reference to the Milky Way, the fixed stars and the nebulae, and we leave DaVinci's World and history outside when we come in."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

A Little History Observatory Design Our Observatory	Astronomical Instruments Stunning Photographs Links to Observatories Around the World
See the position of the planets in our Solar System today!
See inside the Observatory, downstairs below the dome (2.3MB QTVR)

Major Observatories of the World

1st High Energy Astrophysics Observatory ( HEAO 1. GSFC. NASA ): The first of NASA's three High Energy Astronomy Observatories, HEAO 1 was launched aboard an Atlas Centaur rocket on 12 August 1977 and operated until 9 January 1979. During that time, it scanned the X-ray sky almost three times over 0.2 keV - 10 MeV, provided nearly constant monitoring of X-ray sources near the ecliptic poles, as well as more detailed studies of a number of objects through pointed observations.
2-Telescopes Large Interferometer ( GI2T REGAIN ): The Grand Interferometre a 2 Telescopes is an Optical Interferometer, on Plateau du Calern, Departement Fresnel, Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, France.
Active Magnetospheric Particle Tracer Explorers ( AMPTE )
Advanced Camera for Surveys ( ACS ): The Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) will be installed in the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) during a Space Shuttle mission scheduled in 2000. ACS will increase the discovery efficiency of the HST by a factor of ten. ACS will consist of three electronic cameras and a complement of filters and dispersers that detect light from the ultraviolet at 1200 angstroms to the near infrared at 10,000 angstroms.
Advanced Fiber-Optic Echelle ( AFOE ): A Spectrograph for Precise Stellar Radial Velocity Measurements.
Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics ( ASCA, ex-Astro-D ): ASCA (formerly named Astro-D) is Japan's fourth cosmic X-ray astronomy mission, and the second for which the United States is providing part of the scientific payload. The satellite was successfully launched February 20, 1993.
Air Force Maui Optical Station ( AMOS ): Information about the Air Force Maui Optical Station (AMOS), located on Maui, Hawaii. This is a dual-use facility, supporting both US government agencies as well as the civilian community. Assets include visible and IR sensors, and a 3.67 meter telescope under construction.
Anglo-Australian Observatory ( AAO ): The Anglo-Australian Observatory operates the Anglo-Australian and UK Schmidt Telescopes at Siding Spring, Australia, and a laboratory on the same campus as the ATNF in the Sydney Suburb of Epping.
Antarctic Muon and Neutrino Detector Array ( AMANDA )
Antarctic Submillimeter Telescope and Remote Observatory ( AST/RO ): AST/RO is a 1.7 meter diameter off-axis telescope for research in astronomy and aeronomy at wavelengths between 200 microns and 2 mm. The instrument is now operating at the South Pole with four heterodyne receivers and three acousto-optical spectrometers.
Apache Point Observatory ( APO ): APO is privately owned and operated by the Astrophysical Research Consortium. Located near Sunspot, New Mexico, the observatory consists of a 3.5-meter telescope, the 2.5-meter Sloan Digital Sky Survey telescope, and two smaller telescopes.
AREA31 Radio Observatory ( A31RO ): A31RO is a privately owned astronomical radio observatory operated by the Interstellar Electromagnetics Institute/L'institut Electromagnetique Interstellaire under cooperative agreement with the AREA31 Research Facility.
It is located near Shelburne, Ontario, Canada, about 1-1/2 hrs drive NW of Toronto. The Project TARGET microwave SETI program (since 1985), previously conducted at the Hay River Radio Observatory and also the Algonquin Radio Observatory is the primary initiative.
Arecibo Observatory - National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center ( NAIC )
Aristarchos 2.3m Telescope Project ( The New Greek Telescope ): The New Greek Telescope project of the AI-NOA for the 2.3m Ritchey-Chretien telescope, funded by the European Commission and the General Secretariat for Research and Technology of the Hellenic Ministry of Development.
Arizona Radio Observatory ( ARO ): The ARO owns and operates two radio telescopes in southern Arizona: The former NRAO 12 Meter (KP12m) Telescope located 50 miles southwest of Tucson on Kitt Peak and the Heinrich Hertz Submillimeter Telescope (HHSMT) located on Mt. Graham near Safford, Arizona. Combined, the two telescopes routinely cover the entire millimeter and submillimeter windows from about 4.6 mm to about 0.6 mm, and at the HHSMT observations can be made all the way to 0.3 mm with PI instruments. The telescopes are operated around-the-clock for about 9 to 10 months per year for a combined 10,000 hours per observing season (about 1500 hours are dedicated to sub-mm wavelengths at the HHSMT). The ARO offices are centrally located in the Steward Observatory building on the campus of the University of Arizona in Tucson Arizona.
Array of Low Energy X-ray Imaging Sensors ( ALEXIS ): ALEXIS' X-ray telescopes feature curved mirrors whose multilayer coatings reflect and focus low-energy X-rays or extreme ultraviolet light the way optical telescopes focus visible light. The satellite and payloads were funded by the Department of Energy and built by Los Alamos National Laboratory in collaboration with Sandia National Laboratory and the University of California-Space Sciences Lab. The Launch was provided by the Air Force Space Test Program on a Pegasus Booster on April 25, 1993. The mission is entirely controlled from a small groundstation at LANL.
Aryabhatta Research Institute of observational-sciencES ( ARIES ): This observatory at Himalayan regions of Nainital, India (long.~79.5 degree E, lat.~29.4 degree N , height~1951m) provides optical observational facilities (astronomical and atmospheric sciences) with 5 telescopes of sizes in between 15cm and 104cm. In future, ARIES plans to set-up a 1-m class robotic and a 3-m class telescope. The main research areas are in solar astronomy, star clusters, GRBs and supernova, and stellar pulsations. ARIES also promotes research work using radio and X-ray telescopes.
Asiago Observatory ( Padova )
ASTRO Observatory ( ASTRO-1 and ASTRO-2 ): The ASTRO Observatory had three primary instruments: the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT), the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT) and the Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE). The first Astro flight was on December 2-11, 1990. The X-ray experiment Broad Band X-Ray Telescope (BBXRT) was also part of the Astro-1 flight. The second flight was on March 2-18, 1995.
Atacama Large Millimeter Array - ESO Web site ( ALMA ): The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) is the new name for the merger of the major millimeter array projects into one global project: the European Large Southern Array (LSA), the U.S. Millimeter Array (MMA), and possibly the Japanese Large Millimeter and Submillimeter Array (LMSA). This will be the largest ground-based astronomy project of the next decade after VLT/VLTI, and, together with the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST), one of the two major new facilities for world astronomy coming into operation by the end of the next decade.
Atacama Large Millimeter Array - NRAO Web site ( ALMA ): The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) is a millimeter wavelength telescope. The U.S. side of the project is run by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), operated by Associated Universities, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation (NSF). The European side of the project is a collaboration between the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, the Netherlands Foundation for Research in Astronomy and Nederlandse Onderzoekschool Voor Astronomie, and the United Kingdom Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council.
ATNF - Australia Telescope Compact Array ( ATCA, Narrabri ): The Paul Wild Observatory, near Narrabri, is part of the Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF), and operated by the CSIRO; the Officer-in-Charge is Dr Graham Nelson. The Narrabri site contains the Australia Telescope Compact Array, which consists of five antennas located along a 3-km railtrack, and a 6th antenna 3 km further to the west.
ATNF - Australia Telescope National Facility ( CSIRO ): CSIRO's Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF) is an organisation that supports and undertakes research in radio astronomy. It operates the Australia Telescope, the collective name for a set of radio telescopes in New South Wales. These telescopes are used, individually or together, to study objects in the Universe ranging from the remains of dead stars to entire galaxies.
ATNF - Mopra Observatory ( ATNF Mopra ): The Mopra 22-m antenna is part of the Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF), operated by the CSIRO. It is intended for use in conjunction with other AT antennas (the six 22-m dishes at Narrabri, and the 64-m Parkes dish) to form the Long Baseline Array. Like the Parkes antenna, it is also used for single-dish operation; mm-wavelength receivers are to be installed soon.
ATNF - Parkes Observatory ( ATNF Parkes ): The CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility operates a group of radio telescopes collectively known as the Australia Telescope. The ATNF Parkes Observatory consists of a 64m telescope which is used as an independent instrument, and networked with other Australian and international radio telescopes for VLBI.
Automated Patrol Telescope ( APT ): The Automated Patrol Telescope (APT) is a wide-field CCD imaging telescope, which is operated by the University of New South Wales at Siding Spring Observatory, Australia.
