The Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory is an American
astronomical
Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest include ...
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 ...
owned and operated by the
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO); it is their largest field installation outside of their main site in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...
. It is located near
Amado, Arizona
Amado is a census-designated place (CDP) in Pima County, Arizona, Pima County, Arizona, United States. The population was 295 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. The Population decreased to 198 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...
on the summit of
Mount Hopkins.
Research activities include imaging and spectroscopy of extragalactic, stellar, solar system and extra-solar bodies, as well as
gamma-ray and
cosmic-ray astronomy.
History
In 1966, roadwork began at the site with funding granted for the
Smithsonian Mt. Hopkins Observatory. The Whipple 10-meter gamma-ray telescope was constructed in 1968.
Formerly known as the Mount Hopkins Observatory, the observatory was renamed in late 1981 in honor of
Fred Lawrence Whipple, a planetary expert, space science pioneer, and director emeritus of SAO, under whose leadership the Arizona facility was established.
Equipment
Whipple observatory hosts the
MMT Observatory, which is jointly run by SAO and the
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...
and houses a 6.5-meter telescope. The observatory also has 1.5- and 1.2-meter reflectors and a second 1.3-meter reflector named PAIRITEL (Peters Automated IR Imaging Telescope, ex-2MASS ). Also on site is the
HATNet (Hungarian-made Automated Telescope) network, the
MEarth Project, and four 0.7-meter telescopes of the automated
Miniature Exoplanet Radial Velocity Array (MINERVA).
The observatory is known for its pioneering work in ground-based gamma-ray astronomy through the development of the
Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Technique (IACT) with the Whipple 10-meter Telescope during the early 1980s. The Whipple 10-meter is currently preparing to be decommissioned after forty years of service.
In April 2007,
VERITAS (a system of 4 IACT telescopes with 12-meter reflectors) started full operations at the FLWO basecamp. Subsequently, in September 2009, after a 4-month effort, one of the telescopes was moved to a new position, making the array symmetric and increasing its sensitivity.
See also
*
List of astronomical observatories
*
Whipple (spacecraft)
References
External links
*
Arizona.edu: Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whipple, Fred Lawrence, Observatory
Astronomical observatories in Arizona
Santa Rita Mountains
Science museums in Arizona
Museums in Santa Cruz County, Arizona
Buildings and structures in Santa Cruz County, Arizona
Smithsonian Institution research programs
Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
1968 establishments in Arizona
Research institutes in Arizona