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45-637: The Australian Astronomical Observatory (AAO), formerly the Anglo-Australian Observatory, was an optical and near-infrared astronomy observatory with its headquarters in North Ryde in suburban Sydney , Australia . Originally funded jointly by the United Kingdom and Australian governments, it was managed wholly by Australia's Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education. The AAO operated

90-450: A reasonable time frame. A number of major studies undertaken with the AAT have exploited these capabilities. The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS) used the 2dF instrument to obtain spectra and redshifts for ~250000 galaxies brighter than B~19.5 over ~7% of the southern sky in only ~270 nights. The 2dFGRS sample size was an order of magnitude greater than those of previous surveys, allowing

135-596: A remote 5,640 m (18,500 ft) mountaintop in the Atacama Desert of Chile. The oldest proto-observatories, in the sense of an observation post for astronomy, The oldest true observatories, in the sense of a specialized research institute , include: Space-based observatories are telescopes or other instruments that are located in outer space , many in orbit around the Earth. Space telescopes can be used to observe astronomical objects at wavelengths of

180-670: A rigorous evaluation of cosmological parameters. For example, the survey has refined estimates of the mass density of the Universe, provided a determination of the fraction of baryonic matter in the Universe and set an upper limit on the total mass of neutrinos. In addition 2dFGRS yielded an independent estimate of the Hubble constant, which was in excellent agreement with value determined by the Hubble Space Telescope Key Project. The ongoing WiggleZ project

225-619: A single, cross-language and cross-culture brand name. The company's headquarters were previously located at One SeaGate , Toledo, Ohio . The headquarters were moved in late 2006 to the Levis Commons complex in Perrysburg, Ohio . The company is the successor to the Owens Bottle Company founded in 1903 by Michael Joseph Owens , who made the first automated bottle-making machine, and Edward Drummond Libbey . In 1929,

270-428: A slit or other opening in the roof that can be opened during observing, and closed when the telescope is not in use. In most cases, the entire upper portion of the telescope dome can be rotated to allow the instrument to observe different sections of the night sky. Radio telescopes usually do not have domes. For optical telescopes, most ground-based observatories are located far from major centers of population, to avoid

315-419: A week at the absolute reference point calibration measurements are performed. Example magnetic observatories include: Example seismic observation projects and observatories include: Example gravitational wave observatories include: A volcano observatory is an institution that conducts the monitoring of a volcano as well as research in order to understand the potential impacts of active volcanism. Among

360-833: Is a facility which precisely measures the total intensity of Earth's magnetic field for field strength and direction at standard intervals. Geomagnetic observatories are most useful when located away from human activities to avoid disturbances of anthropogenic origin, and the observation data is collected at a fixed location continuously for decades. Magnetic observations are aggregated, processed, quality checked and made public through data centers such as INTERMAGNET . The types of measuring equipment at an observatory may include magnetometers (torsion, declination-inclination fluxgate, proton precession, Overhauser-effect), variometer (3-component vector, total-field scalar), dip circle , inclinometer , earth inductor, theodolite , self-recording magnetograph, magnetic declinometer, azimuth compass. Once

405-444: Is a scientific institution whose main task is to make observations in the fields of meteorology, geomagnetism and tides that are important for the navy and civil shipping. An astronomical observatory is usually also attached. Some of these observatories also deal with nautical weather forecasts and storm warnings, astronomical time services, nautical calendars and seismology. Example marine observatories include: A magnetic observatory

450-510: Is an American company that specializes in container glass products. It is one of the world's leading manufacturers of packaging products, holding the position of largest manufacturer of glass containers in North America , South America , Asia-Pacific and Europe (after acquiring BSN Glasspack in 2004 ). While legally known as Owens-Illinois, Inc., the company changed its trade name to O-I in 2005 to group its global operations under

495-514: Is mounted equatorially , loosely following the design of the 4m Kitt Peak National Observatory telescope. The mount was manufactured in Muroran , Japan by Mitsubishi Electric . It was shipped to Australia in early 1973 before being assembled at Siding Spring Mountain in April of that year. The telescope drive system was also produced by Mitsubishi Electric and delivered at this time. It was one of

