The Pic du Midi de Bigorre () or simply the Pic du Midi (elevation ) is a mountain in the

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

. It is the site of the Pic du Midi Observatory.

Pic du Midi Observatory

The Pic du Midi Observatory () is an astronomical

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 ...

located at 2,877 meters on top of the Pic du Midi de Bigorre in the French

. It is part of the Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP) which has additional research stations in the southwestern French towns of

Tarbes Tarbes (; Gascon language, Gascon: ''Tarba'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of southwestern France. It is ...

Lannemezan Lannemezan (; Gascon Occitan ''Lanamesa'', "heath of the middle") is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department and the Occitanie region in south-western France. The inhabitants are called Lannemezanais. Lannemezan is the largest city i ...

, and

Auch Auch (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in southwestern France. Located in the Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie, it is the capital of the Gers Departments of France, department. Geography Localiza ...

, as well as many partnerships in South America, Africa, and Asia, due to the guardianship it receives from the French Research Institute for Development (IRD). Construction of the observatory began in 1878 under the auspices of the Société Ramond, but by 1882 the society decided that the spiralling costs were beyond its relatively modest means, and yielded the observatory to the French state, which took it into its possession by a law of 7 August 1882. The 8 metre dome was completed in 1908, under the ambitious direction of

Benjamin Baillaud Édouard Benjamin Baillaud (; 14 February 1848 – 8 July 1934) was a French astronomer. Biography Born in Chalon-sur-Saône, Baillaud studied at the École Normale Supérieure (1866-1869) and the University of Paris. He worked as an assi ...

. It housed a powerful mechanical equatorial reflector which was used in 1909 to formally discredit the

Martian canal During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was erroneously believed that there were "canals" on the planet Mars. These were a network of long straight lines in the equatorial regions from 60° north to 60° south latitude on Mars, observe ...

theory. In 1946 Mr. Gentilli funded a dome and a 0.60-meter telescope, and in 1958, a

spectrograph An optical spectrometer (spectrophotometer, spectrograph or spectroscope) is an instrument used to measure properties of light over a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, typically used in spectroscopic analysis to identify mate ...

was installed. A 1.06-meter (42-inch)

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption, or Reflection (physics), reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally, it was an optical instrument using len ...

was installed in 1963, funded by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

and was used to take detailed photographs of the surface of the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

in preparation for the

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

missions. In 1965 the astronomers and

Janine Connes Janine Connes (, 19 May 1926 – 28 November 2024) was a French astronomer whose research led to the establishment of the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy method, which was of major significance and laid the foundations of what was to gro ...

were able to formulate a detailed analysis of the composition of the atmospheres on

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

and

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

, based on the infrared spectra gathered from these planets. The results showed atmospheres in

chemical equilibrium In a chemical reaction, chemical equilibrium is the state in which both the Reagent, reactants and Product (chemistry), products are present in concentrations which have no further tendency to change with time, so that there is no observable chan ...

. This analysis led

James Lovelock James Ephraim Lovelock (26 July 1919 – 26 July 2022) was an English independent scientist, environmentalist and futurist. He is best known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis, which postulates that the Earth functions as a self-regulating syst ...

, a scientist working for the

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) in La Cañada Flintridge, California, Crescenta Valley, United States. Founded in 1936 by Cali ...

in California, to conclude that neither Mars nor Venus had life.Lovelock, James. ''The Vanishing Face of Gaia''. Basic Books, 2009, p. 162. The 2-metre

Bernard Lyot Telescope The Bernard Lyot Telescope (''Téléscope Bernard Lyot,'' or TBL) is a 2-meter Cassegraintelescope operating in the visible domain since 1980. It is located at an elevation of 2,877 meters on the Pic du Midi in the French Pyrenees. Since 200 ...

was placed at the observatory in 1980 on top of a 28-meter column built off to the side to avoid wind turbulence affecting the seeing of the other telescopes. It is the largest telescope in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The observatory also has a

coronagraph A coronagraph is a telescopic attachment designed to block out the direct light from a star or other bright object so that nearby objects – which otherwise would be hidden in the object's bright glare – can be resolved. Most coronagr ...

, which is used to study the solar corona. A 0.60-meter telescope (the Gentilly's T60 telescope) is also located at the top of Pic du Midi. Since 1982 this T60 is dedicated to amateur astronomy and managed by a group of amateurs, called association T60. The observatory consists of: * The 0.55-meter telescope (Robley Dome); * The 0.60-meter telescope (T60 Dome, welcoming amateur astronomers via the Association T60); * The 1.06-meter telescope (Gentilli Dome) dedicated to observations of the

Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...

; * The 2-meter telescope or Bernard Lyot Telescope (used with a new generation stellar spectropolarimeter); * The coronagraph HACO-CLIMSO (studies of the solar corona); * The bezel Jean Rösch (studies of the solar surface) * The Charvin dome, which sheltered a photoelectric coronometer (which studied the Sun); * The Baillaud dome, reassigned to the museum in 2000 and which houses a 1:1 scale model coronagraph. The observatory is located very close to the

Greenwich meridian The Greenwich meridian is a prime meridian, a geographical reference line that passes through the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, in London, England. From 1884 to 1974, the Greenwich meridian was the international standard prime meridian, ...

