Cincinnati Observatory Competitors

The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) is a world-renowned science and engineering research and education institution, where extraordinary faculty, students and staff seek answers to complex questions, discover new knowledge, lead innovation, and transform our future. Caltech's 124-acre campus is located in Pasadena, California.

Named one of TIME's 100 Greatest Places and Best Science Museum by Newsweek readers, Lowell Observatory is an independent, non-profit research institution founded in 1894 by Boston mathematician Percival Lowell. More than 45,000 nights have passed since the first telescope arrived on Mars Hill. In that time, Lowell astronomers have been at the forefront of astronomical research. It was here that Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto in 1930 and V.M. Slipher first detected the expanding nature of the universe nearly two decades earlier. That tradition continues today with the observatory’s state-of-the-art Lowell Discovery Telescope and the ongoing discoveries being made by the current generation of Lowell astronomers and planetary scientists. In 2024, Lowell opened the Astronomy Discovery Center, which features a roof-top, open-air planetarium. Rather than a traditional enclosed planetarium in which guests view images of celestial bodies, this one takes advantage of Flagstaff’s exquisitely dark skies to look at the real thing: stars in their natural setting.

The Gemini Observatory consists of twin 8-meter optical/infrared telescopes located on two of the best sites on our planet for observing the universe. The Gemini South telescope is located at almost 9,000' elevation on a mountain in the Chilean Andes called Cerro Pachon. Cerro Pachon shares resources with the adjacent SOAR Telescope and the nearby telescopes of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. The Frederick C. Gillett Gemini North Telescope is located on Hawaii's Mauna Kea as part of the international community of observatories that have been built to take advantage of the superb atmospheric conditions on this long dormant volcano that rises almost 14,000' into the dry, stable air of the Pacific. Gemini’s international headquarters is located in Hilo, Hawaii at the University of Hawaii at Hilo's University Park. Both Gemini telescopes have been designed to take advantage of the latest technology and thermal controls to excel in a wide variety of optical and infrared capabilities. One example of this is the unique Gemini coating chamber that uses "sputtering" technology to apply protected silver coatings on the Gemini mirrors to provide unprecedented infrared performance. Gemini's aggressive instrument program keeps the observatory at the forefront of astronomical research. By incorporating technologies such as laser guide stars, Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics and multi-object spectroscopy, astronomers in the Gemini partnership have access to the latest tools for exploring the universe. Gemini was built and is operated by a partnership of 7 countries: United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Chile, Australia, Brazil and Argentina. The Gemini telescopes have been integrated with modern networking technologies to allow remote operations from control rooms at both base facilities, Hilo and La Serena. Gemini uses "Queue Scheduling" to assure astronomers in partnering countries the best possible match between observation, instrument and observing conditions