Belogradchik Astronomical observatory
BeppoSAX Mission ( SAX ): The X-ray astronomy satellite BeppoSAX (Satellite per Astronomia X, "Beppo" in honor of Giuseppe Occhialini) is a project of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) with participation of the Netherlands Agency for Aerospace Programs (NIVR).
In the framework of past and future X-ray missions BeppoSAX stands out for its wide spectral coverage, ranging from 0.1 to over 200 keV. The sensitivity of the scientific payload allows the detailed study over the entire energy band of sources as weak as about 1/20 of 3C273. This opens new perspectives in the study of broad band X-ray spectra and variability of cosmic sources. [also in Italian]
Berkeley Illinois Maryland Association ( BIMA - Hat Creek ): BIMA is a consortium consisting of the The University of California at Berkeley, The University of Illinois at Urbana and The University of Maryland at College Park which operates and maintains a millimeter-wave radio interferometer at Hat Creek, California.
Bernard Lyot Telescope ( UPS ): 2 m Cassegrain telescope operating in the visible domain. Located at 2878 m high on the Pic du Midi in the French Pyrénées. [also in French]
Big Bear Solar Observatory ( BBSO ): This site contains daily images from our solar optical telescope at Big Bear, California. Fulldisk images for the current month. H-alpha, white light, and Ca-II K-line images are generally available for every observing day; Ca-II K-line fulldisk archive; H-alpha fulldisk archive; White light fulldisk archive; Current high-resolution region images; Programs to read FITS images on IBM PCs and Macintoshes.
Big Ear Radio Observatory Memorial website ( Ohio State University ): Big Ear is a Kraus-type radio telescope which covers an area larger than three football fields. The telescope is famous for discovering some of the most distant known objects in the universe, and the longest-running SETI (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) project.
Birmingham Solar Oscillations Network ( BiSON ): The current status of the Birmingham Solar Oscillations Network - a global network for helioseismology. Additionally some recent results and publications are available. [site under reconstruction]
Boyden Observatory ( South Africa ): Boyden Observatory is situated 25 km outside of Bloemfontein, besides the Aventura Maselspoort Resort. The largest telescope at Boyden is the 1,52 m telescope which is currently being upgraded. There are also three smaller telecopes: a 10 inch, a 13 inch (currently used to observe cataclysmic variables) and a 16 inch.
Bradford Robotic Telescope ( University of Bradford ): The engineering in astronomy Team in the Department of Industrial Technology are currently working on low-cost fully-robotic telescopes.
Brazil National Laboratory for Astrophysics ( LNA ): The Laboratório Nacional de Astrofísica is an Institute of the Brazil National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). At present, LNA supports 3 telescopes: the 1.6-m Ritchey-Chretien and coudé, the 0.6-m Cassegrain and the 0.6-m telescope of the University of São Paulo. [also in Portuguese]
Brazil National Observatory ( ON ): The Observatório Nacional of Brazil, located in Rio de Janeiro, was founded in 1827. [in Portuguese]
Broad Band X-ray Telescope ( BBXRT. GSFC. NASA ): The Broad Band X-ray Telescope (BBXRT) was flown on the space shuttle Columbia (STS-35) on 1990 December 2-December 11, as part of the ASTRO-1 payload. The flight of BBXRT marked the first opportunity for performing X-ray observations over a broad energy range (0.3-12 keV) with a moderate energy resolution (typically 90 eV and 150 eV at 1 and 6 keV, respectively).
Broadcast from Carl Sagan Observatory ( ASTRO-USON WebTV ): Live broadcast of solar observation from Observatorio "Carl Sagan", Universidad de Sonora, Mexico, from Monday to Saturday, 15 to 22 hrs UTC, weather permit.
Bucknell University Observatory
Bulgaria National Astronomical Observatory "Rozhen" ( NAO-Rozhen ): The National Astronomical Observatory (NAO) - Rozhen (the Rhodopes), operated by the Institute of Astronomy (IA), Bulgarian Academy of Sciences disposes with a 2-meter Ritchey-Chretien-Coude (RCC) telescope, a 50/70 cm Schmidt, and a 60 cm Cassegrain telescope. On the 2-m telescope, in the RC mode, direct images of extended astronomical objects are obtained on astronomical photographic plates with size up to 30x30 cm2, covering a field 1° x 1°. The three cameras of the Coude spectrograph allow the obtaining of spectra of astronomical objects with dispersions ranging from 2 Å mm-1 to 36Å mm-1.
Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory ( Armenia )
Cagliari Astronomical Observatory ( International Latitude Station ): The Cagliari Astronomical Observatory was established as International Latitude Astronomical Station of Carloforte in 1899, a small town of the sardinian island of S. Pietro. It has been, for about 80 years, one of the five international stations devoted to study the Earth rotation and polar motion. Observations with the zenital telescope were carried out, except in the period of the second world's war. Starting from 1978, the headquarters were moved to Punta Sa Menta, a site 15 km far from Cagliari which has the same latitude of the Carloforte station. (Satellite Laser Ranging, Astrophysics, Planetary Dynamics, Time Laboratory, Data Processing). [in Italian]
Calar Alto Observatory ( Centro Astronomico Hispano-Aleman ): The German-Spanish Astronomical Center at Calar Alto is located in the Sierra de Los Filabres in Southern Spain. It operates four telescopes with apertures from 1.2m to 3.5m as well as a Schmidt reflector. A 1.5m-telescope is operated under the control of the Observatory of Madrid.
Caltech Submillimeter Observatory ( CSO ): The Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO) is a cutting-edge facility for astronomical research and instrumentation development. It consists of a 10.4-meter diameter Leighton radio dish situated in a compact dome near the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
Cambridge LFST
Cambridge Optical Aperture Synthesis Telescope ( COAST )
Cambridge Ryle Telescope
Canada France Hawaii Telescope (ftp) ( CFHT )
Canada France Hawaii Telescope ( CFHT ): CFHT is a joint facility of the National Research Council of Canada, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique of France, and the University of Hawaii. The CFH observatory hosts a world-class, 3.6 meter optical/infrared telescope. The observatory is located atop the summit of Mauna Kea, a 4200 meter, dormant volcano located on the island of Hawaii. The CFH Telescope became operational in 1979.
There is a Mirror copy of the Web site at CDS.
A CFHT page at CADC has information about the CFHT archive, CCDs, proposal template and manuals.
Canadian Automatic Small Telescope for Orbital Research ( CASTOR Satellite Tracking Project ): The Canadian Automatic Small Telescopes for Orbital Research project, based at the Royal Military College of Canada, uses small optical telescopes to track medium to high earth orbit satellites such as Russian, Molniya satellites.
Canopus 1 m telescope ( Tasmania )
Carlsberg Meridian Telescope ( CMT ): The Carlsberg Meridian Telescope (formerly the Carlsberg Automatic Meridian Circle) is located on La Palma and is dedicated to carrying out high-precision optical astrometry.
Carnegie Institution Observatories ( OCIW )
Case Western Reserve University - Nassau Station Robotic Telescope ( CWRU )
Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn & Titan ( Cassini ): Saturn and Titan will be the destination for the Cassini mission, a project under joint development by NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The U.S. portion of the mission is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Catania Astrophysical Observatory ( INAF-OACt ): Daily solar images (chromosphere and photosphere). [also in Italian]
Ceduna Radio Observatory ( South Australia ): Ceduna 1 Satellite Earth Station in South Australia: 30 metre diameter antenna.
Center for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica ( CARA )
Center for Extreme Ultraviolet Astrophysics ( CEA / EUVE ): The Center for Extreme Ultraviolet Astrophysics (CEA) opened in September, 1990. CEA represents the culmination of twenty years of research and student training in the field of EUV astronomy brought to focus by the launch of NASA's research mission, the University of California at Berkeley Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE), on June 7, 1992.
Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy ( CHARA Array ): CHARA research is focused on the development of astronomical long-baseline optical/infrared interferometry and the application of interferometry to high resolution observations leading to the determination of the astrophysical properties of stars. The Center operates the CHARA Array, a six-telescope optical/infrared interferometric array in a Y-shaped array contained within a 400m diameter circle (on Mount Wilson, California). This configuration will provide high resolution interferometry in the visible spectral region as well as the K spectral band (2.2 micron), with a limiting resolution of 0.2 milliarcsec in the visible.
The following resources are similar (same sort-key, different text):
Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy ( CHARA )
CERN Hybrid Oscillation Research apparatUS ( CHORUS )
Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory ( CTIO ): Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory is a complex of astronomical telescopes and instruments located approximately 80 km to the East of La Serena, Chile at an altitude of 2200 Meters.
