Agencies and Observatories
IceCube Neutrino Observatory
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is a neutrino telescope that is currently being built at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. IceCube is being constructed in deep Antarctic ice by deploying thousands of PMTs (photomultiplier tubes) at depths of 4750...
Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station
The Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station is a U.S. research facility based at the South Pole, in Antarctica. It is the southernmost continually inhabited place on the planet. Its name honors Roald Amundsen who reached the South Pole in December 1911, and ...
Aricebo Observatory
Arecibo Observatory -- The Arecibo Observatory is part of the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC), a national research center operated by Cornell University under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation (NSF). The NS...
Mauna Kea Observatory
Mauna Kea Observatories -- Hawaii is Earth's connecting point to the rest of the Universe. The summit of Mauna Kea on the Island of Hawaii hosts the world's largest astronomical observatory, with telescopes operated by astronomers from eleven countrie...
Mount Wilson Observatory
Mount Wilson Observatory -- astronomical observatory located in California on Mt. Wilson, near Pasadena. Mt. Wilson Observatory was founded in 1904 by George E. Hale. Its equipment includes 100-in. (2.5-m) and 60-in. (1.50-m) reflecting telescopes ...
Hubble Space Telescope
Hubble Space Telescope -- The first large orbital optical observatory. Built from 1978 to 1990 at a cost of $1.5 billion, the HST (named for astronomer E. P. Hubble) was expected to provide the clearest view yet obtained of the universe. Using a Ri...
Palomar Observatory
Palomar Observatory -- Owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology, a privately endowed educational and research institution located in Pasadena, California, and is used to support the scientific research programs of Caltech's faculty ...
Kitt Peak National Observatory
Kitt Peak Observatory -- astronomical observatory located southwest of Tucson, Ariz.; it was founded in 1958 under contract with the National Science Foundation and is administered by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy. Its p...
Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory
Cerro Tololo Observatory -- astronomical observatory located on Cerro Tololo peak, Chile, with offices in La Serena, about 40 mi (64 km) to the west. Funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), it is operated by the Association of Univers...
National Solar Observatory
National Solar Observatory -- The National Solar Observatory (NSO) has its primary headquarters in Tucson. NSO telescopes on Kitt Peak include the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope Facility containing the world's three largest solar telescopes (1.6-met...
Chandra X-ray Observatory
Chandra X-ray Observatory -- NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date. Chandra is designed to observe X-rays from high-ene...
European Southern Observatory
European Southern Observatory -- ESO, the European Southern Observatory, was created in 1962 to: "establish and operate an astronomical observatory in the southern hemisphere, equipped with powerful instruments, with the aim of furthering and organisin...
Jodrell Bank Observatory
Jodrell Bank Observatory -- The Jodrell Bank Observatory, near Macclesfield, Cheshire in the north west of England is a part of the University of Manchester. It has played an important part in the research into quasars and pulsars, as well as the f...
Keck Observatory
Keck Observatory -- From a remote outpost on the summit of Hawaii's dormant Mauna Kea volcano, astronomers at the W.M. Keck Observatory probe the deepest regions of the Universe with unprecedented power and precision. Their instruments are the twi...
La Silla Observatory
La Silla Observatory -- La Silla is a 2400-m mountain, bordering the southern extremity of the Atacama desert in Chile. It is located about 160 Km north of La Serena. Its geographical coordinates are: Latitude 29� 15' south & Longitude 70ï¿Â...
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
National Radio Astronomy Observatory -- The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is a research facility of the U.S. National Science Foundation. They provide state-of-the-art radio telescope facilities for use by the scientific community. Th...
Nice Observatory
Nice Observatory -- The Nice Observatory (Observatoire de Nice) is an astronomical observatory located in Nice, France on the summit of Mount Gros (fr: Mont Gros). The observatory was initiated in 1879 by the banker Rapha�l Bischoffsheim. The ...
Overwhelmingly Large Telescope
Overwhelmingly Large Telescope -- The European Southern Observatory has undertaken a concept study for the next generation of ground-based Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs). Dubbed OWL, ESO's concept is conceived as a 100 m. diameter optical and near-i...
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) -- The SOHO (Solar & Heliospheric Observatory) project is being carried out by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as a cooperative effort between the...
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
Space Telescope Science Institute -- STScI mission statement: We bring the cosmos to Earth We carry out this vision by empowering the astronomy community to produce new scientific discoveries and by bringing the benefits of this research to the p...
Subaru Telescope
Subaru Telescope -- The Subaru Telescope is an optical-infrared telescope at the 4,200m summit of Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii. The Telescope is a new generation telescope not only because of the size of its mirror with an effective aperture o...
Sudbury Neutrino Observatory
Sudbury Neutrino Observatory -- The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) is taking data that has provided revolutionary insight into the properties of neutrinos and the core of the sun. The detector, shown in the artist's conception below, was built ...
Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP)
Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) -- The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) was launched on June 30, 2001 at 3:46 p.m. EDT at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, USA. The goal of WMAP was to map out minute differences in t...