Teide Observatory
 | |
| Organization | Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias |
|---|---|
| Location | Tenerife |
| Coordinates | 28°18′00″N 16°30′35″W / 28.30000°N 16.50972°WCoordinates: 28°18′00″N 16°30′35″W / 28.30000°N 16.50972°W |
| Altitude | 2,390 metres (7,840 ft) |
| Established | 1964 |
| Website |
www |
 Related media on Wikimedia Commons | |
Teide Observatory (Spanish: Observatorio del Teide) is an astronomical observatory on Mount Teide, Tenerife, operated by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. Opened 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 conditions. Later the emphasis for optical telescopes shifted more towards Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma. It is considered one of the world's major observatories.
Telescopes
Solar telescopes
- Solar Vacuum Tower Telescope (VTT): 70 cm diameter. Operated by the Kiepenheuer Institute of Solar Physics, Freiburg (Germany). Installed in 1989.
- THÉMIS Solar Telescope: 90 cm diameter, built 1996, operated by Italy and France.[2]
- GREGOR Solar Telescope: 1.5 m, operated by a German consortium. In operation since May 2012.[3]
- A node of the Birmingham Solar Oscillations Network (BiSON), operated by the University of Birmingham, UK.
Nocturnal telescopes
- Carlos Sánchez Infrared Telescope (TCS): 152 cm diameter installed by the UK in 1971
- Mons reflecting telescope: 50 cm diameter, operated by the University of Mons (Belgium), built in 1972.[4]
- IAC-80 Telescope: 80 cm IAC telescope, installed in 1991.
- OGS Telescope: 1 m European Space Agency optical ground station for satellite communications, built in 1998.
- STARE Telescope: 10 cm Stellar Astrophysics & Research on Exoplanets.
- Bradford Robotic Telescope: 35 cm Telescope for educational use.
- (STELLA I and STELLA II) robotic telescopes: 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.
Radio telescopes for cosmic microwave background astronomy
- The 33 GHz interferometer
- The COSMOSOMAS Experiment (10 and 15 GHz)
- The Very Small Array (VSA: 14-element interferometer at 30 GHz)
Other buildings on the site
The observatory has a visitors' centre and a residencia (hostel) for astronomers. Brian May helped construct a building there to study interplanetary dust.
Climate
The position where the observatory is situated has a cold mediterranean climate, with average temperature features reminiscent of southern England. This renders in warm summers that averages around 23 °C (73 °F) 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 30 °C (86 °F) 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 semi-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.
| Climate data for Izaña Observatory (1981-2010) (altitude: 2371 m) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 18.3 (64.9) |
19.9 (67.8) |
22.0 (71.6) |
23.0 (73.4) |
26.0 (78.8) |
27.7 (81.9) |
30.4 (86.7) |
29.6 (85.3) |
27.2 (81) |
23.0 (73.4) |
20.8 (69.4) |
20.1 (68.2) |
30.4 (86.7) |
| Average high °C (°F) | 7.5 (45.5) |
8.0 (46.4) |
10.2 (50.4) |
11.8 (53.2) |
14.5 (58.1) |
18.9 (66) |
23.0 (73.4) |
22.6 (72.7) |
18.6 (65.5) |
14.3 (57.7) |
11.1 (52) |
8.8 (47.8) |
14.1 (57.4) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 4.3 (39.7) |
4.7 (40.5) |
6.4 (43.5) |
7.6 (45.7) |
10.1 (50.2) |
14.4 (57.9) |
18.5 (65.3) |
18.2 (64.8) |
14.5 (58.1) |
10.6 (51.1) |
7.8 (46) |
5.6 (42.1) |
10.2 (50.4) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 1.1 (34) |
1.3 (34.3) |
2.7 (36.9) |
3.5 (38.3) |
5.8 (42.4) |
9.9 (49.8) |
14.0 (57.2) |
13.8 (56.8) |
10.4 (50.7) |
6.9 (44.4) |
4.5 (40.1) |
2.4 (36.3) |
6.4 (43.5) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −8.0 (17.6) |
−9.8 (14.4) |
−9.1 (15.6) |
−8.2 (17.2) |
−5.1 (22.8) |
−1.4 (29.5) |
−0.2 (31.6) |
1.2 (34.2) |
0.0 (32) |
−3.0 (26.6) |
−4.0 (24.8) |
−6.8 (19.8) |
−9.8 (14.4) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 47 (1.85) |
67 (2.64) |
58 (2.28) |
18 (0.71) |
7 (0.28) |
1 (0.04) |
0 (0) |
5 (0.2) |
13 (0.51) |
37 (1.46) |
54 (2.13) |
60 (2.36) |
367 (14.46) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 34 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 50 | 54 | 48 | 45 | 40 | 32 | 25 | 30 | 43 | 55 | 54 | 52 | 44 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 226 | 223 | 260 | 294 | 356 | 382 | 382 | 358 | 295 | 259 | 220 | 218 | 3,473 |
| Source: Agencia Estatal de Meteorología[5] | |||||||||||||
See also
- Astronomical seeing
- Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory
- European Extremely Large Telescope
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
- La Silla Observatory
- Llano de Chajnantor Observatory
- Mount Teide
- Paranal Observatory
- Pico Viejo
- Roque de los Muchachos Observatory
- Teide National Park
- Very Large Telescope
External links
|
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Observatorio del Teide. |
- Observatorio del Teide website
- Discover the Teide Observatory at worldflicks.org
References
- Rayrole, J. (1985). "The European observatory at the Canary Islands" 233: 32–50. doi:10.1007/BFb0022394.
- ↑ "First Light for Laser Guide Star Technology Collaboration". European Southern Observatory. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
- ↑ THÉMIS Website
- ↑ GREGOR Website at KIS, Freiburg
- ↑ David Airey. "Construction of a small spectrograph for stellar spectroscopy and its use on some brighter stars". Journal of the British Astronomical Association 103: 11–18. Bibcode:1993JBAA..103...11A.
- ↑ "Standard Climate Values. Izaña".
- ↑ "ESO and Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias Sign Agreement on Adaptive Optics Collaboration". ESO Announcement. Retrieved 10 May 2014.