The National Solar Observatory (NSO) is a

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

federally funded research and development center to advance the knowledge of the

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

of the Sun. NSO studies the Sun both as an

astronomical object An astronomical object, celestial object, stellar object or heavenly body is a naturally occurring physical entity, association, or structure that exists within the observable universe. In astronomy, the terms ''object'' and ''body'' are of ...

and as the dominant external influence on

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

. NSO is headquartered in

Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In ...

and operates facilities at a number of locations – at the 4-meter Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in the Haleakala Observatory on the island of

Maui Maui (; Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ) is the second largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2). It is the List of islands of the United States by area, 17th-largest in the United States. Maui is one of ...

, at Sacramento Peak near

Sunspot Sunspots are temporary spots on the Sun's surface that are darker than the surrounding area. They are one of the most recognizable Solar phenomena and despite the fact that they are mostly visible in the solar photosphere they usually aff ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, and six sites around the world for the Global Oscillations Network Group one of which is shared with the Synoptic Optical Long-term Investigations of the Sun. NSO provides its observations to the scientific community. It operates facilities, develops advanced instrumentation both in-house and through partnerships, conducts solar research, and carries out educational and public outreach.

Visiting the observatories

The National Solar Observatory HQ is located on the campus of the University of Colorado, Boulder. It also has some staff on

, and Sacramento Peak.

Telescopes operated by the observatory

Big Bear Solar Observatory

* Synoptic Optical Long-term Investigations of the Sun

Haleakala Observatory

* Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope

Sacramento Peak

* See Sunspot Solar Observatory for the telescopes located there

Global

* Global Oscillation Network Group

Directors

A list of all NSO directors since the founding of the observatory is given below.

History

The Sacramento Peak observatories were proposed by Donald Menzel of the

Harvard College Observatory The Harvard College Observatory (HCO) is an institution managing a complex of buildings and multiple instruments used for astronomical research by the Harvard University Department of Astronomy. It is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United St ...

in 1947, when the U.S. Air Force commissioned a site survey for a suitable facility that would study the higher regions of the Earth's atmosphere. The site, near

White Sands Proving Ground White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) is a United States Army military testing area and firing range located in the US state of New Mexico. The range was originally established in 1941 as the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range, where the Trinity ( ...

, was chosen in 1948. The first equipment to be operated by the Harvard Observatory was installed in 1949, a prominence camera, and a flare patrol camera, installed in the Grain Bin Dome. These instruments were followed by the Evans Solar Facility, or Big Dome, which housed a coronograph and spectrograph. In 1963 the Hilltop Dome was built to house additional instruments. The Sacramento Peak facilities are located in Sunspot, New Mexico. The site's name was chosen by the late James C. Sadler, (1920–2005), an internationally noted

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists ...

and professor at The

University of Hawaii A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

, formerly with the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

on assignment during the early inception of the observatory. For the

Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 The solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, dubbed the "Great American Eclipse" by some media, was a total solar eclipse visible within a band that spanned the contiguous United States from the Pacific Ocean, Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic c ...

, NSO enlisted the cooperation of various groups in the Citizen CATE (Continental-America Telescopic Eclipse) experiment to set up more than 60 identical telescopes along the eclipse path, to produce 90 continuous minutes of images, 10 seconds apart, of the Sun's inner corona. This was to provide a clearer understanding of solar plumes and other transient phenomena.

References

External links

Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope

NSO Integrated Synoptic Program
* {{Authority control Astronomy in the United States Astronomy institutes and departments Astronomical observatories in Arizona Astronomical observatories in New Mexico Buildings and structures in Otero County, New Mexico Buildings and structures in Pima County, Arizona Federally Funded Research and Development Centers Laboratories in the United States National Science Foundation Science and technology in Colorado Science and technology in Hawaii Science and technology in the United States Research institutes in Colorado Solar observatories Tourist attractions in Otero County, New Mexico University of Colorado Boulder 1952 establishments in the United States