Ground-Based Telescopes

0 F L Whipple Observatory

The major instrument on Mt. Hopkins is the MMT Observatory's 6.5-m-diameter optical telescope. The current suite of FLWO telescopes includes a 1.2-m-diameter imaging optical telescope; the 1.5-m Tillinghast optical spectroscopic telescope; the HAT (Hungarian-made Automated Telescope) array of five small optical telescopes; the MINERVA array of four 70-cm optical telescopes; the MEarth array of eight 40-cm optical telescopes; and the VERITAS array of four 12-m telescopes for gamma-ray astronomy.

1.5 Giant Magellan Telescope

The Giant Magellan Telescope will be one of the few super giant earth-based telescopes that promises to revolutionize our view and understanding of the universe. It will be constructed at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. Commissioning of the telescope is scheduled to begin in 2021.

1.8 magellan telescope


2 MMT Observatory


3.7 -  Pan-STARRS-1

PS1 will be able to scan the entire visible sky to approximately 23rd magnitude in less than a week. This unique combination of sensitivity and field of view will open many new possibilities in time domain astronomy and address a wide range of astrophysical problems in the Solar System, the Galaxy, and the Universe.

4 SMA facility image

The Submillimeter Array (SMA) is the world's first imaging interferometric telescope to operate in the major atmospheric windows from 0.3mm to 1.3mm. Located at the summit of Mauna Kea 13,386 feet above sea level, the array consists of eight 6-m movable antennas that can be positioned in different locations to provide highest angular resolution equivalent to an antenna of 0.5 km (0.3 miles) across.

4.5   south pole telescope


5.   1.2 meterfacility image

For over three decades the CfA 1.2 meter telescope currently located in Cambridge, MA and its twin instrument in Chile have been mainly dedicated to obtaining what is by far the most extensive, uniform, and widely-used survey of dense, star-forming molecular clouds in our Galaxy.

6  VERITAS image

VERITAS (Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System) is a major ground-based gamma-ray observatory with an array of four 12m optical reflectors for gamma-ray astronomy in the GeV - TeV energy range. Located at FLWO in Arizona, it consists of an array of imaging telescopes that permit the maximum versatility and give the highest sensitivity in the detection of light created by cosmic gamma rays striking the earth's atmosphere.