Mount Laguna Observatory
The Mount Laguna Observatory is an astronomical observatory east of the Californian metropolis of San Diego . It is located in the Cleveland National Forest in the Laguna Mountains near a village on Mount Laguna . It was erected on June 19, 1968 at an altitude of 1,859 meters and inaugurated that summer during a meeting of the largest astronomical association in the world, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific .
Today the observatory is mainly used for academic purposes. It is owned by San Diego State University , which uses it in cooperation with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Kansas .
The observatory currently has three large telescopes:
- MLO Telescope : A Cassegrain telescope with a primary mirror diameter of 1.06 meters (originally 1.02 meters). It was built by Astro Mechanics in 1966 and was part of the University of Illinois Observatory until 1981.
- Clifford Smith Telescope : A reflecting telescope with a primary mirror 0.6 meters in diameter. It was built by the astronomy department at SDSU and was used on the university campus from 1961 to 1966. After various adjustments, it was installed in the Mount Laguna Observatory in 1971.
- Reginald Buller Visitors' Telescope : A telescope with a primary mirror diameter of 0.52 meters. It was built by JW Fecker in 1950 and came to the SDSU as a donation from Reginas Buller. In 1988 it was installed at the MLO. It is open to the public and is primarily used by students.
Another telescope is currently under construction. The Phillips Claud Telescope will have upon completion of a primary mirror with a diameter of 1.26 meters and the large telescope of this observatory as well be one of the largest in the region.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ SDSU building powerful telescope from June 23, 2013 (engl.)
Coordinates: 32 ° 50 ′ 31.1 " N , 116 ° 25 ′ 38.2" W.