IanExtreme Observatories
September 21st 2009 21:49
The view of the heavens is different depending on where you stand on our grand planet, hence the necessity to place space observatories in some of the most extreme locations and environments. However, these grand installations aren't limited to astronomy. Geology, oceanography and volcanology are just some examples of uses for modern day observatories. Thanks to the Discovery Channel, these are some of the most extraordinary observatories on the face of our planet. Find more information and pictures here.
If Svalbard's world of ice and seed vaults isn't extreme enough for you, then check out the South Pole Telescope at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) South Pole Station. At this post, there's no braving nine miles of polar bear-infested roads for a night at the nearest cinema. We're talking the Antarctic Plateau here, a barren plain atop a two-mile-thick glacier that's nearly devoid of naturally occurring life.
The station's massive, 33-foot South Pole Telescope measures cosmic background radiation (CBR), which inundates Earth from every direction after travelling billions of years through space. To properly observe the radiation, you need a clear sky with little or no moisture to absorb the precious light. The South Pole provides as clear a window into space as you could hope for without leaving the atmosphere.
Despite the rather hostile environment, South Pole astronomers actually enjoy nice digs at the $153 million Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. The elevated facility (which replaced a more primitive dome, built in 1975) houses a gym, greenhouse, recreation areas, research facilities and enough room to accommodate between 50 and 150 people.
Let's ditch the snowscapes for a bit and head straight into the jungles of Puerto Rico. There, we'll find one of the more outstanding telescopes -- a place where geology and technology merge.
Boasting a 1,000-foot reflector, the Arecibo Observatory is the largest single-unit radio telescope in the world. Rather than construct the massive framework that a reflector dish would require, its designers situated it in one of the area's naturally bowl-shaped limestone sinkholes. The observatory's equatorial location also puts it in an excellent position to study not only the ionosphere, but also nearby planets that cross its path.
The National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC) built the telescope in 1963. Since then, Arecibo has operated around the clock to help radio astronomy, planetary radar and terrestrial aeronomy researchers from all over the world. More than four decades after it first scanned the stars, it remains one of the most powerful radar-radio telescopes on the planet. On a much lesser note, it's also the only telescope that James Bond has ever snuffed a villain in (see 1995's "GoldenEye").
If you've ever stared long and hard into the sun, chances are that you've either got a high tolerance for pain or you're a solar astronomer (or possibly both?). In order to study the sun, you obviously have to be able to look at it, a task that requires special equipment. On the cheaper end of the spectrum, this might entail an amateur pinhole or telescope projector setup. But if you want to get fancy, you could use a 200-foot-long unobstructed aperture optical telescope buried in the side of an Arizona mountain.
It may look like it belongs in the Guggenheim or the Tate Modern, but the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope at Kitt Peak is the largest solar instrument in the world. With a 5.25-foot lens diameter, it's also the planet's largest unobstructed aperture optical telescope.
A 100-foot tower holds up one end of the slanted telescope, while the rest of it continues into the side of the mountain. Like an iceberg, there's more of it under the surface than above. A three-mirror heliostat directs sunlight down the shaft, where it's reflected through mirrors for viewing and analysis. Astronomers use the solar telescope to study sunspots, solar flares solar emissions and solar composition. The instrument is even powerful enough to study some of the brighter stars at night.
Whoa, there! A subterranean observatory? How is an astronomer supposed to study the stars when he or she is buried nearly a mile under a mountain in the Japanese Alps? Welcome to the world of neutrino astronomy -- and the beautiful and bizarre observatory that scientists nicknamed "the glass cathedral."
The Super-Kamiokande (Super-K) neutrino observatory looks like something from a 1970s space comic -- even a "Moonraker" era James Bond wouldn't kill someone inside this thing. It's essentially a giant cylinder lined with 11,000 glass photomultiplier tubes and filled with 50,000 tons of crystal-clear water. Constructed in an abandoned zinc mine, the observatory resembles an artificial subterranean pond. Maintenance crews even take a small boat out to inspect the tubes.
The Super-K observatory exists because of something known as Cherenkov radiation, which is produced by charged particles and scattered by neutrinos in the water. The particles, zipping around even faster than the speed of light, emit a measurable glow, called Cherenkov radiation. The glass tubes lining the inside of the observatory detect this glow and the resulting information helps astronomers to, among other things, identify supernovae.
