Observatoire du Pic-du-Midi
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Observatoire_du_Pic-du-Midi".

Another Pic du Midi is the Pic du Midi d'Ossau.
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Pic du Midi de Bigorre

The Pic du Midi de Bigorre and its observatory
Elevation 2,877 metres (9,439 ft)
Location France
Range Pyrenees
Coordinates 42°56′11″N 00°08′34″E / 42.93639, 0.14278

The Pic du Midi de Bigorre or simply Pic du Midi (altitude 2,877 m (9,439 ft)) is a mountain in the French Pyrenees famous for its astronomical observatory, the Observatoire du Pic du Midi de Bigorre (Pic du Midi Observatory), part of the Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (Midi-Pyrénées Observatory).

The observatory

Construction of the observatory began in 1878, and the 8 meter dome was completed in 1908. It housed a mechanical equatorial reflector. In 1946 Mr. Gentilli funded a dome and 60 cm, and in 1958 a spectrograph was installed. A 106-centimetre (42-inch) telescope was installed in 1963 funded by NASA, and was used to take detailed photographs of the surface of the Moon in preparation for the Apollo missions. A new 2 meter telescope, known as the Bernard Lyot Telescope was placed at the observatory in 1980 on top of 28 meter column built off to the side to avoid wind turbulence affecting the seeing of the other telescopes. It is the largest telescope in France. The observatory also has a coronograph, which is used to study the solar corona. A 60-centimetre telescope (the Gentilly's T60 telescope) is also implemented at the top of the Pic du Midi. Since 1982 this T60 is dedicated to amateur astronomy and managed by a group of amateurs, called association T60.

There are currently at the top:

  • The 55 cm telescope (Robley Dome);
  • The 60 cm telescope (T60 Dome, welcoming amateur astronomers via the Association T60);
  • The 106 cm telescope (Gentilli Dome) dedicated to the observations of the solar system;
  • The 2 meter telescope or Bernard Lyot Telescope (used with a new generation stellar spectropolarimetre);
  • The coronograph HACO-CLIMSO (study of the solar corona);
  • The bezel Jean Rösch (study of the solar surface)

Also:

  • The Charvin dome, having sheltered a coronometre photoelectric (study of the Sun);
  • The Baillaud dome, reassigned to the museum in 2000 and houses a model to scale 1:1's coronograph.

The observatory is located at 42°56′N 0°8′E / 42.933, 0.133, placing it very close to the Greenwich meridian. The observatory was featured in the video game Rainbow Six: Vegas 2.

External links
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