Telescope Facilities

List compiled by D.M. Alexander, University of Cambridge; email: dma (at) ast.cam.ac.uk (last updated 5th August 2005)

The objective of this web page is to list telescope facilities and the available instruments (plus basic details of each facility) that are mostly suitable for extragalactic research. For further and more accurate information the individual telescope/observatory pages should be consulted. This list isn't intended to be exhaustive and may have some inaccuracies but should be useful as a general guide.

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Click here for a comprehensive list of telescopes and click here or here for seasonal observability of targets at different latitudes/observatories

X-ray Observatories:

Chandra X-ray Observatory (NASA great observatory; July 23rd 1999+); ~0.1-10 keV; ~0".5 resolution; Proposal deadline: ~15 March

XMM-Newton (ESA cornerstone mission; December 10th 1999+); 0.15-15 keV; ~6" resolution: Proposal deadline: ~October Integral (ESA; October 17 2002+); Proposal deadline: ~October Swift (NASA MIDEX; 20th November 2004+): ASTRO-E2 (Suzaku) (JAXA; July 10th 2005+); 0.4-700 keV; ~30" resolution; Proposal deadline: ~August RXTE (NASA; 30th December 1995+): the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer is optimised to explore the variability of bright X-ray sources at 2-250 keV; Proposal deadine: ~September

Some Future X-ray Observatories (some are only proposed):

ASTROSAT (India; launch 2007+): planned 0.3-80 keV coverage, including UV (100-300nm), for imaging, spectroscopy, and timing observations Lobster (ESA; launch 2009+): planned 0.1-3 keV all-sky mointor with 4' resolution over 162x22.5 sq deg; originally planned to be sited on international space station NuSTAR (NASA MIDEX; launch 2009+): planned 6-80 keV coverage with ~40" resolution over ~8.4'x8.4' SIMBOL-X (CNES; launch 2012+): proposal for a 0.5-70 keV formation-flying observatory with a 30m focal length mirror; 2 orders of magnitude improvement in angular resolution and sensitivity over previous non-focusing observatories Constellation-X (NASA; launch 2015+): planned 0.25-40 keV coverage with 15" (0.25-10 keV; 2.5' FOV) and 1' (10-40 keV; 8' FOV) resolution; high-resolution spectroscopy (few eV) is the main goal XEUS (ESA; launch 2017+): proposed 0.1-40 keV coverage with ~2-5" resolution over ~7' FOV; high-resolution spectroscopy (~6eV) is the main goal

Ultraviolet to Infrared Ground-Based Observatories:

Click here for a comprehensive list of optical-based telescopes

Click here for a list of near-infrared spectrographs on big telescopes

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Very Large Telescope (VLT) (ESO, Paranal, Chile; May 25-26 1998+ for first telescope): four 8.2m telescopes (ANTU; KUEYEN; MELIPAL; YEPUN) that can be used in interformetric mode (up to 100+m baseline) to achieve the senstivity of a ~16m telescope (VLTI); variety of instruments and modes are available, covering the broad wavelength range of near-UV to mid-infrared. Proposal deadlines: ~1st April and ~1st October; Latitude=-24 deg, 37' (elevation=2635m) Other ESO telescopes (La Silla, Chile); inaugurated in 1969; Proposal deadlines: ~1st April and ~1st October; Latitude=-29 deg, 15' (elevation=2400m) 8m Gemini-North telescope (US/UK/Can/Chile/Aus/Bra/Arg; Mauna Kea, Hawaii): UK gets ~25-30% share of the available time; Proposal deadlines: ~31 March and ~31 September; Latitude=+19 deg, 49' (elevation=4139m) 8m Gemini-South telescope (US/UK/Can/Chile/Aus/Bra/Arg; Cerro Pachion, Chile): UK gets ~20-25% share of the available time; Proposal deadlines: ~31 March and ~31 September; Latitude=-24 deg, 37' (elevation=2700m) 4m VISTA Telescope (PPARC; Paranal, Chile; 2006+): wide-field of view telescope that is able to feed to either an infrared (1 sq degree; zJHK) or optical camera (2.25 sq degree; u'g'r'i'z'), intended for large-area or ultra-deep imaging surveys (effectively replacing 1.2m UKST); Latitude=-24 deg, 37' (elevation=2700m) 3.8m United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT; Mauna Kea, Hawaii): PPARC owned telescope for UK community and operated by the Joint Astronomy Centre; Proposal deadlines: ~15 March and ~15 September; Latitude=+19 deg, 49' (elevation=4139m) 4.2m William Herschel Telescope (WHT, La Palma): operational since 1st June 1987; owned by PPARC with ~20% Dutch stake; Proposal deadlines: ~15 March and ~15 September; Latitude=+28 deg, 45' (elevation=2330m) 2.5m Isaac Newton Telescope (INT, La Palma): owned by PPARC with ~20% Dutch stake; fully operated by visiting astronomers and no telescope operator is available; Proposal deadlines: ~15 March and ~15 September; Latitude=+28 deg, 45' (elevation=2330m) 3.6m Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG, La Palma): Italian telescope but at the time of writing the UK community is allowed to apply for time (5n minimum will be available, including NL); Proposal deadlines: ~15 March and ~15 September; Latitude=+28 deg, 45' 3.9m Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT, Australia): joint Australian and UK telescope; commissioned in 1974, one of the last equatorially mounted large telescopes; Proposal deadlines: ~15 March and ~15 September; Latitude=+31 deg, 15' (elevation=1130m) 1.2m UKST: United Kingdom Schmidt Telescope, a special purpose telescope with a wide-angle field of view originally designed to photograph 6.6x6.6 degree regions of the Southern sky; joint Australian and UK telescope operating since 1973; Proposal deadlines: ~15 March and ~15 September; Latitude=+31 deg, 15' (elevation=1130m)

