National Solar Observatory

National Solar Observatory
Established 1952 (1952)
Research type basic
Field of research
 solar physics
Director Valentin M. Pillet
Staff around 150
Address 3665 Discovery Drive, 3rd Floor, Boulder, CO, 80303, USA
Location Boulder, Colorado, USA
40°00′42″N 105°14′44″W / 40.0117201°N 105.2454644°W / 40.0117201; -105.2454644
Affiliations University of Colorado Boulder
Operating agency
 AURA, NSF
Website www.nso.edu


The National Solar Observatory (NSO) is a United States public research institute to advance the knowledge of the physics of the Sun. NSO studies the Sun both as an astronomical object and as the dominant external influence on Earth. NSO is headquartered in Boulder and operates facilities at two locations, at Sacramento Peak near Sunspot in New Mexico, and at Kitt Peak in Arizona until the end of fiscal year 2017. The institute is constructing the 4-meter Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in the Haleakala Observatory on the island of Maui.

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 at Sacramento Peak welcomes visitors during the daytime. There is a separate, nighttime observatory, Apache Point Observatory, located nearby. The observatory lies in New Mexico at the southern end of NM Scenic Byway 6563, about 18 miles (by car) south of Cloudcroft (on NM 82), and 40 miles southeast (by car) from Alamogordo (on NM 70 and 54), in the village of Sunspot inside of the Lincoln National Forest. Sunspot is an unincorporated community in the Sacramento Mountains in Otero County.

The National Solar Observatory in Arizona is located in Tucson and at Kitt Peak, which is 56 miles southwest of Tucson via State Route 86 on the Tohono O'Odham Reservation. Allow 90 minutes of drive time from Tucson.


Telescopes operated by the observatory

Sacramento Peak

Kitt Peak

Global

History

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 and professor at The University of Hawaii, formerly with the United States Air Force on assignment during the early inception of the observatory.[1]

References

  1. ↑ Zirker, J. B. (1998). "The Sacramento Peak Observatory". Solar Physics (182). pp. 1–19.

Further reading

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