Tenagra Observatories
Observatory
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Tenagra Observatory and Tenagra Observatory II are astronomical observatories in Cottage Grove, Oregon and Arizona. The observatories house heavily automated robotic telescopes.
| Observatory code | 848[1] | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Location | Lane County, Oregon near Cottage Grove | ||
| Coordinates | 43°42′8.72″N 122°58′41.16″W[2] | ||
| Altitude | 207 m | ||
| Established | 1998 | ||
| Telescopes | |||
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.svg)  Location of Tenagra Observatory | |||
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| Observatory code | 926[1] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Location | Santa Cruz County, Arizona near Patagonia, Arizona | ||||||
| Coordinates | 31°27′43.36″N 110°52′44.76″W[2] | ||||||
| Altitude | 4,003 ft (1,220 m) | ||||||
| Established | 2000 | ||||||
| Telescopes | |||||||
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Location of Tenagra II Observatory | |||||||
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Circa 2016, the observatory was utilized with the Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope a member of the Lick Observatory and Tenagra Observatory Supernova Searches (LOTOSS).[3]
Beginning in 2018, after a NASA grant to owner Michael Schwartz expired, control of the Arizona observatory was turned over to Gianluca Masi's Virtual Telescope project.[4]
Instruments
The observatory near Cottage Grove, Oregon was constructed c. 1998, and had a 14-inch (360 mm) Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain with a SBIG CCD imager, probably upgraded to Apogee Instruments later.[5][6]
The Arizona observatory at Patagonia, 20 miles from Nogales, began operations in 2000. Tenagra II is a custom-made 32-inch (810 mm) Ritchey-Chretien telescope manufactured by SciTech Astronomical Research, in operation since 2001.[7][4][6] "Pearl" is a 16-inch (410 mm) f/3.75 corrected Newtonian.[5] There is also a 24-inch (610 mm) SciTech Ritchey-Chretien, and another 14-inch Celestron.[6]
The Oregon site was in use as of 2004 as a backup site, during the Southwest monsoon season.[6]
Observations and public outreach
The robotic telescopes can image 1,000 galaxies in an evening for supernova discovery.[6] Using the Oregon Tenagra I telescope, its maker became "the first amateur to achieve consistent supernova discoveries" by using a robotic telescope "to patrol hundreds of galaxies each night".[8]
The Oregon observatory reported 77 Minor Planet Electronic Circulars between 1999 and 2002.[2]
The Oregon observatory discovered supernova SN 1997cx.[9]
Paulo R. Holvorcem (Porto Seguro, Bahia, Brazil) and Michael Schwartz (Patagonia, Arizona) discovered comet C/2011 K1 (Schwartz-Holvorcem) in May 2011.[10][11] Schwartz also independently discovered two comets, P/2013 T2 and C/2014 B1, at Tenagra.[12][13]
Comet 274P/Tombaugh-Tenagra is named for the observatory and Clyde Tombaugh. Tombaugh initially discovered it in January 1931,[14] but was not recovered until 2012. It was provisionally named Comet P/2012 WX_32 (Tenagra) when recovered by Michael Schwartz and Paulo R. Holvorcem using Tenagra II.[15]
The observatory's Tenagra IV instrument, along with Palomar Observatory's Samuel Oschin telescope, was the second to image dwarf planet Sedna, providing confirmation of its discovery and refining its orbital parameters.[16]
In 2018, Pearl imaged the Tesla Roadster in space,[17] when it had a magnitude of 15.5,[18] comparable to Pluto's moon Charon.
In 2018, imagery from the Arizona observatory was livestreamed by Gianluca Masi during the 2018 DV1 close approach to Earth as a Virtual Telescope project outreach event.[19] Images of the Tiangong-1 space station in its decaying orbit were livestreamed in 2018, a few days before reentry.[20]