West Mountain Observatory
 | |||||||
| Organization | Brigham Young University | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Location | West Mountain | ||||||
| Coordinates | 40°05′15″N 111°49′34″W / 40.08741°N 111.82604°WCoordinates: 40°05′15″N 111°49′34″W / 40.08741°N 111.82604°W | ||||||
| Altitude | 2,120 meters (6,960 ft) | ||||||
| Established | 1981 | ||||||
| Website | West Mountain Observatory | ||||||
| Telescopes | |||||||
| |||||||
West Mountain Observatory (WMO) is an astronomical observatory located on West Mountain near the town of West Mountain, Utah (USA), about 22 km (14 mi) southwest of Provo, Utah. The observatory is owned and operated by Brigham Young University (BYU), and opened in 1981 after increasing light pollution reduced the utility of the Orson Pratt Observatory on the BYU campus.[1] The first year of observing with the new 0.9 m telescope included imaging of intrinsic variable stars and high-mass X-ray binaries.[2] Past research topics include light curve analysis of Delta Scuti variable stars and identifying pre-main-sequence stars by searching for H-alpha emitting objects.[3][4]
Telescopes
- A 0.9 m (35 in) reflecting telescope built by DFM Engineering was installed at WMO in 2009. The main dome originally housed a 0.6 m reflector built by Tinsley Laboratories.[5]
- A 0.5 m (20 in) reflector is housed in its own dome on a robotic telescope mount.[6]
- A 0.3 m (12 in) reflector is housed in its own dome on a robotic telescope mount.[7]
See also
References
- ↑ "West Mountain Observatory". Brigham Young University Department of Physics and Astronomy. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
- ↑ Joner, Michael D.; Hintz, E. G.; Laney, C. D.; Moody, J. W. (2011). "A Summary of the First Year of Observations from the West Mountain Observatory 0.9-meter Telescope". American Astronomical Society. 217: 15713. Bibcode:2011AAS...21715713J.
- ↑ Joner, Michael D.; Iverson, E. P.; Jolley, J. W.; Joner, L. A.; Swenson, C. A. (2007). "A Light Curve and Period Analysis of AE Ursae Majoris, CY Aquarii, and DY Pegasi". American Astronomical Society. 211: 846. Bibcode:2007AAS...211.6017J.
- ↑ Evanko, L. R.; Joner, M. D. (2004). "An H Alpha Survey of Young Open Clusters for PMS Objects". American Astronomical Society Meeting 204. 204: 775. Bibcode:2004AAS...204.6217E.
- ↑ "West Mountain 0.9-m Telescope". Brigham Young University Department of Physics and Astronomy. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
- ↑ "West Mountain 0.5-m Telescope". Brigham Young University Department of Physics and Astronomy. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
- ↑ "West Mountain 0.3-m Telescope". Brigham Young University Department of Physics and Astronomy. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
External links
- Department of Physics and Astronomy at BYU
- Spanish Fork Clear Sky Chart Forecasts of observing conditions approximately 15 km east of WMO.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 6/3/2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.