Ultraviolet to Infrared Ground-Based Observatories that the UK Community may also be able to access:

10m Keck (Caltech, Mauna Kea, Hawaii): twin 10m telescopes owned by Caltech; some international time is available to the UK community via the NOAO; Latitude=+19 deg, 49' (elevation=4139m) 8.2m Subaru (NAOJ, Mauna Kea, Hawaii): need to check if international time is available to the UK community; Latitude=+19 deg, 49' (elevation=4139m) 10.4m Grand Telescopio Canarias (GTC; various collaborations, La Palma; 2005+): 10.4m segemented telescope; Latitude=+28 deg, 45' (elevation=2330m) 9.2m Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET; various US and German institutions; McDonald Observatory, Texas): 9.2m telescope tailored for spectroscopy; fixed altitude telescope 11m South-African Large Telescope (SALT; South Africa; will shortly become operational) optmised for high-resolution spectroscopy (multi-object, Fabry-Perot; FOV=8') at optical-to-near-infrared wavelengths (320-2500nm) but also polarimetry; fixed altitude telescope; Elevation=1798m 3.6m Canadra French Hawaii Telescope (CFHT; Mauna Kea, Hawaii) with a broad range of imaging and spectroscopic instruments; Latitude=+19 deg, 49' (elevation=4139m) 3m InfraRed Telescope Facility (IRTF; Institute of Astronomy, Mauna Kea, Hawaii) with a broad range of imaging and spectroscopic instruments; Latitude=+19 deg, 49' (elevation=4139m) Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO; NOAO, Arizona), including the 4m Mayall Telescope, the 3.5m WIYN Telescope, and the 2.1m Telescope; Latitude=+31 deg, 57' (elevation=2096m) Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO; NOAO, Chile), including the 4.0m Blanco Telescope, and the 4.1m SOAR Telescope; Latitude=-30 deg, 9' (elevation=2738m) Apache Point Observatory (APO; New Mexico), including the Astrophysical Research Consortium 3.5m Telescope, and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey 2.5m Telescope; Latitude=+32 deg, 46' (elevation=2788m) Calar Alto Observatory (German-Spanish; Southern Spain), including the 3.5m Telescope, and the 2.2m Telescope; Latitude=+37 deg, 10' (elevation=2168m) Las Campanas Observatory (Carnegie Institution of Washington; La Serena, Chile), including the two 6.5m Magellan Telescopes, and the Irenee du Pont 2.5 Telescope; Latitude=-29 deg, 0' (elevation=2300m) Palomar Observatory (Caltech; San Diego, California), including the 200in Hale Telescope with these instruments; Latitude=+33 deg, 21' (elevation=1706m) Steward Observatory (University of Arizona plus various partners; variety of US locations), including the 7x8.4m Giant Magellan Telescope (under design), 2x8.4m Large Binocular Telescope (under design), 8.4m Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (FOV=10 sq degree; under design), 2x6.5m Magellan Project Telescope (under design), and the 6.5m Multi-Mirror Telescope (latitude=+31 deg, 41')

Some Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) designs:

The science case for extremely large telescopes

Overwhelmingly Large Telescope (OWL; ESO, 2016+): design for a 100m telescope, which will provide unrivalled light-gathering power and sensitivity with milli-arcsecond resolution European 50m Telescope (EURO50; Finland, Ireland, Spain, Sweden, UK, 2013+): design for 50m telescope, possibly to be located in La Palma or Northern Chile
Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT, formerly CELT; collaboration of mainly Californian institutes) American Giant Segmented Mirror Telescope (GSMT; NOAO and Gemini): design for 30m-class telescopes Canadian Very Large Optical Telescope (VLOT; Canadra): design for 20m telescope to replace the 4m CFHT