CTIO is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy Inc. (AURA), under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation as part of the National Optical Astronomy Observatories.
CfA 1.2 m Millimeter-Wave Telescope ( CfA_mini ): The 1.2 meter Millimeter-Wave Telescope at the Harvard- Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and its twin instrument at CTIO in Chile have been studying the distribution and properties of molecular clouds in our Galaxy and its nearest neighbours for over 20 years.
Chandra X-ray Observatory ( AXAF ): The Chandra X-ray Observatory is the U.S. follow-on to the Einstein Observatory. Chandra was formerly known as AXAF, the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility, but renamed by NASA in December, 1998. The Chandra spacecraft carries a high resolution mirror, two imaging detectors, and two sets of transmission gratings.
Cherenkov Array at Themis ( CAT ): Homepage of the CAT (Cherenkov Array at Themis) imager. This is an atmospheric Cherenkov imaging telescope for detection of high-energy gamma rays (>200 GeV), sited in the French Pyrenees.
China National Astronomical Observatories ( NAOC ): The NAOC-Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) were officially founded on April 25, 2001 through the bringing together of four CAS observatories, three CAS observing stations and one CAS research centre. The Headquarters of the NAOC are situated in the northern suburbs of Beijing on the site of the former Beijing Astronomical Observatory (BAO), and take responsibility for all matters relating to the former BAO. [also in Chinese]
Climenhaga Observatory ( Canada )
Collaboration between Australia and Nippon for a Gamma Ray Observatory in the Outback ( CANGAROO ): The project uses two gamma ray telescopes at a dark site 15 km from Woomera, a small town 500 km north of Adelaide.
Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy Project ( CARMA ): CARMA will merge two university-based millimeter arrays -- OVRO and BIMA -- to form a powerful astronomical tool for the new millennium. Timeline: 2001: Submit site permit application; 2002: Begin OVRO antenna conversion; 2004: Begin site construction, move OVRO antennas & Complete site, move/convert BIMA antennas; 2005: High site is fully operational.
Compton/GRO Observatory Science Support Center/Guest Observer ( Facility ): Query the Library Database; Archive Data Selector; Archive Data Selector Demonstrator; Trouble Report Generator; Access the GRONEWS Bulletin Board
Constellation-X: The Constellation X-ray Mission (formerly HTXS) is a Next Generation X-ray Observatory dedicated to observations at high spectral resolution, providing as much as a factor of 100 increase in sensitivity over currently planned high resolution X-ray spectroscopy missions.
COnvection ROtation and planetary Transits - Asteroseismology and Search for Exoplanets ( COROT ): A space mission of the French Space Agency (CNES), with a launch planned in 2006. COROT stands for COnvection ROtation and planetary Transits.
Cosmic Anisotropy Telescope ( CAT ): The CAT is a three-element interferometer for cosmic microwave background observations at 13 to 17 GHz.
COsmic Background Explorer ( COBE )
Cracow - Solar radio emission in dm wavelength: Continuous observations of solar radio emission in decimeter wavelength have been maintained in Cracow since 1957. Beginning from January 1995 we provide the reduced data on-line. The new instrument for solar radio observations is under construction. It is to start its operation in May, 1995.
Crimean Astrophysical Observatory ( CrAO ): The Crimean Astrophysical Observatory (CrAO) is one of the largest scientific center in Ukraine. Mirror site: Stanford (USA). [also in Russian]
Danish telescopes around the world
Dark Matter Telescope Project ( DMT / LSST ): The Dark Matter Telescope, also referred to as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, is a proposed 8.4 meter, 3-degree-field, synoptic survey telescope.
David Dunlap Observatory, University of Toronto ( DDO ): The David Dunlap Observatory is located in Richmond Hill, Canada. As part of the University of Toronto's Department of Astronomy it operates optical telescopes for research, the largest being a 1.88m telescope. DDO is also a centre for student training and public education.
Deep Space Network - Goldstone Deep Space Station ( DSN ): The NASA Deep Space Network - or DSN - is an international network of antennas that supports interplanetary spacecraft missions and radio and radar astronomy observations for the exploration of the solar system and the universe. The network also supports some Earth-orbiting missions, including emergency support of the Shuttle Space Transportation System.
Denver Univ. Astronomy ( DU ): DU Astronomy research and Observatories, among which: Mt.Evans Meyer-Womble Observatory located at 14,124 feet above sea level, on Mt.Evans in the Front Range of Colorado, used for infrared astronomy research.
Dominion Astrophysical Observatory ( DAO ): The DAO is operated by the National Research Council of Canada's Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics (NRC-HIA) as a national centre for astronomical research within Canada, with emphasis on UV, optical and IR astronomy. The Canadian Astronomy Data Centre (CADC) is a group within the DAO which is responsible for the Canadian archive of data from the Hubble Space Telescope as well the archive of data from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. DAO's Facility Manual is now online.
Dutch Open Telescope ( DOT ): Innovative new optical solar telescope at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma (Canary Islands). The DOT provides extended sequences of solar images in various wavelengths with high angular resolution (0.2 arcsec).
Edinburgh Royal Observatory ( ROE ): This site offers information about the extensive activities of the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, a PPARC establishment responsible for building common-user IR and sub-mm instrumentation and managing telescope sites and data archive resources, as well as the UK Schmidt Telescope and the SuperCOSMOS measuring machine. The ROE site also has links to, or acts as the home page for:

Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh;
latest research e-prints;
the Crawford library;
the ROE Visitor Centre;
the UKIRT data archive;
Public Understanding of Science;
ROE Photolabs;
Teacher Research Inititive
and much more information besides.
Effelsberg Radio Telescope ( MPIfR ): The Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie (MPIfR) operates the world's largest movable radio telescope, a 100-m single-dish near Effelsberg, 40 km south of Bonn, Germany.
Einstein Observatory ( HEAO-2 ): The second of NASA's three High Energy Astrophysical Observatories, HEAO 2, renamed Einstein after launch, was the first fully imaging X-ray telescope put into space. The few arcsecond angular resolution, the field-of-view of tens of arcminutes, and a sensitivity several 100 times greater than any mission before it provided, for the first time, the capability to image extended objects, diffuse emission, and to detect faint sources. It was also the first X-ray NASA mission to have a Guest Observer program. Overall, it was a key mission in X-ray astronomy and its scientific outcome completely changed the view of the X-ray sky.
El Leoncito Astronomical Complex ( CASLEO ): The Complejo Astronómico El Leoncito is an astronomical facility operated under agreement between the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas de la República Argentina and the Universities of La Plata, Córdoba and San Juan.
Its main telescope is a 2.15 meter reflector, equipped with direct CCD camera, spectrographs, a photopolarimeter and other instruments. It is located at 2552 meters above the sea level, in a high quality astronomical site in the mountains of Calingasta, 240 km away from the city of San Juan (Argentina).
The use of this facility is open to the national and international astronomical community. [also in Spanish]
ESA - VILlafranca Satellite Tracking Station, SPAin ( VILSPA )
ESA's X-ray Observatory ( EXOSAT at GSFC - NASA ): The European Space Agency's X-ray Observatory, EXOSAT, was operational from May 1983 to April 1986. During that time, EXOSAT made 1780 observations of a wide variety of objects, including active galactic nuclei, stellar coronae, cataclysmic variables, white dwarfs, X-ray binaries, clusters of galaxies, and supernova remnants.
European Northern Observatory ( ENO ): The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and its Observatories (the Observatorio de Teide, on Tenerife, and the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, on La Palma) make up a Spanish research and observational centre, which, since 1979, has been open to the international scientific community and effectively constitute the European Northern Observatory (ENO). [also in Spanish]
European Southern Observatory ( ESO ): ESO, the European Southern Observatory, is a multinational organisation of eight European member states. It operates astronomical observatories in Chile and has its headquarters in Munich, Germany.
European VLBI Network ( EVN ): The European VLBI network (EVN) home page includes general information on the EVN, including contact adresses around the network, Call for Proposals, the EVN PC page, EVN and global VLBI scheduling, VLBINFO account, EVN experiment feedback facility, Network monitoring reports and other technical documents, the EVN Newsletter archive and a description of the type of science that can be investigated with the EVN array.
European X-ray Observatory Satellite ( EXOSat at ESTEC, ESA ): The Exosat satellite was operational from May 1983 until April 1986 and in that time made 1780 observations in the X-ray band of most classes of astronomical object. The payload consisted of three instruments that produced spectra, images and light curves in various energy bands.
