Beijing Astronomical Observatory

This article is about the post-Communist revolution observatory. For the Ming Dynasty to pre-World War II observatory that is no longer a functioning observatory, see Beijing Ancient Observatory. For the planetarium, see Beijing Planetarium. For the Chinese national observatory network headquartered in Beijing, see National Astronomical Observatory of China.

Beijing Astronomical Observatory (BAO) is an observatory in Chaoyang District, 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 Xinglong Station in Xinglong County, Chengde, Hebei Province, which is around 150 kilometres northeast of Beijing.^[1]

Beijing Astronomical Observatory

Alternative names	BAO
Location	China
Coordinates	40°23′44″N 117°34′33″E
Altitude	960 m (3,150 ft)
Established	1958
Website	www.bao.ac.cn
Telescopes	0.85m Beijing astronomical observatory telescope Shahe Station (Beijing Observatory) Xinglong Station
Location of Beijing Astronomical Observatory

Facilities

Xinglong

Main article: Xinglong Station (NAOC)

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.^[1]

The planned "LAMOST", or Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope will be located there.^[1]

Miyun

There is also a radio astronomy site in Miyun District, Beijing. It comprises 28 dishes, each 9 metres in diameter. It is used for survey astronomy and is called the Metre-Wave Aperture Synthesis Radio Telescope or "MSRT".^[1]