Teide Observatory (), IAU code

954 Year 954 ( CMLIV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – A Hungarian army led by Bulcsú crosses the Rhine. He camps at Worms in the capital of his ally Conrad the Red, d ...

, is an

astronomical observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. Th ...

on Mount Teide at , located on

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

, Spain. It has been operated by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias since its inauguration in 1964. It became one of the first major international observatories, attracting telescopes from different countries around the world because of the good

astronomical seeing In astronomy, seeing is the degradation of the real image, image of an astronomical object due to turbulence in the atmosphere of Earth that may become visible as blurring, twinkling or variable Distortion (optics), distortion. The origin of this ...

conditions. Later, the emphasis for optical telescopes shifted more towards

Roque de los Muchachos Observatory Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (, ORM) is an astronomical observatory located in the municipality of Garafía on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, Spain. The observatory site is operated by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Can ...

La Palma La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and historically San Miguel de La Palma, is the most northwesterly island of the Canary Islands, a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in Macaronesia in the North Atlantic Ocean. La Pa ...

Telescopes

Solar telescopes

*Solar Vacuum Tower Telescope (VTT): 70 cm diameter. Operated by the Kiepenheuer Institute of Solar Physics,

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

(

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

). Installed in 1989. *Télescope Heliographique pour l'Etude du Magnétisme et des Instabilités Solaries (THEMIS) Solar Telescope: 90 cm diameter, built 1996, operated by

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. * GREGOR Solar Telescope: 1.5 m, operated by a German consortium. In operation since May 2012. *A node of the Birmingham Solar Oscillations Network (BiSON), operated by the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

, UK. *One of six sites of the GONG network operated by the NSO Integrated Synoptic Program (NISP), United States.

Nocturnal telescopes

* Carlos Sánchez Infrared Telescope (TCS): 152 cm diameter installed by the UK in 1971 * Mons

reflecting telescope 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 alternati ...

: 50 cm diameter, operated by the University of Mons (

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

), built in 1972. * IAC-80 Telescope: 80 cm IAC telescope, installed in 1991. * OGS Telescope: 1 m

European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...

optical ground station for satellite communications, built in 1998. * STARE Telescope: 10 cm Stellar Astrophysics & Research on Exoplanets. Used by the Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey. * Bradford Robotic Telescope: 35 cm Telescope for educational use. * STELLA Telescopes (STELLA I and STELLA II)

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: 120 cm STELLA is an abbreviation of STELLar Activity, operated by Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics (AIP) with the collaboration of the IAC, put in operation 2006. * SLOOH: US robotic telescopes, built in 2004. * SPECULOOS Northern Observatory (SNO): 1-meter telescopes, one telescope (Artemis) completed in June 2019 * PIRATE: (Physics Innovations Robotic Astronomical Telescope Explorer Mark IV): 61 cm robotic telescope operated remotely by the

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* COAST: (COmpletely Autonomous Survey Telescope) 43 cm robotic telescope operated remotely by the

* Two-meter Twin Telescope (TTT): robotic telescopes of 80 cm TTT1 and TTT2 and 2 meters TTT3 and TTT4. TTT is a project of '' Light Bridges'' in collaboration with IAC (

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

). Built in 2022.

Radio telescopes for cosmic microwave background astronomy

* The 33 GHz interferometer * The COSMOSOMAS Experiment (10 and 15 GHz) * The

Very Small Array The Very Small Array (VSA) was a 14-element interferometric radio telescope operating between 26 and 36 GHz that is used to study the cosmic microwave background radiation. It was a collaboration between the University of Cambridge, Univer ...

(VSA: 14-element

interferometer Interferometry is a technique which uses the '' interference'' of superimposed waves to extract information. Interferometry typically uses electromagnetic waves and is an important investigative technique in the fields of astronomy, fiber opt ...

at 30 GHz) * QUIJOTE CMB Experiment * GroundBIRD

Other buildings on the site

The observatory has a visitors' centre and a residencia (hostel) for astronomers.

Brian May Sir Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, animal welfare activist and astrophysics, astrophysicist. He achieved global fame as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the rock band Queen ...

helped construct a building there to study interplanetary dust.

List of discovered minor planets

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. Funct ...

credits the discovery of several minor planets directly to the observatory.

Discovery of the first brown dwarf star

In 1995, Rafael Rebolo López, María Rosa Zapatero-Osorio and Eduardo L. Martín published their discovery of Teide-1, which they found through optical observations using the 0.8 meter telescope at Teide Observatory.

Climate

The position where the observatory is situated has a

mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Csb''), with average temperature features reminiscent of southern

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. This renders in warm summers that averages around with light frosts being possible and sometimes happening in winter. Extremes are moderated by its marine features, which combined with the altitude keeps temperatures below even during heat waves, and in spite of the altitude the marine features are strong enough to prevent severe frosts. Sunshine levels, as typical of the nearby lowland arid climates, are high throughout the year. Many alpine areas at further distance from the equator are above the tree line at this elevation, but Teide is far above even any subarctic temperatures due to its position on the 28th parallel north.

Astroclimate and seeing

The useful observing time is given as 78% and the median FWHM seeing from DIMM measurements is given as 0.76" and 0.70" at two sites near the Carlos Sánchez Telescope.

References

External links

Observatorio del Teide website

at worldflicks.org {{Authority control Astronomical observatories in the Canary Islands Buildings and structures in Tenerife Minor-planet discovering observatories