EUSO - Extreme Universe Space Observatory ( EUSO ): The "Extreme Universe Space Observatory - EUSO" is the first Space mission devoted to the investigation of cosmic rays and neutrinos of extreme energy (E > 5 x 10e19 eV), using the Earth's atmosphere as a giant detector, the detection being performed by looking at the streak of fluorescence light produced when such a particle interacts with the Earth's atmosphere.
EUSO is a mission of the European Space Agency ESA, and it is currently under "Phase A" study with a goal for a three year mission starting in 2009. EUSO will be accommodated, as an external payload of the Columbus module, on the ISS International Space Station.
Exploration of Neighboring Planetary Systems ( ExNPS ): NASA's plan for the Exploration of Neighboring Planetary Systems (ExNPS) consists of a long term program of continuous scientific discovery and technological development leading ultimately to the detection and characterization of Earth-like planets around nearby stars.
Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer ( FUSE ): The Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer was launched on June 24, 1999; this satellite astronomy project is based at The Johns Hopkins University. [also in French]
The following resources are similar (same sort-key, different text):
Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer ( FUSE French site )
Site of the French team contributing to Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE).
FUSE est un satellite observatoire de la NASA dédié à la spectroscopie haute résolution dans le domaine ultraviolet. Ce programme est realisé en coopération avec l'Agence Spatiale Canadienne et le Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES). [in French]
Fast Auroral SnapshoT explorer ( FAST ): The NASA Fast Auroral SnapshoT explorer (FAST) satellite is designed to investigate the plasma physics of the auroral phenomena which occur around both poles of the earth.
Fibre Large Area Multi-Element Spectrograph ( FLAMES, ESO VLT ): FLAMES is a Fibre Facility for the ESO VLT. It includes a high and intermediate resolution optical spectrograph (GIRAFFE), with its own fibre system.
Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory ( FCRAO ): The FCRAO was founded in 1969 by the University of Massachusetts, together with Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College and Smith College. The original low frequency telescope was superseded in 1976 by a 14-m diameter radome-enclosed antenna for use at high radio frequencies (mm wavelengths), built primarily to study the physics and chemistry of interstellar clouds, circumstellar envelopes, planetary atmospheres, and comets.
Florence and George Wise Observatory ( Wise )
FOcal Reducer/low dispersion Spectrograph ( FORS, ESO VLT ): The two FORS instruments are designed as all-dioptric focal reducers for the ESO Very Large Telescope. They are capable of doing : direct imaging , long slit grism spectroscopy , multi object grism spectroscopy , polarimetry (FORS1), medium dispersion echelle grism spectroscopy (FORS2), and all sensible combinations of these modes (e.g. imaging- or spectropolarimetry) in the wavelength range from 330nm to 1100nm.
Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory ( FLWO ): The Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory (FLWO) is the largest field installation of the Smithsonian Institution Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) outside Cambridge, MA (USA). Located near Amado, Arizona on Mount Hopkins, the FLWO has the following facilities: * The 6.5-meter MMT (256-inch) , a joint facility operated with the University of Arizona, for solar system, galactic and extragalactic astronomy. * The 1.5-meter (60-inch) and 1.2-meter (48-inch) reflector telescopes, for solar system, galactic and extragalactic astronomy. * The 1.3-meter(51-inch) PAIRITEL (Peters Automated IR Imaging Telescope, ex-2MASS) reflector, for infrared observations, especially of gamma-ray bursts, supernovae and other variable sources. * The 10-meter optical Gamma-ray reflector telescope. Also visit VERITAS. * The IOTA Telescopes, used for optical and infrared interferometry (in collaboration with several institutions). * The HAT (Hungarian Automated Telescope) network of optical refractor telescopes, used for robotic observations of the night sky.
Frequency-Agile Solar Radiotelescope ( FASR ): FASR is a concept for a groundbased synthesis imaging radiotelescope designed specifically for observing the Sun.
Full-sky Astrometric Mapping Explorer ( FAME ): FAME is an astrometric satellite designed to determine with unprecedented accuracy the positions, distances, and motions of 40 million stars within our galactic neighborhood. It is a collaborative effort between the U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO) and several other institutions. FAME will measure stellar positions to less than 50 microarcseconds. It is a NASA MIDEX mission scheduled for launch in 2004.
GALaxy Evolution EXplorer ( GALEX ): A Space Ultraviolet imaging and spectroscopic mission that will map the global history and probe the causes of star formation over the redshift range 0 < z < 2.
Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope ( GLAST ): The GLAST Mission is under study for flight in the first decade of the next century. GLAST is a next generation high-energy gamma-ray observatory designed for making observations of celestial gamma-ray sources in the energy band extending from 10 MeV to more than 100 GeV.
Gemini - U.K. Support Group ( UKGSG ): The U.K. GEMINI Support Group based at Oxford University, England is aimed at supporting the U.K. astronomer community in the use of the GEMINI 8m Telescopes. This site is the main source of information on the telescopes themselves, their instrument compliment, applying for observing time, observing with the GEMINI telecopes and post-observing data reduction/analysis for U.K. researchers.
Gemini Multiobject Spectrographs ( GMOS ): There will be one GMOS for each of the two GEMINI 8-m telescopes ( UK mirror ) which are due for completion in 1998 and 2000. They will provide a versatile low/medium resolution spectroscopic capability which will exploit the excellent image quality delivered by the telescopes at optical and near-infrared wavelengths.
Gemini Observatory ( Two 8 m telescopes ): The Gemini Observatory consists of twin 8-meter optical/infrared telescopes located on two of the best sites on our planet for observing the universe. Together these telescopes can access the entire sky. The Gemini South telescope is located at almost 9,000’ elevation on a mountain in the Chilean Andes called Cerro Pachón. Cerro Pachón shares resources with the adjacent SOAR Telescope and the nearby telescopes of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. The Gemini North Telescope is located on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea as part of the international community of observatories that have been built to take advantage of the superb atmospheric conditions on this long dormant volcano that rises almost 14,000' into the dry, stable air of the Pacific. The Gemini Observatory’s international headquarters is located in Hilo, Hawaii at the University of Hawaii at Hilo’s University Park.
German Interferometer for Multi-channel Photometry and Astrometry ( DIVA ): The Deutsches Interferometer fuer Vielkanalphotometrie und Astrometrie (DIVA) is a small astronomy satellite, planned for launch in 2004. It is aimed to measure positions, proper motions and parallaxes, brightness and color of at least 30 million stars.
This amount and the high precision is unreached so far by any predecessor mission. In a sense it is a pathfinder mission for the technology of upcoming cornerstone missions in the ESA Horizon 2000+ and the NASA Origins programmes like GAIA, DARWIN, LISA, SIM etc.
Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope ( GMRT ): The Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) consists of 30 fully steerable parabolic dish antennas of 45 m diameter and is located in western India about 100 kms east of Bombay (Mumbai). It is in the shape of a `Y' covering an area equivalent to a 25 km. dia. circle. GMRT operates currently in the range 120 to 1450 MHz and is the largest synthesis radio telescope in the world at metre wavelengths.
GMRT has been opened for world wide use since January 2002.
Ginga ( ex Astro-C ): Astro-C, renamed Ginga (Japanese for 'galaxy'), was launched from the Kagoshima Space Center on 5 February 1987. The primary instrument for observations was the Large Area Counter (LAC). Ginga was the third Japanese X-ray astronomy mission, following Hakucho and Tenma. Ginga reentered the Earth's atmosphere on 1 November 1991.
Global Astrometric Interferometer for Astrophysics ( GAIA ): GAIA is a preliminary concept for a second space astrometry mission (after HIPPARCOS), recently recommended within the context of ESA's Horizon 2000 Plus long-term scientific programme. It is aimed at the broadest possible astrophysical exploitation of optical interferometry using a modest baseline length.
Global Oscillation Network Group ( GONG ): The Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) is a community-based program to conduct a detailed study of solar internal structure and dynamics using helioseismology. In order to exploit this new technique, GONG has developed a six-station network of extremely sensitive, and stable velocity imagers located around the Earth to obtain nearly continuous observations of the Sun's "five-minute" oscillations, or pulsations.
Gornergrat Infrared Telescope ( TIRGO ): The Telescopio InfraRosso del GOrnergrat ( TIRGO ) is located on the northern tower of the Kulm Hotel at Gornergrat (3135 m altitude) near Zermatt . It is a 1.5m Cassegrain telescope with a wobbling secondary and optimized for infrared observations. The telescope and related instrumentation is run by the Istituto di Radioastronomia (IRA - C.N.R. ), sezione di Firenze (former CAISMI) , with the assistance of the Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri and the Dipartimento di Astronomia e Scienza dello Spazio of the Universita' di Firenze.