Ultraviolet to Infrared Space-Borne Observatories:

Hubble Space Telescope (HST, NASA great observatory; April 25th 1990+); ~2.4m telescope sensitive at ultra-violet to near-infrared wavelengths with ~0.1 arcsec resolution; Proposal deadline: ~January Spitzer Space Telescope (SST, NASA great observatory; August 25th 2003+); ~0.8m telescope sensitive at infrared wavelengths (3-180 microns); Proposal deadline: ~February Far-Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE, NASA; 24th June 1999+); 80cm telescope sensitive to 90.5-118.5nm emission, optimised for high-resolution spectroscopy (R=20,000); Proposal deadline: ~September Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX, NASA; May 21st 2003+); 29 month mission with a 50cm telescope, sensitive at ultraviolet wavelengths with a far-ultraviolet (135-180nm) and near-ultraviolet (180-280nm) detectors; will carry out a variety of surveys, including (amongst others) an all-sky survey, medium and deep imaging surveys, and wide and medium spectroscopic surveys (R=130-300), in addition to guest-observer programs

Some Future Ultraviolet to Infrared Space-Borne Observatories:

ASTRO-F (ISAS/JAXA; launch early 2006+); ~0.68m telescope sensitive at infrared wavelengths (1.8-180 microns); only has 1.5yr lifetime (due to cryogenic lifetime) and will perform all-sky survey; ~30% of the mission time is available for guest observer observations, split as 20% to Japan/Korea and 10% to European astronomers; Proposal deadline: ~November Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA, NASA and DLR, Germany; launch 2006+): a 2.5m telescope on-board a modified Boeing 747SP! It will be able to take observations over a huge wavelength range (0.3 microns to 1.6mm) and achieve diffraction limited imaging at >15 microns; expected to make observations ~4x per week for ~20 years; acquiring new targets is non trivial as it requires a change in the flight path! The first generation of instruments will allow for a wide variety of observations (9 instruments in total); ~80% of the observation time will go to US+international institutions and ~20% will go to German institutions; expected proposal deadline: ~May Herschel (ESA; launch 2007+ with Planck); 3.5m telescope sensitive at infrared-submillimeter wavelengths (60-670 microns); expected to have 3yr lifetime (due to cryogenic constraints) Japanese far-infrared observatory (SPICA; launch 2010+); ~4m telescope to operate at ~5-200 microns; need to update with more details Far-InfraRed Mission (ESA, FIRM; launch 2015+); design for arcsecond or less resolution observatory to operate at ~50-600 microns; need to update with more details Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE, NASA MIDEX; launch 2008+); planned 6 month mission with a 50cm telescope to perform an all-sky survey at 3.5-23 microns (FOV=38'x38') up to 1000 times more sensitive than the IRAS survey James Webb Space Telescope (JWST, NASA origins; launch 2011+); planned ~6.5m telescope sensitive at optical to infrared wavelengths (0.6-28 microns); expected to have 5-10yr lifetime; successor to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Single Aperture Far-Infrared observatory (SAFIR, NASA origins; launch 2015-2020): proposed follow-on mission to the Spitzer and Herschel observatories; an 8-10m diameter telescope sensitive to emission at ~20-1000 microns, with both imaging and spectroscopy capabilities

Submillimetre/Millimetre Observatories:

Click here for a comprehensive list of submillimetre/millimetre observatory links

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15m James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT, PPARC; Mauna Kea, Hawaii): Proposal deadline: 31 March and 31 September; Latitude=+19 deg, 49' (elevation=4139m) 10.4m Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO, Caltech/NSF; Mauna Kea, Hawaii): Proposal deadline: 31 May and 31 October; Latitude=+19 deg, 49' (elevation=4139m) 30m IRAM telescope (French-German-Spainish collaboration): sited at Pico Veleta (elevation=2850m) in Spain; Proposal deadline: early March and early September IRAM interferometer (French-German-Spainish collaboration): sited at Plateau de Bure (elevation=2550m) in France; 0.5" resolution at 230GHz with 20" FOV; Proposal deadline: early March and early September 15m SEST Telescope (Sweden-ESO, La Silla, Chile); Latitude=-29 deg, 15' (elevation=2400m); now decommissioned

Some Future Submillimetre/Millimetre Observatories:

