Anatomical
Observatories
There are many Earth based Observatories
that can see the distant objects in space, and
are primarily built at higher altitudes to avoid
looking through as much of the Earth's
atmosphere as possible. These ground based
observatories are usually located away from
populated areas to avoid light pollution which
dramatically reduces the ability to see stars at
night.
These observatories have very
large apertures (Objective lens width) to allow
much more light into the telescope creating a
brighter and more magnified image for the
observer, some in the neighborhood of 10 meters
in diameter, and others being proposed that are
four and five times larger. The telescopes used
at observatories
are housed in a
large dome shaped structures to avoid the
outside elements damaging the instruments. The
entire observatory has the capability to rotate
allowing the observers to see a 360º view
of the stars above.
Ground based telescopes
usually see in Radio and Visible light
wavelengths and capture some images that even
rival the Hubble Space Telescope.
Below
is a list of some of the largest observatories
in the world and a few the images they have
captured.
Aperature (meters)
|
Name
|
Location
|
10.4
|
Gran Telescopio
Canaris
|
La Palma Canary
Islands, Spain
|
10.0
|
Keck and Keck
II
|
Mauna Kea,
Hawaii
|
9.2
|
Hobby - Eberly
|
Mt. Fowlkes,
Texas
|
8.2
|
Very Large
Telescope (VLT, 4 in total)
|
Cerro Paranal,
Chille
|
List
from astro.nineplanets.org
- For the complete list of large observatories
click here
|
