The Wyoming Infrared Observatory (WIRO) 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 the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...

. It is located on Jelm Mountain, southwest of

Laramie, Wyoming Laramie is a city in and the county seat of Albany County, Wyoming, United States. The population was estimated 32,711 in 2019, making it the third-largest city in Wyoming after Cheyenne and Casper. Located on the Laramie River in southeastern ...

, U.S. It was founded in 1975, and observations began at the site in 1977. Recent research performed at WIRO includes searching for

runaway star In astronomy, stellar kinematics is the observational study or measurement of the kinematics or motions of stars through space. Stellar kinematics encompasses the measurement of stellar velocities in the Milky Way and its satellites as well as t ...

s, monitoring short-term variations in

blazars A blazar is an active galactic nucleus (AGN) with a relativistic jet (a jet composed of ionized matter traveling at nearly the speed of light) directed very nearly towards an observer. Relativistic beaming of electromagnetic radiation from the ...

, and monitoring massive

binary star A binary star is a system of two stars that are gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. Binary stars in the night sky that are seen as a single object to the naked eye are often resolved using a telescope as separate stars, in wh ...

Telescope

The WIRO telescope is a classical

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 ...

optimized for

infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

observing. The secondary mirror can be "wobbled" under computer control to allow for rapid sampling of adjacent areas of the sky. From 1977 to around 1980 the telescope was the largest functional infrared telescope in the world. Two instruments are available for use: * WIRO-Prime, a 2048x2048

charge coupled device A charge-coupled device (CCD) is an integrated circuit containing an array of linked, or coupled, capacitors. Under the control of an external circuit, each capacitor can transfer its electric charge to a neighboring capacitor. CCD sensors are a ...

(CCD) imaging camera mounted at the

prime focus A reflecting telescope (also called a reflector) is a telescope that uses a single or a combination of curved mirrors that reflect light and form an image. The reflecting telescope was invented in the 17th century by Isaac Newton as an alternat ...

. * WIRO-Long Slit, a low resolution, high efficiency long slit

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 ...

Research and discoveries

The telescope is used for a wide variety of research. It helped identify a new Globular star cluster within the Milky Way Galaxy as part of a 2004 effort with the

Spitzer Space Telescope The Spitzer Space Telescope, formerly the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF), was an infrared space telescope launched in 2003. Operations ended on 30 January 2020. Spitzer was the third space telescope dedicated to infrared astronomy, f ...

. In 2016 the telescope again assisted efforts using the Spitzer telescope to identify and discover around 100 of the fastest-moving known stars in the Milky Way. Other discoveries made at the observatory include: * The first dust formation episode in a Wolf-Rayet star was recorded on

UY Scuti UY Scuti (BD-12°5055) is an extreme red hypergiant or red supergiant star in the constellation Scutum. It is considered one of the largest known stars by radius and is also a pulsating variable star, with a maximum brightness of ...

soon after the telescope's first light in 1979.

References

External links

Homepage for the University of Wyoming 2.3-meter Telescope (WIRO)
for WIRO: forecasts of observing conditions. Astronomical observatories in Wyoming Buildings and structures in Albany County, Wyoming University of Wyoming Infrared telescopes Astronomy in the United States {{US-observatory-stub

Telescope

Research and discoveries

See also

References

External links