PSU-Greenbush Astrophysical Observatory
In operation since August 1996, the PSU/GAO features a classical Cassegrain telescope with a 61 cm (24 inch) primary mirror and has a focal ratio of f/15. The telescope was purchased from New Mexico State University's Astronomy Department in 1993. Along with the telescope, we obtained a Boller & Chivens spectrograph, spectrophotometer, and photoelectric photometer.
Pittsburg State University and Greenbush have cooperatively operated the Observatory since August 1996. For more than 20 years, the telescope played an important role in the Astronomy Department at New Mexico State University.
Clyde Tombaugh, the astronomer who discovered Pluto, drew up the specifications of the telescope and oversaw its installation at the Blue Mesa Station of the New Mexico State University Observatory in 1967. Blue Mesa was closed in 1993 after being used for research and advanced astronomical training for more than 25 years. PSU acquired the Cassegrain telescope in 1993 after the closing but did not have a suitable place to operate it.
In September 1996, Craw-Kan Telephone Cooperative, Pittsburg State University, Greenbush, and a consortium of 30 school districts joined to construct the observatory and put it in place under the guidance of the PSU Department of Physics.
You are invited to attend PSU/GAO events
The facility may be used for daytime and nighttime observations and is handicap accessible. It operates in conjunction with programming at the Greenbush Science Education Center. Greenbush Observatory events are FREE and open to the community.