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540-658: Is that, because of their location above the Earth's atmosphere, their images are free from the effects of atmospheric turbulence that plague ground-based observations. As a result, the angular resolution of space telescopes such as the Hubble Space Telescope is often much smaller than a ground-based telescope with a similar aperture . However, all these advantages do come with a price. Space telescopes are much more expensive to build than ground-based telescopes. Due to their location, space telescopes are also extremely difficult to maintain. The Hubble Space Telescope

585-613: Is the Mauna Kea Observatory , located near the summit of a 4,205 m (13,796 ft) volcano in Hawaiʻi. The Chacaltaya Astrophysical Observatory in Bolivia, at 5,230 m (17,160 ft), was the world's highest permanent astronomical observatory from the time of its construction during the 1940s until 2009. It has now been surpassed by the new University of Tokyo Atacama Observatory , an optical-infrared telescope on

630-402: Is using the AAT and AAOmega to measure the redshifts of ~200000 distant luminous blue star forming galaxies distributed over an area of ~5000 times the area of the moon. The primary goal of this study is to use an intrinsic feature in the distribution of galaxies as a "standard ruler" to relate distance to redshift and improve our knowledge of the nature of dark energy. This mysterious component of

675-478: The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy use airplanes to observe in the infrared , which is absorbed by water vapor in the atmosphere. High-altitude balloons for X-ray astronomy have been used in a variety of countries. Example underground, underwater or under ice neutrino observatories include: Example meteorological observatories include: A marine observatory

720-683: The southwestern United States , Hawaii , Canary Islands , the Andes , and high mountains in Mexico such as Sierra Negra . Major optical observatories include Mauna Kea Observatory and Kitt Peak National Observatory in the US, Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in Spain, and Paranal Observatory and Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile . Specific research study performed in 2009 shows that

765-451: The 1970s through the mid-1990s before allowing Techneglas to take over the operations. Although it has not made asbestos -containing materials since 1958, Owens-Illinois invented, tested, manufactured and distributed KAYLO asbestos containing thermal pipe insulation from 1948 through 1958. Owens-Illinois remains a named defendant in numerous asbestos litigation matters throughout the U.S. Some claims in these cases allege that Owens-Illinois

810-541: The 27.5 ton structure was cast from zero-expansion Cervit glass in April 1969. The blank was shipped to Newcastle-upon-Tyne , England to be figured and polished by Grubb Parsons The final product has a diameter of 3.9m and a focal length of 12.7m. Construction of the building and dome, undertaken by the Australian companies Leighton Contractors and Evans-Deakin Industries respectively, began in late-1970 and

855-587: The 3.9-metre Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) and 1.2-metre UK Schmidt Telescope (UKST) at Siding Spring Observatory , located near the town of Coonabarabran , Australia. In addition to operating the two telescopes, AAO staff carried out astronomical research, and designed and built astronomical instrumentation for the AAT, UKST, and other telescopes including the European Southern Observatory (ESO)'s Very Large Telescope in Chile, and

900-559: The AATB. The matter was not settled until June 1973 when the Australian government endorsed the AATBs decision for an independent staff, marking the birth of the Anglo-Australian Observatory. The first director, Joe Wampler, took up his post in September 1974. To date there have been five directors. In late-1967 the contract for the primary mirror blank was awarded to Owens-Illinois , USA and

945-684: The Japanese Subaru Telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. UK involvement in the AAO ceased in June 2010, with the change of name and management arrangements effective from 1 July 2010. In the years immediately after World War II optical observational astronomy in the UK was toiling due to a lack of modern infrastructure. There were no large telescopes in the southern hemisphere despite some of

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990-629: The Owens Bottle Company merged with Illinois Glass Company to become Owens-Illinois, Inc. Six years later, Owens-Illinois merged with Corning Incorporated to form Owens Corning . In 1971 Owens-Illinois produced an early commercial plasma display , the digivue. Until July 2007, the company was also a worldwide manufacturer of plastics packaging with operations in North America, South America, Asia-Pacific and Europe. Plastics packaging products manufactured by O-I included containers, closures, and prescription containers. In July 2007 O-I completed

1035-557: The Universe appears to be responsible for accelerating its rate of expansion. Another AAOmega based survey on the AAT, Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA), is in the process of obtaining optical spectroscopy for ~250000 galaxies in the Local Universe. The AAOmega data will be used in conjunction with observations from satellite observatories such as the Herschel Space Observatory , and other telescopes around

1080-732: The best known are the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and the Vesuvius Observatory . Mobile volcano observatories exist with the USGS VDAP (Volcano Disaster Assistance Program), to be deployed on demand. Each volcano observatory has a geographic area of responsibility it is assigned to whereby the observatory is tasked with spreading activity forecasts, analyzing potential volcanic activity threats and cooperating with communities in preparation for volcanic eruption . Owens-Illinois O-I Glass, Inc.