. Saturn's moon Helene (Saturn XII or Dione B), was discovered by French astronomers Pierre Laques and Jean Lecacheux in 1980 from ground-based observations at Pic du Midi, and named Helene in 1988. It is also a

trojan moon In astronomy, a co-orbital configuration is a configuration of two or more astronomical objects (such as asteroids, moons, or planets) orbiting at the same, or very similar, distance from their primary; i.e., they are in a 1:1 mean-motion resonanc ...

of Dione. The

main-belt The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, centered on the Sun and roughly spanning the space between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids ...

asteroid 20488 Pic-du-Midi, discovered at Pises Observatory in 1999, was named for the observatory and the mountain it is located on.

List of discovered minor planets

The

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Funct ...

credits the discovery of the following

minor planets According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...

directly to the observatory (as of 2017, no discoveries have been assigned to individual astronomers):

International Dark Sky Reserve

Officially initiated in 2009, during the international year of astronomy, the Pic du Midi International Dark Sky Reserve (IDSR) was labeled in 2013 by the

International Dark-Sky Association DarkSky International, formerly the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), is a United States–based nonprofit organization incorporated in 1988 by founders David Crawford, a professional astronomer, and Tim Hunter, a physician and amateu ...

. It's the sixth in the world, the first in Europe and the only one still today in France. The IDSR aims to limit the exponential propagation of

light pollution Light pollution is the presence of any unwanted, inappropriate, or excessive artificial Visible spectrum, lighting. In a descriptive sense, the term ''light pollution'' refers to the effects of any poorly implemented lighting sources, during the ...

, in order to preserve the quality of the night. Co-managed by the Syndicat mixte for the tourist promotion of the Pic du Midi, the Pyrénées National Park and the Departmental Energy Union 65, its priority actions are the public education on the impacts and consequences of these pollutions as well as the establishment of responsible lighting in the Haut-Pyrenean territory. It covers 3,000 km², or 65% of the Hautes-Pyrénées. The IDSR includes 251 communes spread around the Pic du Midi de Bigorre and is distinguished in two zones: * A core zone, devoid of any permanent lighting and witnessing an exceptional night quality; * A buffer zone, in which the territory actors recognize the importance of the nocturnal environment and undertake to protect it. The IDSR initiated the program "Ciel Etoilé" (Starry sky), program of reconversion of the 40 000 luminous points of its territory, the program "Gardiens des Etoiles" (Guardians of the stars), program of metrological monitoring of the light pollution evolution, but also the program "Adap'Ter", project that will identify "trames sombres" (Dark frame: nocturnal biodiversity deplacements).

Climate

Pic du Midi de Bigorre has a

mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

alpine climate Alpine climate is the typical climate for elevations above the tree line, where trees fail to grow due to cold. This climate is also referred to as a mountain climate or highland climate. Definition There are multiple definitions of alpine cli ...

with a

polar Polar may refer to: Geography * Geographical pole, either of the two points on Earth where its axis of rotation intersects its surface ** Polar climate, the climate common in polar regions ** Polar regions of Earth, locations within the polar circ ...

temperature regime due to its high elevation. Due to the

Gulf Stream The Gulf Stream is a warm and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows through the Straits of Florida and up the eastern coastline of the United States, then veers east near 36°N latitude (North Carolin ...

moderation of the surrounding lowlands, temperature swings are in general quite low. This results in temperatures rarely exceeding even during lowland heat waves, and also temperatures beneath being extremely rare. The

UV index The ultraviolet index, or UV index, is an international standard measurement of the strength of the sunburn-producing ultraviolet (UV) radiation at a particular place and time. It is primarily used in daily and hourly forecasts aimed at the gener ...

is higher than in the surrounding lowlands due to the elevation. Snow cover is permanent during winter months, but melts for a few months each year.

Seasonal lag Seasonal lag is the phenomenon whereby the date of maximum average air temperature at a geographical location on a planet is delayed until some time after the date of maximum daylight (i.e. the summer solstice). This also applies to the minimum ...

is extreme during winter and spring, with February being the clearly coldest month, and May having mean temperatures below freezing. Among lowland climates, the station closely resembles

Nuuk Nuuk (; , formerly ) is the capital and most populous city of Greenland, an autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark. Nuuk is the seat of government and the territory's largest cultural and economic center. It is also the seat of gove ...

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

for the temperature regime.

References

External links

Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées

Profile of climb from Col du Tourmalet on www.climbbybike.com

A night on the "Vaisseaux d'Etoiles" (Starship) du Pic du Midi
- Photo gallery *
Histoire de l'observatoire du Pic du Midi
(Observatory history)
Video about the Pic du Midi
by Roger Servajean, on

Paris Observatory The Paris Observatory (, ), a research institution of the Paris Sciences et Lettres University, is the foremost astronomical observatory of France, and one of the largest astronomical centres in the world. Its historic building is on the Left Ban ...

digital library {{DEFAULTSORT:Midi De Bigorre Astronomical observatories in France

Pic du Midi Observatory The Pic du Midi de Bigorre () or simply the Pic du Midi (elevation ) is a mountain in the French Pyrenees. It is the site of the Pic du Midi Observatory. Pic du Midi Observatory The Pic du Midi Observatory () is an astronomical observator ...

Mountains of Hautes-Pyrénées Mountains of the Pyrenees