Harvard College Observatory

Harvard College Observatory
Harvard College Observatory, circa 1899
Alternative namesHCO Edit this at Wikidata
Organization
Observatory code 802 Edit this on Wikidata
LocationCambridge, Massachusetts, US
Coordinates42°22′53″N 71°07′42″W / 42.3815°N 71.1284°W / 42.3815; -71.1284
Altitude24 m (79 ft) Edit this at Wikidata
Established1839 Edit this on Wikidata
Websitewww.cfa.harvard.edu/hco Edit this at Wikidata
Telescopes
  • Harvard Great Refractor Edit this on Wikidata
Harvard College Observatory is located in the United States
Harvard College Observatory
Location of Harvard College Observatory
  Related media on Commons

The Harvard College Observatory (HCO) is an institution managing a complex of buildings and multiple instruments used for astronomical research by the Harvard University Department of Astronomy. It is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, and was founded in 1839. With the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, it forms part of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian.

HCO houses a collection of approximately 500,000 astronomical plates taken between the mid-1880s and 1989 (with a gap from 1953–1968).[1] This 100-year coverage is a unique resource for studying temporal variations in the universe. The Digital Access to a Sky Century @ Harvard project is digitally scanning and archiving these photographic plates.[2]

  1. ^ "HCO Astronomical Plate Stacks". Retrieved 2008-11-25.
  2. ^ "Digital Access to a Sky Century at Harvard (DASCH)". Retrieved 2014-07-14.