1125-898: The best possible location for ground-based observatory on Earth is Ridge A  — a place in the central part of Eastern Antarctica. This location provides the least atmospheric disturbances and best visibility. Beginning in 1933, radio telescopes have been built for use in the field of radio astronomy to observe the Universe in the radio portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Such an instrument, or collection of instruments, with supporting facilities such as control centres, visitor housing, data reduction centers, and/or maintenance facilities are called radio observatories . Radio observatories are similarly located far from major population centers to avoid electromagnetic interference (EMI) from radio , TV , radar , and other EMI emitting devices, but unlike optical observatories, radio observatories can be placed in valleys for further EMI shielding. Some of

1170-423: The distance between stars ) or Stonehenge (which has some alignments on astronomical phenomena). Ground-based observatories, located on the surface of Earth, are used to make observations in the radio and visible light portions of the electromagnetic spectrum . Most optical telescopes are housed within a dome or similar structure, to protect the delicate instruments from the elements. Telescope domes have

1215-615: The early 1960s to discuss the technical specifications and begin the search for a suitable site for the proposed telescope, a formal approach was made to the governments of both countries in July 1965. It was finally agreed in April 1967 that the building of a 150" telescope, the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT), should proceed. The telescope was to be located on Siding Spring Mountain in the Warrumbungles , which

1260-477: The effects of light pollution . The ideal locations for modern observatories are sites that have dark skies, a large percentage of clear nights per year, dry air, and are at high elevations. At high elevations, the Earth's atmosphere is thinner, thereby minimizing the effects of atmospheric turbulence and resulting in better astronomical " seeing ". Sites that meet the above criteria for modern observatories include

1305-463: The electromagnetic spectrum that cannot penetrate the Earth's atmosphere and are thus impossible to observe using ground-based telescopes. The Earth's atmosphere is opaque to ultraviolet radiation, X-rays , and gamma rays and is partially opaque to infrared radiation so observations in these portions of the electromagnetic spectrum are best carried out from a location above the atmosphere of our planet. Another advantage of space-based telescopes

1350-553: The first to be controlled by computer, an Interdata Model 70, and provided new levels of pointing and tracking precision. Assembly of the AAT was completed by 1974 and commissioning of the telescope began in April of that year. In total it took eight years to build at a cost of A$ 16 million. It was inaugurated by HRH Prince Charles on 16 October 1974 and went into general use in June 1975. The AAO has made use of optical fibres in astronomy for over 25 years. Instruments such as AAOmega, and its predecessor 2dF, use optical fibres to feed

1395-529: The high stability of the University College London Echelle Spectrograph (UCLES) to obtain the few metres per second precision in measurements of the line-of-sight velocities of stars necessary to detect the reflex Doppler motion induced by the presence of a planet. The AAPS has found more than 20 extrasolar planets, with masses ranging from ~10% to > 10 times that of Jupiter. The 1.2-metre UK Schmidt Telescope

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1440-401: The light of stars and galaxies from the telescope into a spectrograph where it is dispersed into its component colours for detailed subsequent analysis. The broad field-of-view accessed by the 2dF and AAOmega instruments (4 times the width of the moon) and their 400 optical fibres, makes it feasible to spectroscopically survey large numbers of objects distributed across expansive areas of sky in

1485-596: The most intriguing astronomical objects (e.g. the Galactic Centre and the Magellanic Clouds ) being best placed for study from these latitudes. In the 1950s Richard Woolley , Director of Mount Stromlo Observatory from 1939 to 1956 and Astronomer Royal from 1956 to 1971, suggested constructing a large telescope in Australia. After a series of meetings between British and Australian scientists in

1530-525: The running of the telescope. As construction of the AAT gathered pace, a heated debate ensued as to the details of the management structure which would control the telescope. Then Director of Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories, Olin Eggen and then Vice-Chancellor of the ANU, John Crawford , claimed that the bi-national agreement did not provide for the creation of a separate observatory. They argued that

