East Tennessee State University is one of the five Universities in the Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy (SARA), which operates this 0.9 meter (36 inch) telescope at Kitt Peak in Arizona. The SARA telescope is often operated remotely from the eastern US.

Kitt Peak contains a large number of telescopes, in addition to the SARA telescope. Most of these telescopes are operated by the National Optical Astronomical Observatories (NOAO), a public facility for professional astronomers from all over the US. The telescope shown on the right is the Kitt Peak 4m telescope.

This is the brand new 8.1m Gemini North telescope built by the US (NOAO), in collaboration with the United Kingdom, Canada, Chile, Australia, Argentina, and Brazil. It is located on Mauna Kea, in Hawaii. It was dedicated in June 1999, and is expected to begin general observations in June 2000. The matching Gemini South 8.1m telescope is being built on Cerro Pachon in central Chile, and is expected to be ready in 2000.

The Gemini mirror.

The Hubble Space Telescope has a 2.4 meter mirror, and has instruments that operate at ultraviolet, optical, and infrared wavelengths.

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory 100 meter telescope is currently being constructed in Green Bank, West Virginia.

The 300 meter Arecibo radio telescope, in Puerto Rico. It is built into a valley, and is not steerable.

The Very Large Array in New Mexico: a collection of 27 radio telescopes, each with diameters of 25 meters, covering up to 22 miles. Working together, these provide very high resolution.

The Terrestrial Planet Finder Telescope a planned NASA infrared interferometer, designed to find Earth-like planets around other stars. It is expected to be launched in 2011. Current plans are that this observatory will have four 8.5 meter telescopes, operating together, spread out over a distance of 1000 meters.

The Kuiper Airborne Observatory. A Lockheed C-141 aircraft which carried a 0.9 meter optical/infrared telescope. This observatory was run by NASA, and operated from 1974 - 1995.

The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). A planned 2.5 meter telescope to be housed in a Boeing 747-SP aircraft. This telescope will begin operations in the year 2001. It is a collaborative project between the US (NASA) and Germany.

The transparency of the Earth's atmosphere at different wavelengths. In Gamma rays, X-rays, and ultraviolet, nearly all the light is blocked by the Earth's atmosphere. At only certain infrared wavelengths does light get through the Earth's atmosphere. At radio waves, the atmosphere is transparent, except at wavelengths longer than 100 meters. This diagram is from the textbook used for this class, `Universe: Origins and Evolution', by T. Snow and K. Brownberger.

The 10.4 meter Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO). Submillimeter wavelengths are at long wavelength edge of the infrared regime.

The Chandra X-ray telescope, launched the summer of 1999. This telescope was formerly known as the Advanced X-Ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF).

The design of the Chandra telescope.

A schematic diagram of one of the gamma-ray detectors on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory.

The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. This was launched in 1991 and is currently operating.