 The 1.93 meter aperture telescope, installed in 1958 | |
| Alternative names | Observatoire de Haute-Provence |
|---|---|
| Observatory code | 511 |
| Location | Saint-Michel-l'Observatoire,Alpes-de-Haute-Provence,Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur,Metropolitan France, France |
| Coordinates | 43°55′51″N5°42′48″E / 43.9308°N 5.7133°E /43.9308; 5.7133 |
| Altitude | 650 m (2,130 ft) |
| Website | www |
  Location of Haute-Provence Observatory | |
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 Related media on Commons | |
| see§ List of discovered minor planets |
TheHaute-Provence Observatory (OHP,French:Observatoire de Haute-Provence) is anastronomical observatory in the southeast of France, about 90 km east ofAvignon and 100 km north ofMarseille. It was established in 1937 as a national facility forFrenchastronomers. Astronomical observations began in 1943 using the 1.20 mtelescope, and the first research papers based on observations made at the observatory were published in 1944. Foreign observers first used the observatory in 1949, whenGeoffrey andMargaret Burbidge visited.
The observatory lies at an altitude of about 650 m, on aplateau near the village ofSaint-Michel-l'Observatoire in theAlpes-de-Haute-Provencedépartement.
The site was chosen for an observatory because of its generally very favourable observing conditions. On average, 60% of nights are suitable for astronomical observations, with the best seasons being summer and autumn. About 170 nights per year on average are completelycloudless. Theseeing is usually around 2" but can reach 1" or lower on occasion. Seeing degrades severely, sometimes to over 10", when the coldMistral wind blows from the northwest. This happens on about 45 days per year on average, mostly during winter. Good weather conditions often follow aMistral. On average, atmospheric absorption at OHP is roughly twice that seen at theEuropean Southern Observatory (ESO) atLa Silla, Chile.
The main-belt asteroid7755 Haute-Provence, discovered by Belgian astronomerEric Elst in 1989, was named for the region where the discovering observatory is located.[2]
The four main telescopes at OHP arereflecting telescopes withprimary mirrors of diameters 1.93 m, 1.52 m, 1.20 m and 0.80 m.
The 1.93 m telescope was built byGrubb Parsons and installed at the site in 1958. One of the instruments available on the 1.93 m telescope was the high resolutionELODIE spectrograph, replaced in 2006 by theSOPHIE échelle spectrograph.Michel Mayor andDidier Queloz discovered theplanet orbiting the star51 Pegasi from observations made using ELODIE on the 1.93 m telescope. They won half of theNobel Prize in Physics 2019 for this discovery.[3]
The 1.52 m is almost identical to the 1.52 m telescope at theEuropean Southern Observatory inChile, and has been in use at OHP since 1967. It is predominantly used forspectroscopic studies, using the high resolution spectrographAurélie.
The 1.20 m telescope was the first to be installed at the site, and has been in use since 1943. It was originally installed at theObservatoire de Paris in 1872. It is now equipped with a directcharge-coupled device (CCD) camera at the f/6 Newton focus and is mainly used for studies of variability of X-ray sources, imaging of galaxies and H II regions and astrometry of faint solar system objects.
The 0.80 m telescope was first used during site testing at nearbyForcalquier in 1932 before the construction of the observatory, where it was later moved in 1945. The telescope is equipped with CCD cameras allowing high quality observations to be made using it, but unlike the other telescopes on site which have computer-controlled pointing systems, the 0.80 m telescope must still be pointed manually, usingsetting circles. It is often used by visiting undergraduate astronomy students.
Other telescopes at OHP are operated by other organizations, including a 1 m telescope belonging toGeneva Observatory, a 0.5 m telescope operated by theFrench Space Agency for satellite tracking, and the Berlin Exoplanet Search Telescope, a 0.2 m telescope used to search forexoplanets by observingtransits across solar-type stars.
While primarily an astronomical research facility, the observatory also hosts twogeophysics research stations, one studying themesosphere andthermosphere, and one usinglasers to probe thetroposphere andstratosphere, studying aerosol andozone content, usinglidar techniques.
TheMinor Planet Center credits the discovery of following minor planets directly to the observatory:[1]
| 2630 Hermod | 14 October 1980 | list[A] |
| (5499) 1981 SU2 | 29 September 1981 | list[B] |
| (88286) 2001 MM24 | 30 June 2001 | list[B] |
| (118977) 2000 WQ183 | 21 November 2000 | list[B] |
| (322655) 1999 LC30 | 7 June 1999 | list[B] |
| (471926) 2013 KN6 | 28 May 2013 | list[B] |
| Discovery credited by theMPC to: A "Institute d'Astrophysics" B "Haute Provence" | ||
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