12m APEX Telescope (various European institutions and ESO, Atacama desert, Chile; first light mid 2005); designed to work at 0.2-1.5mm wavelengths; pathfinder telescope for the more ambitious ALMA telescope; elevation=5100m Similar Atacama/ALMA experiments are planned/ongoing, including CAT (Cornell-Atacama 25m Telescope), NANTEN2 (4m spectral-line telescope to survey the southern sky), and ASTE (Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment; Japanese 10m telescope) Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA; operational soon): merging of the Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO) millimeter array and the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association (BIMA) millmeter array to form a powerful astronomical tool Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT, INAOE and University of Massachusetts; operational 2007+): 50m telescope designed to observe at 1-4mm with a broad variety of instruments, sited close to Puebla, Mexico (elevation=4600m) The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA; operational from 2008+ and fully complete 2013+) is an international collaboration to build a synthesis radio telescope that will operate at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths; 64x12m antennaes with large baselines (10+km) will be used to achieve sub-arcsec resolution (down to ~0.01 arcseconds) for imaging and spectral line observations Planck (ESA; launch 2007+ with Herschel): part of the "Cosmic Vision Programme" that is designed to image the anisotropies of the Cosmic Background Radiation Field over the whole sky

Radio Observatories:

MERLIN (PPARC, operated by Jodrell Bank/University of Manchester; various GB loations): array of radio telescopes distributed around Great Britain, with separations of up to 217km, operating at frequencies of 151 MHz to 24 GHz; at 5 GHz the resolution of MERLIN is better than 0.05 arcseconds; proposal deadline: ~15 March and ~15 September European VLBI Network (EVN; various European locations): collaboration of the major radio astronomical institutes in Europe, Asia, and South Africa to perform high-angular resolution observations of radio sources; proposal deadline: ~June Very Large Array (VLA, NRAO; New Mexico): 27 radio antennas of 25m diameter in Y-shaped configuration with a maximum basline of 36km, achieving resolutions up to 0.04 arcseconds (43 GHz); Latitude: 34 deg, 4' (elevation=2124m); proposal deadline: ~October Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA, NRAO/NSF; various US locations): 10 radio antennas of 25m diameter separated by up to 5,000 miles; proposal deadlines: ~Feb, ~June, ~October 100m Effelsberg Radio Telescope (GBT, NRAO; West Virginia): can operate down to 3mm; Latitude: 50 deg, 31'; proposal deadline: ~October 100m Green Bank Telescope (GBT, NRAO; West Virginia): worlds largest fully steerable single aperture antenna; Latitude: 38 deg, 25'; proposal deadline: ~June 45m Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope (GMRT, various institutions in India; Pune, India): array of 30x45m antennas with a baseline of up to 25m; worlds largest radio telescope at metre wavelengths; Latitude: 19.1 deg; proposal deadline: ~1 August 305m Arecibo Radio Telescope (Arecibo, Puerto Rico): the worlds largest single-dish telescope, operating at 3cm to 6m wavelengths; Latitude: 18 deg 20'; proposal deadline: ~1 Feb, ~1 June, and ~1 October Parkes (Parkes, NSW, Australia): 64-m Single dish, 20cm multibeam most useful receiver; Latitude: -33 deg, 0'; proposal deadline: ~1 June and ~1 December Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA, Narrabri, NSW, Australia): 6 radio antennas of 25m diameter in an East-West configuration with a maximum basline of 6km, bands available: 20 cm, 13 cm, 6 cm, 3 cm, 1 cm, 3mm, achieving resolutions up to 0.5 arcseconds (1cm) and 2 arcsec in the millimeter. North-south baseline of 214m to assist mm obseravtions; Latitude: -30 deg, 18'; proposal deadline: ~1 June and ~1 December

Some Future Radio Observatories:

e-MERLIN (PPARC, operational 2006+): upgrade to MERLIN to achieve 30x better sensitivity than the current setup and ~3x improved spatial resolution to complement next generation of observatories and be a path finder for SKA Long Wavelength Array (LWA, operational from 2008+ and fully operational from 2010+): adding low-frequency mode to the VLA+NMA telescopes, allowing for observations at 25-87.5 MHz (and maybe also a 10-30 MHz antenna at some stage), with 400-km baselines, sub-mJy sensitivity, and arcsecond resolution (5-1.4 arcsecond at 25-87.5 MHz) Expanded Very Large Array (E-VLA, operational 2007+): upgrade to VLA to achieve ~5-20x better sensitivity than the current setup and improved spatial resolution Square Kilometer Array (SKA; operational from 2013+ and fully operational by 2020+): the next generation radio array to complement ALMA and JWST; interferometric array of individual antenna stations to achieve an equivalent collecting area of one square kilometera and spatial resolution down to ~1 milliarcsecond! A number of configurations are being considered, including 150 stations with ~90m-equivalent telescopes and 30 stations with ~200m-equivalent telescopes: ~50% located within inner 5km, ~75% within 150km and all within 5000km.