๐ช Space and stars ๐ญ Space travel and observatories
The observatory
๐ In short
An observatory is a place where astronomers work to study the Sun, the Moon, planets and stars. It has big telescopes, often under a round dome that opens and turns so the telescope can point anywhere in the sky.
๐คฉ Did you know?
- The mirror of the Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory is more than 5 meters across.
- The biggest lens telescope in the world has a lens about one meter across.
- Some radio telescopes are the size of several sports fields.
- There are modern observatories in Arab countries, including ones for sighting the new moon.
๐ Find out more
๐ On mountains
Observatories are usually built on high mountain tops, far from city lights, because the air is clearer and the sky darker there, so the stars show up better.
๐ Islamic observatories
Muslims built famous observatories, like the one at Maragha in Iran and Ulugh Beg's observatory in Samarkand, which had a huge instrument for measuring the height of the Sun and stars.
๐ก Telescopes that listen to stars
Some observatories have radio telescopes like giant dishes that don't see light but pick up radio waves coming from stars and galaxies.
๐ฏ Observatories in space
There are also observatories orbiting the Earth in space, above the air and clouds, seeing the stars amazingly clearly, like the Hubble telescope.
๐ธ More pictures
๐งฉ Test yourself
1 Why are observatories built on mountains?
2 In which city was Ulugh Beg's observatory?
3 The mirror of the Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory is more than ?? meters across.
4 Which picture shows โThe observatoryโ?
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