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|+ Minor planets discovered: 6

The 1.52 m is almost identical to the 1.52 m telescope at the European Southern Observatory in Chile, and has been in use at OHP since 1967. It is predominantly used for spectroscopic studies, using the high resolution spectrograph Aurélie.

The 1.20 m telescope was the first to be installed at the site, and has been in use since 1943. It was originally installed at the Observatoire de Paris in 1872. It is now equipped with a direct charge-coupled device (CCD) camera at the f/6 Newton focus and is mainly used for studies of variability of X-ray sources, imaging of galaxies and H II regions and astrometry of faint solar system objects.

The 0.80 m telescope was first used during site testing at nearby Forcalquier in 1932 before the construction of the observatory, where it was later moved in 1945. The telescope is equipped with CCD cameras allowing high quality observations to be made using it, but unlike the other telescopes on site which have computer-controlled pointing systems, the 0.80 m telescope must still be pointed manually, using setting circles. It is often used by visiting undergraduate astronomy students.

Other telescopes at OHP are operated by other organizations, including a 1 m telescope belonging to Geneva Observatory, a 0.5 m telescope operated by the French Space Agency for satellite tracking, and the Berlin Exoplanet Search Telescope, a 0.2 m telescope used to search for exoplanets by observing transits across solar-type stars.

Geophysics

While primarily an astronomical research facility, the observatory also hosts two geophysics research stations, one studying the mesosphere and thermosphere, and one using lasers to probe the troposphere and stratosphere, studying aerosol and ozone content, using lidar techniques.

List of discovered minor planets

The Minor Planet Center credits the discovery of following minor planets directly to the observatory:

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  • Video about Saint-Michel Observatory, available on Paris Observatory digital library