Michigan Astronomy

Observatories & ComputingObservatories & Computing

Small radio telescope and 0.4-m domeLocal Facilities.

The weather and light pollution in SE Michigan aren't very conducive to observing. However, it neither one of those things matters much to radio astronomy, and it is important for our students to get some experience operating a telescope before heading out to a major observatory. Our local observatories support this training and non-opticcal observing.

Major Observatories

Grad student observingThere are a great many resources available to University of Michigan Astronomy Department members. Apply for time on Magellan or MDM.

The MDM observatory is located on the southwest ridge of Kitt Peak, home of the Kitt Peak National Observatory, some 50 miles west of Tucson, Arizona. It has two telescopes: the 2.4-m Hiltner telescope and the 1.3-m McGraw-Hill telescope. The Observatory is owned and operated by a consortium of five universities: the University of Michigan, Dartmouth College, the Ohio State University, Columbia University, and Ohio University.

TheMagellan Project is a collaboration between the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington (OCIW), University of Arizona, Harvard University, University of Michigan, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to construct two 6.5 Meter optical telescopes in the southern hemisphere. The telescopes are located at Las Campanas Observatory, at an altitude of 8000 feet in the Chilean Andes, and operated by OCIW. Information on the instumentation os available on Mario Mateo's Magellan Instruments page.

The Curtis Schmidt is a 0.61/0.91 meter diameter Schmidt telescope located at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, about 500 km north of Santiago, Chile. This telescope was originally installed at the University of Michigan's Portage Lake Observatory in 1950, and moved to the much clearer skies of north central Chile in 1966.

Computing in the Department

All members of the department have access to department computers. The department computing page has information on things like how to contact the sysadmin, common tasks, installed software, etc. If you are not in our department, you might still be interested in the popular links page.

Instructional Facilities and Support

The undergraduate classes regularly use the planetariumIn addition to the Angell Hall Student Observatory, The department has several other facilities that make it a great place for teaching and learning. Some of the following links may require a login.