Location Beijing, China Altitude 960 metres | Coordinates (Xinglong)
(Miyun) Established 1958 | |
Beijing Astronomical Observatory (BAO) is an observatory located around 150 kilometres northeast of Beijing, China. It was founded in 1958 and is part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The observatory comprises 5 observing stations. The principal observing site for optical and infrared is called Xinglong.
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Xinglong
The Xinglong observatory, situated at 960 metres above sea level, contains a 2.16-metre reflector telescope (China's largest), and a 1.26-m infrared telescope.
The planned "LAMOST", or Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope will be located there.
Miyun
There is also a radio astronomy site at Miyun. It comprises 28 dishes, each 9 metres in diametre. It is used for survey astronomy and is called the Metre-Wave Aperture Synthesis Radio Telescope or "MSRT".