IMC Excursion to ORM

IMC2012 will offer you the chance to visit one of the prime astronomical observatories of the world, namely Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (ORM), known also as the European Northern Observatory (ENO). During your excursion at the ORM Saturday 22 Sep 2012, you will have the chance to visit the largest three telescopes hosted here, namely the Gran Telescopio de Canarias (GTC 10.4m - actually the largest optical telescope of the world). the William Herschel Telescope (WHT 4.2m) and the gamma-ray MAGIC telescopes (2x17m)!

March 2012: The new meteor observing facility CILBO will be also visited during the IMC2012 excursion. The Canary Islands Long-Baseline Observatory (CILBO) is an automatic video system with double stations in La Palma and Tenerife funded by the European Space Agency (ESA, PI: Detlef Koschny).

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Brief History of the ORM

About 30 years ago, the United Kingdom became interested in installing an astronomical site atop the island of La Palma. Previous site testing established as a good location the top of the island at 2400m altitude, close to the edge of the extinct Taburiente volcanic caldera. Three telescopes were sent during the next years, namely the Isaac Newton Telescope (INT 2.5m, moved in 1979 to La Palma from the mostly clouded Royal Greenwich Observatory), the Jakobus Kapteyn Telescope (JKT 1m installed in La Palma in 1983) and the William Herschel Telescope (WHT 4.2m installed in 1984).

 

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Soon, other countries became interested in installing their telescopes and instruments here, including Spain, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy, Norway, Finland, Germany, the United States, Mexico and others. The Roque de los Muchachos Observatory was officially inaugurated on the 29th of June 1985, by the Spanish royal family and six European heads of states who landed together on some helicopter pads built for the opening ceremony of the ORM atop the island La Palma. Today, about 100 institutions from 20 countries scrutinize the heavens using 14 telescopes hosted at Roque de los Muchachos Observatory!