LegendSpace observatoryAirborne observatoryRadio observatoryMicrowave observatoryGround-based observatorySolar observatoryNeutrino detectorCosmic-ray observatory This is a partial 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 operation. While other sciences, such as volcanology and meteorology, also use facilities called observatories for research and observations, this list is limited to observatories that are used to observe celestial objects.
Astronomical observatories are mainly divided into four categories: space-based, airborne, ground-based, and underground-based.
Many modern telescopes and observatories are located in space to observe astronomical objects in wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum that cannot penetrate the Earth's atmosphere (such as ultraviolet radiation, X-rays, and gamma rays) and are thus impossible to observe using ground-based telescopes. Being above the atmosphere, these space observatories can also avoid the effects of atmospheric turbulence that plague ground based telescopes, although new generations of adaptive optics telescopes have since then dramatically improved the situation on the ground. The space high vacuum environment also frees the detectors from the ancestral diurnal cycle due to the atmospheric blue light background of the sky, thereby increasing significantly the observation time.
An intermediate variant is the airborne observatory, specialised in the infrared wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum, that conduct observations above the part of the atmosphere containing water vapor that absorbs them, in the stratosphere.
Historically, astronomical observatories consisted generally in a building or group of buildings where observations of astronomical objects such as sunspots, planets, asteroids, comets, stars, nebulae, and galaxies in the visible wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum were conducted. At first, for millennia, astronomical observations have been made with naked eyes. Then with the discovery of optics, with the help of different types of refractor telescopes and later with reflector telescopes. Their use allowed to dramatically increase both the collecting power and limit of resolution, thus the brightness, level of detail and apparent angular size of distant celestial objects allowing them to be better studied and understood. Following the development of modern physics, new ground-based facilities have been constructed to conduct research in the radio and microwave wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum, with radio telescopes and dedicated microwave telescopes.
Modern astrophysics has extended the field of study of celestial bodies to non-electromagnetic vectors, such as neutrinos, neutrons and cosmic rays or gravitational waves. Thus, new types of observatories have been developed. Interferometers are at the core of gravitational wave detectors. In order to limit the natural or artificial background noise, most particle detector based observatories are built deep underground.
Observatories
NameEstablishedLocationAbastumani Astrophysical Observatory1932Abastumani, GeorgiaAbu Reyhan-e Birooni Observatory1976Shiraz University, Shiraz, IranAdirondack Public ObservatoryTupper Lake, New York, USAditya-L12023Sun-Earth L1Adolphson Observatory2013Monmouth, Illinois, USAirdrie Public Observatory1896Airdrie, Scotland, UKAker Observatory1995Safford, Arizona, USAldershot Observatory1906Aldershot, Hampshire, England, UKAlgonquin Radio Observatory1959Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, CanadaAllegheny Observatory1859Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USAmetlla de Mar Observatory1992l'Ametlla de Mar, Catalonia, SpainAMiBA2006Mauna Loa, Hawaii, USAnderson Mesa Station1959Flagstaff, Arizona, USAndrushivka Astronomical Observatory2001Andrushivka, Zhytomyr Oblast, UkraineAngell Hall Observatory1927Ann Arbor, Michigan, USAnkara University Observatory1963 Gölbaşı, Ankara, TurkeyAntarctic Muon and Neutrino Detector Array2002AntarcticaAntarctic Submillimeter Telescope and Remote Observatory1994–2005AntarcticaANTARES2008In the Mediterranean Sea near Toulon, FranceApache-Sitgreaves Observatory2005Overgaard, Arizona, USApache Point Observatory1985Sunspot, New Mexico, USApatity Cosmic-Ray StationApatity, RussiaApollo Observatory1969Dayton, Ohio, USArcetri ObservatoryArcetri, Florence, ItalyArecibo Observatory 1963Arecibo, Puerto Rico, USArgentine Institute of Radio Astronomy1966Berazategui Partido, Buenos Aires Province, ArgentinaArmagh Observatory1790Armagh, UKAryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences1954Nainital, Uttarakhand, IndiaAshton Observatory1983Baxter, Iowa, USAsiago Astrophysical Observatory1942Asiago, ItalyAssheton Observatory1860Lancashire, UKASTRON Dwingeloo Radio Observatory LOFAR