In a sense, archaeology is much like astronomy. Scientists attempt to understand the birth of the universe through the remnants of long-dead stars, while some archaeologists try to fathom the people of 2000 B.C. by examining the ruins of Stonehenge in the United Kingdom.
There in the English county of Wiltshire, enormous 50-ton stones form a 320-foot diameter ring. Although the monument's true purpose remains a mystery, some researchers theorize that the ancient site constitutes one of the world's first observatories. English astronomer Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer gave this theory some credence by demonstrating that Stonehenge's northeast axis aligns with the sunrise at the summer solstice. Prehistoric humans may have used the stones to predict what times of the year to perform various agricultural tasks or religious rituals -- a kind of calendar.
Other theories abound as well. Was it a burial ground? A tribute to a fertility goddess? Try to imagine the world 5,000 years from now. If they lacked records of life in the 21st century, what might they make of the ruins of Arecibo, Super-K or any of the other observatories on this list?
The South Pole Telescope
The station's massive, 33-foot South Pole Telescope measures cosmic background radiation (CBR), which inundates Earth from every direction after travelling billions of years through space. To properly observe the radiation, you need a clear sky with little or no moisture to absorb the precious light. The South Pole provides as clear a window into space as you could hope for without leaving the atmosphere.
Despite the rather hostile environment, South Pole astronomers actually enjoy nice digs at the $153 million Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. The elevated facility (which replaced a more primitive dome, built in 1975) houses a gym, greenhouse, recreation areas, research facilities and enough room to accommodate between 50 and 150 people.
Arecibo Observatory
Boasting a 1,000-foot reflector, the Arecibo Observatory is the largest single-unit radio telescope in the world. Rather than construct the massive framework that a reflector dish would require, its designers situated it in one of the area's naturally bowl-shaped limestone sinkholes. The observatory's equatorial location also puts it in an excellent position to study not only the ionosphere, but also nearby planets that cross its path.
The National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC) built the telescope in 1963. Since then, Arecibo has operated around the clock to help radio astronomy, planetary radar and terrestrial aeronomy researchers from all over the world. More than four decades after it first scanned the stars, it remains one of the most powerful radar-radio telescopes on the planet. On a much lesser note, it's also the only telescope that James Bond has ever snuffed a villain in (see 1995's "GoldenEye").
The McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope
It may look like it belongs in the Guggenheim or the Tate Modern, but the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope at Kitt Peak is the largest solar instrument in the world. With a 5.25-foot lens diameter, it's also the planet's largest unobstructed aperture optical telescope.
A 100-foot tower holds up one end of the slanted telescope, while the rest of it continues into the side of the mountain. Like an iceberg, there's more of it under the surface than above. A three-mirror heliostat directs sunlight down the shaft, where it's reflected through mirrors for viewing and analysis. Astronomers use the solar telescope to study sunspots, solar flares solar emissions and solar composition. The instrument is even powerful enough to study some of the brighter stars at night.
The Super-K Subterranean Neutrino Observatory
The Super-Kamiokande (Super-K) neutrino observatory looks like something from a 1970s space comic -- even a "Moonraker" era James Bond wouldn't kill someone inside this thing. It's essentially a giant cylinder lined with 11,000 glass photomultiplier tubes and filled with 50,000 tons of crystal-clear water. Constructed in an abandoned zinc mine, the observatory resembles an artificial subterranean pond. Maintenance crews even take a small boat out to inspect the tubes.
The Super-K observatory exists because of something known as Cherenkov radiation, which is produced by charged particles and scattered by neutrinos in the water. The particles, zipping around even faster than the speed of light, emit a measurable glow, called Cherenkov radiation. The glass tubes lining the inside of the observatory detect this glow and the resulting information helps astronomers to, among other things, identify supernovae.
Stonehenge
There in the English county of Wiltshire, enormous 50-ton stones form a 320-foot diameter ring. Although the monument's true purpose remains a mystery, some researchers theorize that the ancient site constitutes one of the world's first observatories. English astronomer Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer gave this theory some credence by demonstrating that Stonehenge's northeast axis aligns with the sunrise at the summer solstice. Prehistoric humans may have used the stones to predict what times of the year to perform various agricultural tasks or religious rituals -- a kind of calendar.
Other theories abound as well. Was it a burial ground? A tribute to a fertility goddess? Try to imagine the world 5,000 years from now. If they lacked records of life in the 21st century, what might they make of the ruins of Arecibo, Super-K or any of the other observatories on this list?
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