Tenagra Observatory and Tenagra Observatory II are astronomical observatories in Cottage Grove, Oregon and Arizona. The observatories house heavily automated

robotic telescope A robotic telescope is an astronomical telescope and detector system that makes observations without the intervention of a human. In astronomical disciplines, a telescope qualifies as robotic if it makes those observations without being operated ...

s. Circa 2016, the observatory was utilized with the

Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope The Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT) is an automated telescope used in the search for supernovae. The telescope had a first light in 1998, and is a noted robotic telescope. It had first recorded data in August 1996, and was formally ded ...

a member of the

Lick Observatory The Lick Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the University of California. It is on the summit of Mount Hamilton, in the Diablo Range just east of San Jose, California, United States. The observatory is managed by th ...

and Tenagra Observatory Supernova Searches (LOTOSS). Beginning in 2018, after a

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

grant to owner Michael Schwartz expired, control of the Arizona observatory was turned over to

Gianluca Masi Gianluca Masi (born 22 January 1972) is an Italian astrophysicist and astronomer, as well as a discoverer of minor planets and variable stars. Scientific career He started his interest in astronomy in childhood, later becoming a professional ...

s Virtual Telescope project.

Instruments

The observatory near

Cottage Grove, Oregon Cottage Grove is a city in Lane County, Oregon, United States. Its population was 10,643 at the 2020 census. It is the third largest city in Lane County. It is on Interstate 5, Oregon Route 99, and the main Willamette Valley line of the CORP railr ...

was constructed 1998, and had a

Celestron Celestron is an American company based in Torrance, California, United States, that manufactures telescopes and distributes telescopes, binoculars, spotting scopes, microscopes, and accessories manufactured by its parent company, the Synta Technolo ...

Schmidt-Cassegrain with a SBIG CCD imager, probably upgraded to Apogee Instruments later. The Arizona observatory at

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and gl ...

, 20 miles from Nogales, began operations in 2000. Tenagra II is a custom-made Ritchey-Chretien telescope manufactured by SciTech Astronomical Research, in operation since 2001. "Pearl" is a f/3.75 corrected Newtonian. There is also a SciTech Ritchey-Chretien, and another 14-inch Celestron. The Oregon site was in use as of 2004 as a backup site, during the

Southwest monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscill ...

season.

Observations and public outreach

The robotic telescopes can image 1,000 galaxies in an evening for supernova discovery. Using the Oregon Tenagra I telescope, its maker became "the first amateur to achieve consistent supernova discoveries" by using a robotic telescope "to patrol hundreds of galaxies each night". The Oregon observatory reported 77

Minor Planet Electronic Circular The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Function ...

s between 1999 and 2002. The Oregon observatory discovered supernova . The observatory discovered comet in May 2011. Comet is named for the observatory and

Clyde Tombaugh Clyde William Tombaugh (February 4, 1906 January 17, 1997) was an American astronomer. He discovered Pluto in 1930, the first object to be discovered in what would later be identified as the Kuiper belt. At the time of discovery, Pluto was cons ...

. Tombaugh initially discovered it in January 1931, but was not recovered until 2012. It was provisionally named Comet P/2012 WX_32 (Tenagra) when recovered by Michael Schwartz and

Paulo R. Holvorcem Paulo Renato Centeno Holvorcem (born 10 July 1967) is a Brazilian amateur astronomer and mathematician who lives in Brasilia, Brazil. He is a prolific discoverer of asteroids. He is credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery or co-di ...

using Tenagra II. The observatory's Tenagra IV instrument, along with Palomar Observatory's

Samuel Oschin telescope The Samuel Oschin telescope, also called the Oschin Schmidt, is a Schmidt camera at the Palomar Observatory in northern San Diego County, California. It consists of a 49.75-inch Schmidt corrector plate and a 72-inch (f/2.5) mirror. The instrument ...

, was the second to image dwarf planet Sedna, providing

confirmation In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an affirmation of belief. It involves laying on ...

of its discovery and refining its

orbital parameters Orbital elements are the parameters required to uniquely identify a specific orbit. In celestial mechanics these elements are considered in two-body systems using a Kepler orbit. There are many different ways to mathematically describe the same ...

. In 2018, Pearl imaged the Tesla Roadster in space, when it had a

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

of 15.5, comparable to

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the S ...

's moon

Charon In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon (; grc, Χάρων) is a psychopomp, the ferryman of Hades, the Greek underworld. He carries the souls of those who have been given funeral rites across the rivers Acheron and Styx, which separate the wo ...

. In 2018, imagery from the Arizona observatory was livestreamed by Gianluca Masi during the close approach to Earth as a Virtual Telescope project outreach event. Images of the

Tiangong-1 Tiangong-1 () was China's first prototype space station. It orbited Earth from September 2011 to April 2018, serving as both a crewed laboratory and an experimental testbed to demonstrate orbital rendezvous and docking capabilities during it ...

space station in its decaying orbit were livestreamed in 2018, a few days before reentry.

Awards

2013

Edgar Wilson Award __NOTOC__ The Edgar Wilson Award is an annual international award established in 1998 consisting of a monetary award and a plaque allocated annually to amateur comet discoverers. It is administered by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) ...

References

Sources

* * * * * * * *https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011IAUC.9211....1H/abstract * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

* :Astronomical observatories in Arizona :Astronomical observatories in Arizona :Buildings and structures in Lane County, Oregon :Buildings and structures in Santa Cruz County, Arizona {{Uncategorized, date=December 2022