Fan Mountain Observatory

Infobox Observatory
name = Fan Mountain Observatory
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organization = Astronomy Department, University of Virginia
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location = Albemarle County, Virginia, United States
coords = coord|37|52|41.35|N|78|41|34.92|W|region:US_type:landmark_scale:2000|display=it
altitude = 566 m (1857 ft)
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established =
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website = [http://www.astro.virginia.edu/research/observatories/FanMt.html]
telescope1_name = Fan Mountain Astrometric reflector
telescope1_type = 40-inch reflector
telescope2_name = Fan Mountain Infrared reflector
telescope2_type = 31-inch reflector
telescope3_name = Cooke astrograph
telescope3_type = 10-inch astrograph

Fan Mountain Observatory (or Fan Mountain Station of Leander McCormick Observatory), an observatory operated by the Astronomy Department of the University of Virginia in southern Albemarle County, Virginia. It was opened in 1966 with a convert|31|in|mm|sing=on Tinsley reflector, with a convert|40|in|mm|sing=on Baker-Schmidt astrometric reflector following in 1972, to extend the parallax work of the McCormick Observatory, which was suffering from light pollution from growing Charlottesville, Virginia by this time. Today both telescopes have been outfitted with state-of-the-art instruments and are operated nightly by university students and faculty. The primary instruments for the convert|40|in|mm|sing=on telescope are a 2048x2048 SITe CCD for direct imaging and a fiber-fed visible wavelength spectrograph, FOBOS, for general spectroscopy and precision radial velocity measurement. The convert|31|in|mm|sing=on telescope supports a 1024x1024 HAWAII-1 based HgCdTe infrared camera operating between 0.8 and 2.5 µm. This camera is capable of direct imaging in an 8.5 x 8.5' (2.5 x 2.5 mrad) field with 0.5" (2.4 µrad) pixels as well as polarimetry and grism spectroscopy. Fan Mountain observatory hosts a "public night" twice each year when eyepieces are placed on the two telescopes for general viewing.

See also

* List of observatories
* List of largest optical refracting telescopes

External links

* [http://www.astro.virginia.edu/research/observatories/FanMt.php Fan Mountain Observatory home page]
* [http://cleardarksky.com/c/FnMtnObkey.html?1 Fan Mountain Observatory Clear Sky Clock] Forecast of observing conditions.