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| Organization | |
|---|---|
| Observatory code | D35  |
| Location | Nantou County,Taiwan Province, ROC |
| Coordinates | 23°28′09″N120°52′22″E / 23.469294°N 120.8726848°E /23.469294; 120.8726848 |
| Altitude | 2,862 m (9,390 ft) |
| Established | 13 January 1999 |
| Website | www |
| Telescopes | |
  Location of Lulin Observatory | |
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 Related media on Commons | |
TheLulin Observatory (Chinese:鹿林天文台;pinyin:Lùlín Tiānwéntái,obs. code:D35) is anastronomicalobservatory operated by the Institute of Astronomy,National Central University inTaiwan.
It is located at the summit of Mount Lulin inXinyi Township,Nantou County. In 2007,Comet Lulin (C/2007 N3), was found by this observatory, and became the first comet discovered by a Taiwanese researcher.[1] The minor planet147918 Chiayi was also discovered here.[2]
The Lulin 1 meter had its first light in September 2002, after 10 years of development.[3]
The Lulin Sky Survey searched fornear-Earth objects from 2006 to 2009.[6] The Lulin Sky Survey Telescope,[7] a 16-inch (41 cm)Ritchey–Chrétien telescope with afield of view of 27arcminutes, was operated remotely frommainland China, with robotic software developed in-house.[8][9] In addition to searching for new objects, the survey refined the orbits of knownminor planets andcomets, and performedphotometric analysis of a subset of objects.[9] The principal investigator, student Quan-Zhi Ye ofSun Yat-sen University, was awarded the 2007Shoemaker NEO Grant to develop the project.[6] Ye later identified a comet from images collected in July 2007 by collaborator Chi Sheng Lin; the unusualretrograde comet, formally named C/2007 N3, became known asComet Lulin. It made its closest approach to Earth in February 2009.[10] Over the course of the survey, 781 new objects were discovered, including Comet Lulin and three fragments of comet73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann.[9] The LUSS project benefited from its location at a longitude with few other observatories looking for minor planets.[9]
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