Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Categories: Buildings and structures of New Zealand | Astronomical observatories | Canterbury, New Zealand
Mount John University Observatory
Mount John University Observatory (MJUO), New Zealand's premier astronomical observatory, is situated at 1,031 meters (3,382') ASL atop Mount John at the northern end of the Mackenzie Basin in the South Island of New Zealand. There are four telescopes on site: two 0.6m, one 1.0m, and a new 1.8m 'MOA Telescope' (see below) The nearest population center is the resort town Lake Tekapo (pop. <500). Approximately 20% of nights at MJUO are photometric, with a larger number available for spectroscopic work and direct imaging photometry.
MJUO is operated by the University of Canterbury, and is the home of HERCULES (High Efficiency and Resolution Canterbury University Large Echelle Spectrograph), and the observational wing of the Japanese/New Zealand MOA collaboration (Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics) led by Professor Yusashi Muraki of Nagoya University. A Japanese funded, 1.8 meter telescope is now in place and will be used initially by the MOA Project, before handover to the University of Canterbury at the conclusion of the MOA Project in 2010.
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