The Oak Ridge Observatory (ORO, code:

801 __NOTOC__ Year 801 ( DCCCI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Emperor Charlemagne formally cedes Nordalbian territory (modern-day Schleswig-H ...

), also known as the George R. Agassiz Station, is located at 42 Pinnacle Road,

Harvard, Massachusetts Harvard is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The town is located 25 miles west-northwest of Boston, in eastern Massachusetts. A farming community settled in 1658 and incorporated in 1732, it has been home to several ...

. It was operated by the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian as a facility of the

Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) is a research institute of the Smithsonian Institution, concentrating on astrophysical studies including galactic and extragalactic astronomy, cosmology, solar, earth and planetary sciences, the ...

(SAO) from 1933 until August 19, 2005.

Description

The observatory was established in 1933. Through its first 40 years, its primary research focus was on tracking

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 and

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 in the

Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...

. Starting in the 1980s, astronomers began to use the facility to measure stars over long periods of time, which led to hunts for

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, i.e.,

planet A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a you ...

s outside the Solar System. Surveys at Oak Ridge found many such distant planets. The largest

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 ...

east of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

is the 61-inch reflector ''(see Hobby-Eberly Telescope)''. However, most of its projects were discontinued in 2005.

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Optical SETI The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) is a collective term for scientific searches for intelligent extraterrestrial life, for example, monitoring electromagnetic radiation for signs of transmissions from civilizations on other pl ...

program continues at the site. It also housed an steerable

radio telescope A radio telescope is a specialized antenna and radio receiver used to detect radio waves from astronomical radio sources in the sky. Radio telescopes are the main observing instrument used in radio astronomy, which studies the radio frequency ...

once used in Project BETA, a search for

extraterrestrial intelligence Extraterrestrial intelligence (often abbreviated ETI) refers to hypothetical intelligent extraterrestrial life. The question of whether other inhabited worlds might exist has been debated since ancient times. The modern form of the concept emerged ...

. A 41-cm (16-inch)

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). ...

Cassegrain reflector The Cassegrain reflector is a combination of a primary concave mirror and a secondary convex mirror, often used in optical telescopes and radio antennas, the main characteristic being that the optical path folds back onto itself, relative to th ...

originally housed at Oak Ridge is available for public use at the

National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, also called the Air and Space Museum, is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, it opened its main building on the Nat ...

's Public Observatory Project on the

National Mall The National Mall is a Landscape architecture, landscaped park near the Downtown, Washington, D.C., downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institut ...

in Washington, DC.NASM AirSpace Blog, March 29, 2009.
an
NASM Public Observatory Project
The inner

main-belt The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes, but much smaller than planets, called ...

asteroid 4733 ORO, discovered at Oak Ridge in 1982, was named in honor of the observatory.

List of discovered minor planets

In addition to the discoveries below, 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 ...

inconsistently credits some asteroids such as

4760 Jia-xiang 4760 Jia-xiang, provisional designation , is a background asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 1 April 1981, by astronomers at Harvard University's Oak Ridge Observatory in Massach ...

directly to the

Harvard College Observatory The Harvard College Observatory (HCO) is an institution managing a complex of buildings and multiple instruments used for astronomical research by the Harvard University Department of Astronomy. It is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United St ...

although they have been discovered at Oak Ridge.

References

External links

Oak Ridge Observatory

YouTube video

Boston Globe: "Lights out", June 28, 2005
* Bok, B. J., Ewen, H. I., & Heeschen, D. S., "The George R. Agassiz radio telescope of Harvard Observatory", ''Astronomical Journal'', Vol. 62, p. 8, 1957. {{Portal bar, Astronomy, Stars, Spaceflight, Outer space, Solar System, Education, Science Astronomical observatories in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Worcester County, Massachusetts * Harvard University Minor-planet discovering observatories

Description

List of discovered minor planets

See also

References

External links