Gran Telescopio Canarias Project ( GTC ): The Gran Telescopio CANARIAS (GTC), is a high performance segmented 10-meter telescope to be installed in one of the best sites of the Northern Hemisphere: the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain). First light is planed for 2002.
The GTC project is a Spanish initiative, led by the IAC (Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias) with the aim of becoming an international project. GRANTECAN has undertaken the construction of this telescope. [also in Spanish]
Green Bank: The National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank (West Virginia) is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
Guillermo Haro Observatory ( Cananea, Mexico )
Haleakala Observatories ( Hawaii )
Hard Labor Creek Observatory ( HLCO )
Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory ( HartRAO )
Hat Creek Radio Observatory ( UMD )
Haystack Observatory
Herschel Science Centre ( ex-FIRST ): The `Herschel Space Observatory' - the mission formerly known as FIRST - will perform photometry and spectroscopy in the 60-670 µm range.
High Energy Astrophysics Observatories ( HEASARC. GSFC. NASA ): Comprehensive list of satellites with high energy astrophysics instrumentation. Includes images from these missions.
High Energy Stereoscopic System Project ( HESS ): H.E.S.S. is a next-generation system of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes for the investigation of cosmic gamma rays in the 100 GeV energy range. The name emphasizes two main features of the proposed installation, namely the simultaneous observation of air showers with several telescopes, under different viewing angles, and the combination of telescopes to a large system to increase the effective detection area for gamma rays. H.E.S.S. will allow to explore gamma-ray sources with intensities at a level of a few thousandth parts of the flux of the Crab nebula. H.E.S.S. is located in Namibia, near the Gamsberg, an area well known for its excellent optical quality. The first of the four telescopes of Phase I of the H.E.S.S. project went into operation in Summer 2002; all four should be complete by 2004.
High Energy Transient Explorer ( HETE-2 ): The High Energy Transient Explorer is a small scientific satellite designed to detect and localize gamma-ray bursts.
High Energy X-ray Timing Experiment ( HEXTE ): The High Energy X-ray Timing Experiment is one of 3 common-user instruments on board the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) which was launched on 1995 December 30. The HEXTE is sensitive to X-rays from 15 to 250 keV and is able to time-tag photons in this energy range to 8 microseconds.
High Resolution Fly's Eye Cosmic Ray Detector ( HiRes ): The HiRes detector - an atmospheric fluorescence detector: HiRes currently consists of two sites on top of two mountains separated by 13km in western Utah.
Hobby Eberly Telescope ( HET ): The Hobby-Eberly telescope (HET) is a new 9 meter telescope, built at the University of Texas McDonald Observatory near Ft. Davis Texas as a result of an international collaboration between the University of Texas at Austin, The Pennsylvania State University and Stanford University in the United States and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Muenchen, and Goerg-August-Universitaet Goettingen. The HET has been tailored for spectroscopy, and in particular, fiber-coupled spectroscopy.
Hubble Space Telescope ( HST ): The Hubble Space Telescope is a cooperative program of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to operate a long-lived space-based observatory for the benefit of the international astronomical community. To accomplish this goal and protect the spacecraft against instrument and equipment failures, NASA had always planned on regular servicing missions. Hubble has special grapple fixtures, 76 handholds, and stabilized in all three axes. HST is a 2.4-meter reflecting telescope which was deployed in low-Earth orbit (600 kilometers) by the crew of the space shuttle Discovery (STS-31) on 25 April 1990. HST's current complement of science instruments include three cameras, two spectrographs, and fine guidance sensors (primarily used for astrometric observations). Because of HST's location above the Earth's atmosphere, these science instruments can produce high resolution images of astronomical objects. Ground-based telescopes can seldom provide resolution better than 1.0 arc-seconds, except momentarily under the very best observing conditions. HST's resolution is about 10 times better, or 0.1 arc-seconds.
The following resources are similar (same sort-key, different text):
Hubble Space Telescope
The best images from the Hubble space telescope.
IAC / Observatorio del Teide
IAC / Observatorio Roque de los Muchachos
Indian Astronomical Observatory Hanle ( IAO, the world's highest observatory for optical and infrared astronomy ): The Indian Astronomical Observatory, the high-altitude station of IIA is situated at an altitude of 4500 metres above mean sea level to the north of Western Himalayas. Atop Mt. Saraswati in the vast Nilamkhul Plain in the Hanle Valley of Changthang, Ladakh (4250m above msl), the site is a dry, cold desert with sparse human population and the ancient Hanle monastery as its nearest neighbour. The cloudless skies and low atmospheric water vapour make it one of the best sites in the world for optical, infrared, sub-millimetre, and millimetre wavelengths. A 2-m optical infrared telescope is installed at the observatory. This telescope is remotely operated from CREST, Hosakote, using dedicated satellite links. In addition, IIA is collaborating with University of Washington, St. Louis, in operating a 0.5-m photometry telescope for continuous monitoring of Active Galactic Nuclei. This telescope will be one of the pair of telescopes constituting Antipodal Transient Observatory. A 0.3-m Differential Image Motion Monitor, a 220-GHz radiometer and an Automated Weather Station have been installed to facilitate continuation of site characterisation.
Infra-Red Space Interferometer DARWIN ( IRSI / DARWIN ): The `InfraRed Space Interferometry Mission' DARWIN (IRSI or DARWIN) is a cornerstone mission in the ESA `Horizon 2000+' science plan.
The goals for this space mission is for the first time to detect terrestial planets in orbit around other stars than our Sun.
Infra-Red Telescope Facility ( IRTF ): The IRTF is a 3.0 meter telescope optimized for use in the infrared. It was first built to support the Voyager missions to Jupiter. It is now the USA National facility for infrared astronomy providing continued support to planetary and deep space applications.
Infrared and Optical Telescope Array ( IOTA )
InfraRed Array Camera for Spitzer Space telescope ( IRAC ): The Spitzer Space Telescope (ex-Space InfraRed Telescope Facility Spitzer), contains three focal plane instruments, one of which is the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC). IRAC is a four-channel camera that provides simultaneous 5.12 x 5.12 arcmin images at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8 microns.
Infrared Space Observatory U.S. Support Center ( ISO ): U.S. science support center for observers using the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO), a fully approved and funded project of the European Space Agency (ESA).
Infrared Space Observatory ( ISO ): The Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) has been an ESA (European Space Agency) mission with the participation of ISAS (Japan) and NASA (USA). This WWW server is maintained at the ISO Data Centre, which is based at Villafranca, Madrid, and is part of the Astrophysics Division of the Space Science Department.
InfraRed Spectrograph on Spitzer Space Telescope ( IRS ): The Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) is one of three instruments to be flown in the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF).
Infrared Spectrometer And Array Camera ( ISAAC, ESO VLT ): ISAAC covers the wavelength range 1-5µm and is designed primarily for: 'wide' (2.5x2.5') field imaging and long slit low & medium resolution spectroscopy.
Institut de Radio Astronomie Millimétrique ( IRAM ): IRAM is an international institute for research in millimeter astronomy, cofunded by the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France), the MPG (Max Planck Gesellschaft, Germany), and since September 1990 the IGN (Instituto Geografico Nacional, Spain).
The three IRAM sites are: Grenoble, France: the IRAM headquarters, Laboratories (the SIS junction lab the backend group, the receiver group); Plateau de Bure, France: the interferometer of four 15-m antennas; Granada, Spain: the Granada laboratories, the 30-m telescope located on Pico Veleta.
Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomia ( IAR ): Información sobre las características del Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía, sus facilidades instrumentales, tareas de investigación y desarrollo en curso, personal científico y técnico y actividades de extensión.
Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica. Astrophysics Department ( INAOE, Mexico ): Information on the Large Millimeter Telescope an about the Cananea observatory
INTERBALL: INTERBALL is the solar-terrestrial programme aimed to study various plasma processes in the Earth magnetosphere by the system of spacecraft consisting of two pairs (satellite-subsatellite) above the polar aurora and in the magnetospheric tail respectively. The project INTERBALL is a part of of the Programme coordinated by the Inter-Agency Consultative Group (IACG) for Space Science consisting of representatives of ESA, NASA, RKA and Japan Institute of Space and Aeronautics Sciences. According to this Programme a system of ten core spacecraft of the listed above agencies is spatially distributed between the L1 and L2 Sun-Earth libration points to study solar-terrestrial relationship.
Interferometry Center of Excellence ( ICE, JPL ): The Interferometry Center of Excellence (ICE), at JPL, has been established to ensure the development and maintenance of a leading edge capability in optical and near-infrared interferometric astrometry and imaging.
INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory ( INTEGRAL ): ESA's INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory is detecting some of the most energetic radiation that comes from space. It is the most sensitive gamma-ray observatory ever launched. INTEGRAL is an ESA mission in cooperation with Russia and the United States.
International Interference Mitigation (for Radio Astronomy): This Web site is a meeting place for anyone interested in the technical problems of making radio astronomical measurements in the presence of other radio signals. Postings on this site are from scientists and engineers around the world on subjects such as suppression of RFI from electronic devices, measurement of the electromagnetic environment, and techniques for separating weak cosmic signals from other radiation in the radio spectrum.
International Liquid Mirror Telescope Project ( ILMT )
Iowa Robotic Telescopes Facilities: The University of Iowa Physics and Astronomy Department maintains these pages as a guide to our suite of robotic, autonomous tasking telescopes. In addition to using these instruments for teaching and faculty and student research, limited observing time is made available to anyone with an interest in Astronomy and a valid observing request.
IPS Radio & Space Services ( IPS ): IPS is a unit of the Australian Government Department of Administrative Services and provides the Australian radio propagation and space environment services. Includes: Sydney Regional Warning Centre; Culgoora Solar Observatory; Learmonth Solar Observatory; Prediction Services; Consultancy Services
Isaac Newton Group - La Palma ( ING ): The Issac Newton Group consists of three telescopes, the 4.2 metre William Herschel Telescope, the 2.5 metre Isaac Newton Telescope, and the 1 metre Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope. They are situated at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, and are operated by the Royal Observatories of the UK. This resource contains documentation for many of the major instruments, details of how to apply for time, brief descriptions of the telescopes, details and status of the service programme, current telescope schedules, weather information for La Palma, and pointers to other institutions which share the site.
The site is mirrored at http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/ING/ for faster access to UK users.
James Clerk Maxwell Telescope ( JCMT ): The 15-m JCMT is situated close to the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and is the largest submillmetre facility in the world. It is owned and operated by the UK, Canada and the Netherlands on behalf of astronomers worldwide. Its home page contains information about the site, the antenna and the instrumentation, as well as a description of the JCMT-CSO interferometer, and details of the various time allocation processes.
James Webb Space Telescope ( JWST, ex-NGST ): The JWST is a critical component of NASA's Origins Program. It will be a telescope of aperture greater than 4m, radiatively cooled to 30 - 60 deg.K, permitting extremely deep exposures at near infrared wavelengths with a 10 year life. A key requirement is to break the HST cost paradigm through the use of new technology and management methods. This site is designed to serve as the starting point for finding online NGST Study documentation.
There is also a public home page at NASA, and a European site at ST-ECF.
Jicamarca Radio Observatory ( Peru ): Radar studies of the ionosphere and upper atmosphere.
Jodrell Bank Observatory ( University of Manchester ): Jodrell Bank Observatory is part of the University of Manchester's Department of Physics and Astronomy. The Laboratories are home to the Lovell Telescope and the MERLIN & VLBI National Facility which is operated by the University on behalf of PPARC.
Joint Astronomy Centre ( Hilo, Hawaii ): The Joint Astronomy Centre incorporates the 15m James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) and the 3.8m United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) on the 4200m summit of Mauna Kea along with the Centre's Hawaii headquarters in Hilo. The facility is operated by the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh on behalf of the Science and Engineering Research Council of the United Kingdom, the Nederlandse Organisatie Voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek and the National Research Council of Canada.
Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe / European VLBI Network ( JIVE / EVN ): The European VLBI Network (EVN) was formed in 1980 by a consortium of five of the major radio astronomy institutes in Europe (the European Consortium for VLBI). Since 1980, the EVN and the Consortium has grown to include 9 institutes with 12 telescopes in 8 western European countries as well as associated institutes with telescopes in Poland, Russia, Ukraine and China. Proposals for additional telescopes in Spain and Italy are under consideration, and furthermore, the EVN can be linked to the 7-element Jodrell Bank MERLIN interferometer in the UK and to the US Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) to create a " global network" . In 1993 the Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE) was created, with the Netherlands Foundation for Research in Astronomy (Dwingeloo) acting as the host institute. It will provide both scientific user support and a correlator facility. Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) achieves ultra-high angular resolution and is a multi-disciplinary technique e.g. imaging of extragalactic radio sources, geodesy and astrometry.
JWST ListServs ( ex-NGST ListServs ): This URL takes you to a WWW page where you can subscribe to a number of listservs devoted to the Next Generation Space Telescope project. You may subscribe to any of them. Posting is restricted. Right now, these are used as ways to inform the community about progress in the project. The web site contains links for feedback to the project team members.
Kanzelhoehe Solar Observatory: The Kanzelhoehe Solar Observatory is operated by the Institute of Geophysics, Astrophysics and Meteorology (IGAM) of the University of Graz, Austria. It is located near Villach, close to the Italian and Slovenian border. Operated continuously and devoted also to Solar surveillance since its foundation in 1943 it houses a rich archive of observations.
Keck Observatory ( CalTech )
Kiepenheuer-Institut für Sonnenphysik ( KIS ): The Kiepenheuer-Institut is a research institution of the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, dedicated to the study of the Sun. It is located in Freiburg, Germany, and operates solar observing facilities at the Observatorio del Teide, Tenerife, Spain.
Kirkwood Observatory
Kitt Peak National Observatory ( KPNO ): Observing information. There is also an anonymous ftp
KLEt Observatory Near Earth and Other unusual objects observations Team and Telescope ( KLENOT ): The KLENOT project is a project of the KLEt' observatory Near earth and Other unusual objects observations Team (and Telescope), concentrating particularly on fainter objects, up to a limiting magnitude of m=22.0 V. All the observing time will belong to our team, this will allow us to make changes in the observing programme as necessary.
The KLENOT telescope was constructed using a 1.06-m primary mirror and a primary focus corrector to obtain a plane field of view 33 x 33 arcminutes. This telescope is equipped with a CCD camera Photometrics Series 300.
Kodaikanal Solar Observatory: The Kodaikanal Observatory of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics is located in the beautiful Palani range of hills in Southern India. It was established in 1899 as a Solar Physics Observatory and all the activities of the Madras Observatory were shifted to Kodaikanal.
Koelner Observatorium fuer SubMillimeter Astronomie ( KOSMA ): The 3-m KOSMA telescope at Gornergrat (Switzerland) is operated by the I. Physikalisches Institut (Cologne, Germany). It can be used for observations between 210 and 820 GHz.
Kvistaberg Observatory: The Observing Station of the Uppsala Observatory.
La Silla - ESO Facilities
Lake Afton Public Observatory ( Wichita State University )
LAMOST Sky Survey Project ( LAMOST ): LAMOST is a meridian reflecting Schmidt telescope. Using active optics technique to control its reflecting corrector makes it a unique astronomical instrument in combining large aperture with wide field of view. The available large focal plane may accommodate up to 4000 fibers, by which the collected light of distant and faint celestial objects down to 20.5 magnitude is fed into the spectrographs, promising a very high spectrum acquiring rate of ten-thousands of spectra per night. The telescope will be located at the Xinglong Station of National Astronomical Observatories. The project’s budget is RMB 235 millions yuan, about 28.5 million USD.
Large Angle and Spectrographic Coronagraph for SOHO ( LASCO/SOHO ): This instrument monitors the solar corona above the Sun's limb in a similar way as we perceive the corona during a solar eclipse. It produces images of the corona in the visible spectrum and with distance off the Sun's center ranging from 1.1 to 32 solar radii.
Large Binocular Telescope Observatory ( LBT ): The Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) is a collaboration between Arizona (25%), Italy (25%, represented by the Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory in Florence), Research Corporation (12.5%), the Ohio State University (12.5%), and Germany (25%, represented by the LBT Beteiligungsgesellschaft).
The goal of the LBT project is to construct and exploit a binocular telescope consisting of two 8.4-meter mirrors on a common mount. This telescope will be equivalent in light-gathering power to a single 11.8-meter instrument. Because of its binocular arrangement, the telescope will have a resolving power (ultimate image sharpness) corresponding to a 23-meter telescope.
Large Millimeter and Submillimeter Array Project ( LMSA: ALMA in Japan )
Large Millimeter Telescope / Gran Telescopio Milimétrico ( LMT ): The Large Millimeter Telescope is a bi-national project sponsored by both U.S. and Mexican governments and institutions to build the largest single-dish millimeter-wavelength radio telescope ontop of the mountain Cerro La Negra near Puebla in Mexico. The telescope is currently under construction with a rough completion date near 2003.
Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics ( LLNL ): The focus of the Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics Program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is the development of integrated adaptive optics (AO) and sodium-layer laser guide star (LGS) systems for use on large astronomical telescopes.
Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory ( LIGO )
LECS Instrument on BeppoSAX ( SAX, ESTEC, ESA ): SAX is devoted to systematic, integrated and comprehensive studies of galactic and extragalactic X-ray sources in the energy band 0.1 - 200 keV; the observational goal to be addressed is to continue and expand upon previous spectral and timing observations of celestial sources in those areas for which the existing information is missing or inadequate and will remain uncovered in the foreseable future.
Lick Observatory - University of California ( UCOLICK ): Descriptions and users' manuals for Lick Observatory telescopes and facility instruments on Mount Hamilton; local weather; astronomical calendars; telescope time applications; staff and contacts at Lick Observatory.
Pages on Lick Observatory of general interest to the public; Lick Observatory history; visitor information; Mount Hamilton web camera.
Liquid Mirrors at Université Laval ( LM ): Liquid Mirror (LM) technology is being developed at Université Laval. A f/1.2, 2.5 meter diameter, mercury mirror is being extensively tested in our testing tower. We are also exploring the use of gallium eutectics as reflecting liquids. The design of novel optical correctors to increase the accessible field of view of liquid mirrors up to 45 degrees is also addressed.
Liverpool John Moores University, Astrophysics Research Institute ( ARI, Liverpool JMU ): Details of the research and teaching interests of the group, as well as information on the Liverpool Telescope project - a fully-robotic 2m telescope to be situated at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, La Palma.
As well as the Astrophysics degree-course with Liverpool University, we also have an innovative distance learning course.
Loiano Telescopes - Bologna
Low Energy Gamma-Ray Imager ( LEGRI ): LEGRI is a payload for the first mission of the Spanish MINISAT platform. The objective of LEGRI is to demonstrate the viability of HgI2 detectors for space astronomy, providing imaging and spectroscopical capabilities in the 10-100 keV range.
Low Frequency Array ( LOFAR ): The Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) is a radio telescope that will operate at the lowest frequencies that are accessible from earth. The current plan is that LOFAR will work in the range from 10-240 MHz. The telescope is being developed by ASTRON, based in Dwingeloo (the Netherlands), the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC (USA) and MIT Haystack Observatory (USA).
Magdelena Ridge Observatory Project ( MRO ): The Magdalena Ridge Observatory (MRO) project is an international scientific collaboration between New Mexico Tech, the University of Cambridge (UK), New Mexico State University, New Mexico Highlands University, the University of Puerto Rico, and Los Alamos National Laboratory. The project is overseen by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. The observatory is primarily intended for astronomical research and will be composed of two facilities, a single telescope and an array of optical/infrared telescopes called the Magdalena Ridge Observatory Interferometer (MROI). Located on the main ridge of the Magdalena mountains, some 30 miles west of the New Mexico Tech campus, at an elevation of 10,600 ft. above sea level, it will be the fourth highest observatory in the world.
Magellan Mission to Venus: NASA's Magellan spacecraft made a dramatic conclusion to its highly successful mission at Venus when it is commanded to plunge into the planet's dense atmosphere Tuesday, October 11, 1994. During its four years in orbit around Earth's sister planet, the spacecraft has radar-mapped 98 percent of the surface and collected high-resolution gravity data of Venus. The purpose of the crash landing is to gain data on the planet's atmosphere and on the performance of the spacecraft as it descends. Up-to-date status reports will be available from this WWW page, which also offers Venus images and other highlights from the mission.
Mauna Kea Observatories
Mauritius Radio Telescope ( MRT ): MRT is a southern sky survey telescope, which is making a complimentary survey to 6C (southern sky) and observing selected southern sky pulsars. See UK and original MRT pages.
McDonald Observatory ( University of Texas, Austin ): McDonald Observatory is located 450 miles west of Austin, Texas, in the Davis Mountains. At present, there are three operating telescopes: 2.7-meter, 2.1-meter, and .76-meter reflectors. The Observatory is equipped with a wide range of state-of-the-art instrumentation for imaging and spectroscopy in the optical and infrared, and it boasts one of the first and most productive lunar ranging stations.
MDM Observatory ( MDM Observatory ): MDM Observatory was founded by the University of Michigan, Dartmouth College, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Current operating partners include Michigan, Dartmouth, MIT, Ohio State University, and Columbia University. The Observatory is located on the southwest ridge of the Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, AZ. It operates two telescopes: the 2.4-m Hiltner telescope and the 1.3-m McGraw-Hill telescope.
Mees Solar Observatory ( MSO, Hawaii )
Metsahovi Radio Research Station: The Metsähovi Radio Research Station, a separate research institute of the Helsinki University of Technology since May 1988, operates a 14 m diameter radome enclosed radio telescope at Metsähovi, 40 km west of Helsinki, Finland. The Cassegrain telescope system can be used at frequencies 10 - 230 GHz (wavelengths 3 cm - 1.8 mm).
Michelle: A mid-infrared spectrometer and imager for the UKIRT and Gemini telescopes
Michigan State Univ. SOuthern Astrophysical Research Telescope ( SOAR ): Outreach efforts to merge astronomy research and non-science education. The SOAR Telescope is located on Cerro Pachon, Chile, and operated by a consortium including Michigan State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the National Optical Astronomy Observatory and the country of Brazil.
Microlensing Planet Finder Project ( MPF, ex-GEST ): The Microlensing Planet Finder Project (MPF) is by far the most powerful proposed observatory for finding large numbers of planetary systems. It answers the following questions: How many planets are there? How are they distributed in mass and distance from their parent stars, and in distance from the Galactic Center? How many have large moons? How many have been expelled from their systems? None of these questions are fully addressed by other techniques particularly if the abundance is low. MPF will do this by observing microlensing signals from 100 million stars in the Galactic bulge for 4 observing seasons, and it will have sensitivity to planets with masses as low as 0.1 M\oplus at separations > 0.7 AU. MPF will be sensitive to analogs of all the planets in the solar system except for Mercury and Pluto and will complement the Kepler mission.
Microvariability and Oscillations of STars ( MOST ): MOST is Canada's first space science microsatellite and its first optical space telescope project, aiming for launch in late 2001. MOST is designed to measure (as its acronym implies) Microvariability & Oscillations of STars in broadband light with a precision of a few micromagnitudes over timescales from minutes to days. The resulting eigenfrequency data will be used primarily for stellar seismology, to probe the structure and ages of Sun-like stars, magnetic stars, Wolf-Rayet stars and halo subdwarfs. The subdwarfs are expected to yield age estimates which would place a meaningful lower limit on the age of the Universe. MOST should also be capable of confirming the presence of giant extrasolar planets identified in Doppler surveys.
Mid-InfraRed Large-well Imager ( MIRLIN ): Mid-InfraRed Large-well Imager - No, the "n" doesn't stand for anything ;-) (MIRLIN) - The JPL Deep-Well Mid-Infrared Array Camera. MIRLIN is a 128 x 128 pixel, 7 - 25 micrometer infrared astronomical camera built at JPL by a team led by Dr. Michael Ressler and used on the Palomar 5 meter (200 inch) telescope, the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility 3 meter telescope, and the Keck II 10 meter telescope.
Midcourse Space Experiment ( MSX ): The MSX observatory is a Ballistic Missile Defense Organization project which offers major benefits for both the defense and civilian sectors. It was launched on a Delta II vehicle on April 24, 1996, into a 900 km, polar, near-Sun synchronous orbit. The spacecraft featured an advanced multispectral image capability to gather data on test targets and space background phenomena.
The infrared sensors operated at 11 to 12 degrees Kelvin by employing a solid hydrogen cryostat. The IR instruments span the range 4.2 - 26 microns. The focal plane array consists of five bands and the radiometer beam-size is more than 25 times smaller than IRAS. As a result, much greater spatial resolution than anything currently available has been obtained. The cryogen phase of the mission ended on 26 February 1997. During the ten month cryogen phase of the mission over 200 Giga Bytes of data on Celestial Backgrounds were obtained.
See the MSX Celestial Backgrounds Team Home Page for additional details.
Millstone Hill Observatory ( MHO, Haystack ): The Millstone Hill Observatory, located in Westford Massachusetts, is a broad-based atmospheric sciences research facility owned and operated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Atmospheric Sciences Group, which staffs and manages the observatory, is a part of M.I.T's Haystack Observatory, a basic research organization whose focus is radio wave and radar science, instrumentation and techniques. The following resources may be of interest. EISCAT is a particularly good source of data and useful information. See, for example, incoherent scatter radar and magnetosphere Millstone Hill Observatory: Information, data, etc., including real-time radar status and data when the radar is operating. EISCAT: European Incoherent Scatter Association. NCAR: National Center for Atmospheric Research. NSF: National Science Foundation Gopher server. NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NGDC: National Geophysical Data Center.
