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The Florence and George Wise Observatory (IAU code 097) is an
astronomical Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies ...
observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...
owned and operated by
Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...
. It is located west of the town of
Mitzpe Ramon Mitzpe Ramon ( he, מִצְפֵּה רָמוֹן, Ramon Lookout; ar, متسبي رمون) is a local council in the Negev desert of southern Israel. It is situated on the northern ridge at an elevation of 860 meters (2,800 feet) overl ...
in the
Negev The Negev or Negeb (; he, הַנֶּגֶב, hanNegév; ar, ٱلنَّقَب, an-Naqab) is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southe ...
desert near the edge of the
Ramon Crater Makhtesh Ramon ( he, מכתש רמון; ''lit.'' Ramon Crater/Makhtesh ; ar, وادي الرمان, links=no) is a geological feature of Israel's Negev desert. Located some 85 km south of the city of Beersheba, the landform is the world ...
, and it is the only professional astronomical observatory in
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
.


History

The observatory was founded in October 1971 as a collaboration between
Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...
and the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
, and named after the late Dr.
George S. Wise George Schneiweis Wise (ג'ורג' וייז; April 6, 1906 – July 2, 1987) was an American sociologist who served as the first president of Tel Aviv University in Ramat Aviv, Israel from 1963 to 1971. Early life George Schneiweis (later Wis ...
, the first President of the Tel Aviv University. The observatory is a research laboratory of Tel Aviv University. It belongs to the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences and it serves mainly staff and graduate students from the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics of the School of Physics and Astronomy, and from the Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences. Traditionally, the Wise Observatory Director is appointed by Tel Aviv University's Dean of Exact Sciences from the senior academic staff of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics. The directors of the Wise Observatory since its foundation were: * Uri Feldman (1971–1973) * Asher Gottesman (1973–1975) * Dror Sadeh (1975–1977) * Elia Leibowitz (1977–1980) * Hagai Netzer (1980–1983) * Elia Leibowitz (1983–1988) * Tsevi Mazeh (1988–1990) * Hagai Netzer (1990–1991) * Elia Leibowitz (1991–1998) * Dan Maoz (1998–2000) *
Noah Brosch Noah Brosch (born 1948) is an Israeli astronomer, astrophysicist and space researcher. Biography Noah Brosch was born in Bucharest (Romania) in 1948 and immigrated with his family to Israel in 1963. Brosch studied at Tel Aviv University (BSc ...
(2000–2006) * Tsevi Mazeh (2006 – February 2007) * Noah Brosch (February 2007 – 2010) * Tsevi Mazeh (2011–2012) * Dan Maoz (since 2012)


Site

The number of clear nights (zero cloudiness) at the Wise Observatory site is about 170 a year. The number of useful nights, with part of the night cloud-free, is about 240. The best season, when practically no clouds are observed, is June to August, while the highest chance for clouds are in the period January to April. Winds are usually moderate, mainly from North-East and North. Storm wind velocities (greater than ) occur, but rarely. The wind speed tends to decrease during the night. Temperature gradients are small and fairly moderate. The average relative humidity is quite high, with a tendency to decline during the night from April to August. The average seeing is about 2-3 seconds of arc. A few good nights have seeing of 1" or less, while few show seeing larger than 5". An important advantage of the Wise Observatory at its location of ~35°E in the Northern Hemisphere is the possibility of cooperating with observatories at other longitudes for time-series studies. Such projects involve searches for stellar oscillations within the
Whole Earth Telescope The Whole Earth Telescope is an international network of astronomers that collaborate to study variable stars. The distribution of the observatories in longitude allow the selected targets to be continuously monitored despite the rotation of the ...
project, monitoring
gravitational microlensing Gravitational microlensing is an astronomical phenomenon due to the gravitational lens effect. It can be used to detect objects that range from the mass of a planet to the mass of a star, regardless of the light they emit. Typically, astronomers ...
events, combined ground and space observing campaigns, etc.


Research highlights and discoveries

A project to monitor photometrically and spectroscopically
Active Galactic Nuclei An active galactic nucleus (AGN) is a compact region at the center of a galaxy that has a much-higher-than-normal luminosity over at least some portion of the electromagnetic spectrum with characteristics indicating that the luminosity is not prod ...
(AGNs) is still running, following about 30 years of data collection. Other major projects include searches for
supernova A supernova is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. It has the plural form supernovae or supernovas, and is abbreviated SN or SNe. This transient astronomical event occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star or when ...
e and
extrasolar planet An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...
s ( transiting or lensing), and investigations of
star formation Star formation is the process by which dense regions within molecular clouds in The "medium" is present further soon.-->interstellar space
processes in galaxies through wide and
narrow-band Narrowband signals are signals that occupy a narrow range of frequencies or that have a small fractional bandwidth. In the audio spectrum, narrowband sounds are sounds that occupy a narrow range of frequencies. In telephony, narrowband is usual ...
filter imaging. Lately, some emphasis is put on studies of
Near Earth Object A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it into proximity with Earth. By convention, a Solar System body is a NEO if its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU). ...
s (NEOs), with the research focus being the rotational properties of NEOs and of other
asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...
s through the investigation of their light curves. As of 2016, the Wise Observatory is credited by the
Minor Planet Center 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 ...
with the discovery of 17 numbered
minor planet According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...
s during 1999–2007. Moreover, another 8 minor planets were discovered at the Wise Observatory, but are now credited to the individual astronomers such as David Polishook ''(see adjunct table and footnotes)''.


