GONSSO – Global Observatory Network for Solar System Observations

Global Observatory Network

While I was based in Singapore at Yale-NUS College, we hosted leaders from many of the best Asian observatories at Yale-NUS College as part of our ICCP9 and Yale-NUS meetings to discuss a Global Observatory Network for Solar System Observations. I was also able to visit observatories in India, Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan.

This site provides links to information about all of the observatories, organized by country. We at Yale-NUS College in Singapore are relatively close to these interesting observatories, and I am hoping to be able to work with these telescopes and have Yale-NUS College students getting data from some of these telescopes in the near future!


 

 

India

India has two main optical observatories, both administered from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) in Bangalore http://www.iiap.res.in/

VBO.telescope

TheVainu Bappu Observatory http://www.iiap.res.in/centers/vbo

The Vainu Bappu Observatory is outside of Vellore India, in a very dark site and includes a 2.3-meter telescope and two 1.0 meter telescopes. The 2.3-meter telescope is equipped with an echelle spectrograph and is used for high resolution work on stars.

Indian Astronomical Observatory, Hanle  http://www.iiap.res.in/iao_about

hanle.telescope

The Hanle observatory features a 2.0 meter telescope in a high-altitude site near the Himalayas 4500 meters above sea level. A small 0.5-meter remotely operated telescope is also on site, in a collaboration with Washington University, St. Louis, USA, for observing photometric variations in AGN.

South Korea

South Korea has two main observatories for optical work, described below. Both are administered from the Korea Astronomy and Space Institute (KASI). http://www.kasi.re.kr/english/about/History.aspx

The Sobaeksan Optical Astronomy Observatory(SOAO) http://www.kasi.re.kr/english/Research/SobaeksanOpticalAstronomyObservatory_SOAO.aspx

korean.soao.site

The Sobaeksan Optical Astronomy Observatory ( SOAO ) is an observatory in Tanyang in Sobaek Mountains. It was opened in 1978 and is equipped with a 61- cm reflecting telescope.

The Bohyunsan Optical Astronomy Observatory (BOAO) http://www.kasi.re.kr/english/Research/BohyunsanOpticalAstronomyObservatory_BOAO.aspxkorean.observatoryThe Bohyunsan Optical Astronomy Observatory ( BOAO ) is an observatory on the mountain Bohyun in Youngchun. It was founded in 1996 and has a Ritchey -Chrétien telescope with 1.8 meter in diameter.

Malaysia

 

The Langkawi National Observatory  http://observatory.angkasa.gov.my/

langkawi.image

Located in beautiful Langkawi Island, in Northern Malaysia. Features a 0.5-meter telescope, a well-equipped visitor center, and a suite of solar telescopes that include CaIIK, H-alpha and white light imaging.

Taiwan

The Lulin Observatory http://www.lulin.ncu.edu.tw/english/

lulin.observatory

At the summit of Mount Lulin at 2400 meters altitude, the Lulin Observatory includes a 1-meter telescopes, a 0.4-meter R-C telescope, and four TAOS robotic telescopes, with a 0.5-meter aperture.

Thailand

The Thai National Observatory (TNO) http://www.narit.or.th/en/index.php/facilities/thai-national-observatory-tno/overview.

thai.observatory

Located at 2,457 meters above sea level near Chiang Mai, the Thai Observatory has a 2.4-meter reflecting telescope and a 0.5-meter telescope. The drive system of the 2.4-meter telescope has been enabled to have automatic control of the dome structure. The telescope is manufactured at EOST in Tucson, Arizona, USA. The 2.4 m diameter primary mirror has been fabricated and undergone fine polishing at LZOS facility in Russia.

Leave a Reply