1575-682: The sale of its entire plastics packaging business to Rexam , a United Kingdom listed packaging manufacturer. Owens-Illinois was a part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average from June 1, 1959, until March 12, 1987. The company was added to the S&;P 500 Index in January 2009. Owens-Illinois was one of the original S&P 500 companies in 1957. It was removed in 1987 (after purchase by KKR ), added in 1991 and removed again in 2000. In October 2010, Owens-Illinois Venezuela C.A

1620-843: The southern sky and the 6dF Galaxy Survey . Its multi-object spectroscopic capability is currently being exploited to perform the Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE) survey. Observatory The term observatoire has been used in French since at least 1976 to denote any institution that compiles and presents data on a particular subject (such as public health observatory ) or for a particular geographic area ( European Audiovisual Observatory ). Astronomical observatories are mainly divided into four categories: space-based , airborne , ground-based, and underground-based. Historically, ground-based observatories were as simple as containing an astronomical sextant (for measuring

1665-513: The telescope should ultimately be under the control of the Director of Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories and that additional staff for the new telescope should be provided by the ANU. However, fearing that they would be mere guests rather than equal partners in the AAT, British astronomers, with support from Australian state university astronomers, campaigned hard for a separate director and staff who were employed by and answerable only to

1710-655: The telescope, the mounting and the building and let contracts on a worldwide basis, exploiting the experience of those staff members who were involved in the development and construction of the Parkes radio telescope . The Anglo-Australian Telescope Agreement was signed on 25 September 1969 and came into effect on 22 February 1971. The Joint Policy Committee was replaced by the Anglo-Australian Telescope Board (AATB), an entity with full legal status under Australian law with responsibilities of overseeing

1755-795: The world's major radio observatories include the Very Large Array in New Mexico , United States, Jodrell Bank in the UK , Arecibo in Puerto Rico , Parkes in New South Wales , Australia, and Chajnantor in Chile . A related discipline is Very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI). Since the mid-20th century, a number of astronomical observatories have been constructed at very high altitudes , above 4,000–5,000 m (13,000–16,000 ft). The largest and most notable of these

1800-583: The world, to examine the predictions of the Cold Dark Matter standard cosmological model, like the relationship between the number density of dark matter halos and their masses and the relationship between the number density of galaxies and their masses as determined through studying their starlight. The AAT also hosts a program to search for extrasolar planets , the Anglo-Australian Planet Search (AAPS). The AAPS exploits

1845-721: Was expropriated by President Hugo Chávez . In May 2015, O-I made an offer to purchase the food and beverage glass container business of Mexican company Vitro for $ 2.15 billion. The acquisition closed in September 2015. [1] In 2020, a subsidiary of O-I Glass, Paddock Enterprises, entered bankruptcy following numerous asbestos lawsuits filed against the company. All of the company's asbestos-related claims were isolated within Paddock and separated from O-I's glass-making operations. Owens-Illinois partnered with NEG ( Nippon Electric Glass ), to produce glass television screens at its Columbus, Ohio , and Pittston , Pennsylvania, plants in

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1890-483: Was able to be serviced by the Space Shuttles while many other space telescopes cannot be serviced at all. Airborne observatories have the advantage of height over ground installations, putting them above most of the Earth's atmosphere. They also have an advantage over space telescopes: The instruments can be deployed, repaired and updated much more quickly and inexpensively. The Kuiper Airborne Observatory and

1935-668: Was built to complement the AAT and officially began operations in August 1973. It was designed for survey astronomy, having an extremely large field-of-view which is more than 12 times the apparent diameter of the moon. The telescope was operated by the Schmidt Telescope Unit of the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh until 1988, when it was agreed that control would be handed over to the AAO. The Schmidt has undertaken work including blue and red photographic surveys of

1980-403: Was completed by the end of 1972. The building was manufactured from concrete, stands 26m high and has seven floors housing offices, labs and a mirror aluminising chamber. The telescope stands on a concrete pier with a separate foundation to the main building, to reduce the risk of vibrations. The double skinned dome is manufactured from both steel and aluminium and weighs 570 tonnes. The telescope

2025-667: Was owned by the Australian National University (ANU) and the site of some of their existing infrastructure. Later that year an interim body known as the Joint Policy Committee, and including prominent scientists Edward Bowen (Aus), Olin Eggen (Aus), Richard Woolley (UK) and Jim Hosie (UK) was formed to oversee the early running of a project office which was located in Canberra . The project office finalised designs and specifications for

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