Equipment

The observatory operates a -diameter
Boller and Chivens Boller and Chivens was an American manufacturer of high-quality telescopes and spectrographs headquartered in South Pasadena, California. History Founded about 1946 by Harry Berthold Boller (1915-1997) and Clyde Cuthbertson Chivens (1915-2008). ...
telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to observe ...
, which is a wide-field Ritchey-Chrétien reflector mounted on a rigid, off-axis
equatorial mount An equatorial mount is a mount for instruments that compensates for Earth's rotation by having one rotational axis, the polar axis, parallel to the Earth's axis of rotation. This type of mount is used for astronomical telescopes and cameras. The ...
. This telescope was originally a twin of the Las Campanas 1 m Swope telescope, which was described by Bowen and Vaughan (1973), though the two instruments diverged somewhat during the years. It also has two CCD
cameras A camera is an optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), with a ...
, a two-star "Nather-type"
photometer A photometer is an instrument that measures the strength of electromagnetic radiation in the range from ultraviolet to infrared and including the visible spectrum. Most photometers convert light into an electric current using a photoresistor, ph ...
, a "Faint-object spectrograph-camera" (FOSC), and an older Boller and Chivens
spectrograph An optical spectrometer (spectrophotometer, spectrograph or spectroscope) is an instrument used to measure properties of light over a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, typically used in spectroscopic analysis to identify mate ...
. The photoelectric photometer and the Boller and Chivens spectrograph have not been in use for more than a decade. A dioptric focal reducer (Maala) was used at f/7 to project a field of view almost one-degree wide on one of the CCDs (a SITe 2048x4096 pixel array) at the cost of slightly larger than optimal PSF sampling and some edge-of-field distortions. However, this instrument never produced satisfactory images and its use was discontinued. A new CCD camera entered regular use in 2006: it is a Princeton Instruments Versarray with 1340×1300 pixels each 20  µm wide, with a peak
quantum efficiency The term quantum efficiency (QE) may apply to incident photon to converted electron (IPCE) ratio of a photosensitive device, or it may refer to the TMR effect of a Magnetic Tunnel Junction. This article deals with the term as a measurement of ...
of 95% and good response in the blue part of the spectrum. Another camera was operated from the end of 2007 to about 2014; this is a CCD mosaic covering a one-degree non-contiguous field of view at f/7 in a single exposure (the LAIWO (Large Array Imager of the Wise Observatory) camera). This camera is composed of four 4096x4096 pixel non-butted Fairchild CCDs that are thick and front-illuminated, thus have a response peaking in the red with approximately 42% quantum efficiency. A smaller CCD with very high quantum efficiency and fast readout, centered between the four large CCDs, is used for guiding and fast photometry of selected objects. LAIWO was a cooperative endeavour of the Wise Observatory (PI: T. Mazeh) with the
Max Planck Institute for Astronomy The Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, MPIA) is a research institute of the Max Planck Society (MPG). It is located in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany near the top of the Königstuhl, adjacent to the ...
Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
(PI: T. Henning). A prime-focus computer-controlled telescope was added to the Wise Observatory in 2004 mainly for
minor planet According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...
CCD photometry purposes and funded by the
Israel Space Agency The Israel Space Agency (ISA; he, סוכנות החלל הישראלית, ''Sokhnut heKhalal haYisraelit'') is a governmental body, a part of Israel's Ministry of Science and Technology, that coordinates all Israeli space research programs wi ...
as part of a National Knowledge Center on Near Earth Objects. This is a Centurion-18 (C18)http://www.astroworks.com/specifications.html that has been extensively modified by the observatory staff in a continuous effort to transform it into a
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 ...
. The telescope was originally equipped with a thermoelectrically cooled SBIG ST-10XME CCD camera with 2184x1472 pixels each 6.8 micrometres wide, each subtending slightly more than one arcsec at the telescope prime focus. Since early-2009 this CCD was replaced by an SBIG STL-6303 CCD with 2048x3072 pixels, each 9 micrometers wide. The telescope and its camera, including the telescope dome, can be remotely operated. A 70 cm (28-inch) prime-focus telescope, essentially the "big brother" of the C18 and called the Jay Baum Rich Telescope (JBRT), was added in 2013. This telescope has been commissioned and is in routine robotic operation. A wide-field telescope has been installed in 2016 and is being commissioned. This telescope is a node of the Korean OWL-Net (Optical Wide-field patroL Network) that acquires and maintains orbital information of LEO satellites by purely optical means. OWL-Net is part of and is operated by the
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) is the national research institute in astronomy and space science of South Korea funded by the South Korean Government. Its headquarters are located in Daejeon, in the Daedeok Science Town. ...
(KASI).


Observing time

Observations at the Wise Observatory are allocated on a semestrial basis for the periods from the beginning of April to the end of September (first semester) and from the beginning of October to the end of March the following year (second semester). The allocation is competitive and is based on the scientific merit of each proposal. The observing time is, in principle, open to qualified observers from all over the world. Over the years, most of the observing time during a given period has been allocated to one or two large, long-term, projects carried out by Tel Aviv faculty and graduate students.


See also

*
List of astronomical observatories This is a 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 ...


References

* Bowen, I. and Vaughan, A. H., Jr., 1973, Applied Optics, Vol. 12, p. 1430


External links

* * {{Portal bar, Israel, Astronomy, Stars, Spaceflight, Outer space, Solar System, Education, Science Astronomical observatories in Israel Buildings and structures in Southern District (Israel) Minor-planet discovering observatories 1971 establishments in Israel Space program of Israel Tel Aviv University