Tenagra Observatory and Tenagra Observatory II are astronomical observatories in Cottage Grove, Oregon and Arizona. The observatories house heavily automated robotic telescopes. 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 Schmidt-Cassegrain with a SBIG CCD imager, probably upgraded to Apogee Instruments later. The Arizona observatory at Patagonia, 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 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 Circulars 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. 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, 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 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 space station in its decaying orbit were livestreamed in 2018, a few days before reentry.

Awards

2013 Edgar Wilson Award

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