This is a partial list of astronomical observatories ordered by name, along with initial dates of operation (where an accurate date is available) and location. The list also includes a final year of operation for many observatories that are no longer in operation. While other sciences, such as volcanology and meteorology, also use facilities called observatories for research and observations, this list is limited to observatories that are used to observe celestial objects.
Astronomical observatories are mainly divided into four categories: space-based, airborne, ground-based, and underground-based.
Many modern telescopes and observatories are located in space to observe astronomical objects in wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum that cannot penetrate the Earth's atmosphere (such as ultraviolet radiation, X-rays, and gamma rays) and are thus impossible to observe using ground-based telescopes.[1] Being above the atmosphere, these space observatories can also avoid the effects of atmospheric turbulence that plague ground based telescopes, although new generations of adaptive optics telescopes have since then dramatically improved the situation on the ground. The space high vacuum environment also frees the detectors from the ancestral diurnal cycle due to the atmospheric blue light background of the sky, thereby increasing significantly the observation time.
An intermediate variant is the airborne observatory, specialised in the infrared wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum, that conduct observations above the part of the atmosphere containing water vapor that absorbs them, in the stratosphere.
Historically, astronomical observatories consisted generally in a building or group of buildings where observations of astronomical objects such as sunspots, planets, asteroids, comets, stars, nebulae, and galaxies in the visible wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum were conducted. At first, for millennia, astronomical observations have been made with naked eyes. Then with the discovery of optics, with the help of different types of refractor telescopes and later with reflector telescopes. Their use allowed to dramatically increase both the collecting power and limit of resolution, thus the brightness, level of detail and apparent angular size of distant celestial objects allowing them to be better studied and understood. Following the development of modern physics, new ground-based facilities have been constructed to conduct research in the radio and microwave wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum, with radio telescopes and dedicated microwave telescopes.
Modern astrophysics has extended the field of study of celestial bodies to non-electromagnetic vectors, such as neutrinos, neutrons and cosmic rays or gravitational waves. Thus, new types of observatories have been developed. Interferometers are at the core of gravitational wave detectors. In order to limit the natural or artificial background noise, most particle detector based observatories are built deep underground.
Observatories
editSee also
edit- Lists of telescopes
- Category:Astronomical observatories by country
- History of the telescope
- List of astronomical instrument makers
- List of highest astronomical observatories
- List of largest optical reflecting telescopes
- List of largest optical refracting telescopes
- List of observatory codes
- List of planetariums
- List of radio telescopes
- List of telescope types
- Science tourism
- Space observatory
- Timeline of telescopes, observatories, and observing technology
References
edit- ^ Chaisson, Eric; McMillan, Steve (2002). Astronomy Today, Fourth Edition. Prentice Hall.
- ^ "History of the Landolt Astronomical Observatory". Louisiana State University Department of Physics & Astronomy. September 1, 2022. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
- ^ "Twitchell Observatory | MSAD 17". MSAD17.org. Maine Department of Education. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
- ^ "Stickney Observatory at Bennington College". Stickney Observatory at Bennington College.
- ^ Muller, R. J. (Summer 1994). "The Humacao University Observatory". International Amateur-Professional Photoelectric Photometry Communication. 56 (43): 43. Bibcode:1994IAPPP..56...43M.
- ^ "Records of the U.S. Naval Observatory". National Archives. 2016-08-15. Retrieved 2021-04-14.
- ^ "Xinglong Observing Station". 2021-03-21. Archived from the original on 2023-01-23.