Mississippi State University - Howell Observatory
Moletai Astronomical Observatory ( MAO ): The MAO (Lithuania) has three telescopes: 1.65 m telescope; 63 cm reflector; 35/51 cm Maksutov telescope.
Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope ( MOST ): The MOST consists of two cylindrical paraboloids, 778m x 12m, separated by 15m and aligned East-West. A line feed system of 7744 circular dipoles collects the signal and feeds 176 preamplifiers and 88 IF amplifiers. The telescope is steered by mechanical rotation of the cylindrical paraboloids about their long axis, and by phasing the feed elements along the arms. The resulting `alt-alt' system can follow a field for +/- 6 hours (necessary for a complete synthesis with an East-West array) only if the field is south of declination -30 degrees. For fields near this limit the signal-to-noise ratio is considerably lower for the first and last hour or so due to the lower gain of the system at large `meridian distance' angles.
MOnitoring X-ray Experiment ( MOXE ): The MOnitoring X-ray Experiment (MOXE) is an X-ray all-sky monitor to be launched on the Russian Spectrum-X-Gamma satellite. It will monitor several hundred X-ray sources on a daily basis, and will be the first instrument to monitor the complete X-ray sky simultaneously. MOXE is built by Los Alamos Nat Lab, Goddard Space Flight Center and Space Research Institute (Moscow).
MONOPTEC's Fixed Shutter Dome ( FSD ): MONOPTEC licenses the Fixed Shutter Dome, an enabling technology in observatory enclosures and satellite laser ranging systems. Four FSD's now reside in Tokyo, Japan, as part of the Keystone Project.
Monterey Institute for Research in Astronomy ( MIRA ): The Monterey Institute for Research in Astronomy is a non-profit astronomical observatory, founded in 1972 and dedicated to research and education in astronomy. Includes an Atlas of Low-Resolution Near-Infrared Spectra of Normal Stars.
Mount Evans Meyer-Womble Observatory ( Denver Univ. ): Mt.Evans Meyer-Womble Observatory, elev. 4,303 meters, in the Colorado Rockies. Dual 0.7 meter R-C telescopes, optical and mid-infrared instrumentation. Summer access. Collaborations invited.
Mount Graham International Observatory ( MGIO ): The Mt. Graham International Observatory is located on Mt. Graham near Safford , Arizona. Two telescopes are now in operation, the Vatican Observatory/Arizona 1.8m Lennon telescope (VATT) and the 10m diameter Heinrich Hertz Submillimeter Telescope (SMT), a joint project of Arizona and the Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Germany.
Mount Laguna Observatory
Mount Pleasant Radio Observatory ( Tasmania ): The Mount Pleasant Radio Observatory is run by the Physics Department of the University of Tasmania and is located 20 km East of Hobart, the capital of Tasmania. The Observatory is equipped with two antennas, a 26 m and a 14 m which are both prime focus instruments. The 26 m telescope is at latitude 42 48' 18'' S, longitude 147 26' 21'' (east of Greenwich) and is 43 m above sea level.
Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories - Observing facilities ( MSSSO ): The Australian National University runs the following telescopes: 2.3m at Siding Springs ; 74in at Mount Stromlo ; 50in at Mount Stromlo ; 40in at Siding Springs ; 24in at Siding Springs.
Mount Suhora Observatory ( Cracow Pedagogical University ): The Mt.Suhora Observatory is a part of Astronomy Department at the Pedagogical University in Cracow, Poland. It is located in Gorce mountain, near Koninki village, 60 km south-east of Cracow.
The scientific staff of 9 people works on photometry of variable stars.
Mount Wilson Observatory: The mountain is host to several ongoing observing projects using the onsite facilities. The observatory has two primary nighttime telescopes: the 60-inch telescope, built in 1908 is home to the HK Project and the Atmospheric Compensation Experiment; and the 100-inch (Hooker) telescope, built in 1917, which is available to the scientific community. Two solar observatories, the 60-foot tower telescope (operated by USC), and the 150-foot tower telescope (operated by UCLA) maintain long-term exploration of the magnetic activity behavior of the Sun. There are also two interferometers onsite: the Infrared Spatial Interferometer (ISI, operated by U.C. Berkeley), and the NRL Optical Interferometer. The Telescopes in Education (TIE) Project operates a 24" telescope, as well as the Snow Solar Telescope (built in 1904). Finally, a fully-robotic 32-inch Automatic Photoeletric Telescope (APT) is operated by Tennessee State University.
MPE Garching site for COMPTEL ( onboard Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory ): Local project documentation and utilities as well as collaboration-wide information sources are maintained by the MPE COMPTEL people for: COMPTEL Data Reduction Group work: documents, scientific results and utilities used by the data analysts, the processing team and the scientists. COMPASS software system work : technical and management documents, used and maintained by the MPE software team. the local computing environment : documents on system configuration, maintained by the MPE/RZG software team. MPE - COMPTEL People Matters: the weekly activity list individual 'home pages'
Mt John (Canterbury) University Observatory ( New Zealand ): There are three principal telescopes at Mt John: the 1-metre McLellan Telescope; the 0.61-metre Optical Craftsmen Telescope; the 0.6-metre Boller & Chivens Telescope.
Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network ( MERLIN - Jodrell Bank )
Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer Space Telescope ( MIPS ): The Multiband Imaging Photometer for SIRTF (MIPS) is a far-infrared photometer, one of three instruments on Spitzer, launched on 25 August of 2003.
Multiple Mirror Telescope Observatory (1) ( MMTO )
Multiple Mirror Telescope Observatory (2) ( MMTO )
Muriwai Beach Observatory NZ
Nançay Radio Observatory ( USN ): The Nançay Radio Observatory is a scientific department (the Unité Scientifique de Nançay) of the Observatoire de Paris, and it is also associated to the CNRS (the French National Scientific Research Centre). It maintains 3 radio telescopes:

the Decimetric Radiotelescope, which is the world's 2nd largest fixed collector, operating from 9 to 21 cm;
the Radioheliograph, operating from 60 cm to 2 m;
the Decametric Array, operating from 3 to 30 m.
[also in French]
Nasmyth Adaptive Optics System - Near-Infrared Imager and Spectrograph ( NAOS-CONICA -- NaCo -- ESO VLT )
National Astronomical Observatory of Spain ( OAN ): OAN is a 200 year old institution devoted to research in astronomy that operates several observatories. The Yebes Observatory is the site of a mm-wave 14m telescope devoted to spectroscopy and VLBI. A 1.5m optical telescope is located at the Calar Alto Observatory. The OAN is also the Spanish partner of IRAM, which runs a 30m mm-wave telescope and a 5x15m mm-wave interferometer.
National Centre for Radio Astrophysics ( NCRA ): National Centre for Radio Astrophysics is the leading centre in India for reseach in radio astronomy. It operates the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope(GMRT), one of the most powerful radio telescopes in the world for radio astronomy at metre wavelengths.
National Schools' Observatory: The National Schools' Observatory is a major web-based resource that allows UK schools to use world-class astronomical telescopes sited all around the world.
Using the resources and software developed by the Observatory, students can prepare and carry out their own astronomical research and share in the excitement of discovery.
National Solar Observatory ( NSO, USA ): The mission of the National Solar Observatory is to advance knowledge of the Sun, both as an astronomical object and as the dominant external influence on Earth, by providing forefront observational opportunities to the research community.
National Undergraduate Research Observatory ( NURO ): The National Undergraduate Research Observatory (NURO) at Lowell Observatory and Northern Arizona University is a 0.8m telescope located on Anderson Mesa south of Flagstaff, Arizona. NURO is a consortium of Universities and small colleges to provide a research grade telescope for undergraduate research and education.
Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer ( NICMOS ): The Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS, Univ. of Arizona) is a second-generation instrument to be installed on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) during the February 13, 1997 on-orbit servicing mission. NICMOS will provide infrared imaging and spectroscopic observations of astronomical targets between 0.8-2.5 microns.
Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking ( NEAT ): NEAT is an autonomous celestial observatory located at the USAF/Ground-based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance (GEODSS) site on Haleakala, Maui, Hawaii. It is designed to complete a comprehensive search of the sky for near-Earth asteroids and comets.
New Radio Telescope Technologies Laboratory