Location: Island of Tenerife (Canary Islands/Spain)
Area: 50 hectares
Altitude: 2.390 metres
Coordinates:
Longitude: 16º 30´ 35″ West
Latitude: 28º 18´ 00″ North
EMERGENCIES AND OBSERVATORY STATUS
Astrophysics in the Canaries began (in the early 1960s) at this Observatory. It is situated 2.390 metres above sea level in Izaña, an area of Tenerife that lies across three municipal districts – La Orotava, Fasnia and Güímar. The first telescope for studying zodiacal light, light dispersed by interplanetary material, entered service here in 1964.
Its geographical location (between the eastern and western solar observatories), together with the clarity and excellent quality of the sky, mean that the Observatorio del Teide is ideally suited for studying the sun. For this reason it is home to Europe’s finest solar telescopes.
The Observatorio del Teide Residence, which has been in operation since January 1990, is a suite of facilities (including day and night-time dormitories, a kitchen and dining room, reception, living and games rooms, garages, a transformer station, power generator and solar panel park), which is available for use by scientific and technical staff linked to the Observatory.
The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias organises visits to the Observatory for colleges and groups as part of a public education campaign designed to make knowledge about astronomy accessible to everyone. The Observatorio del Teide has a Visitor Centre housed in an empty dome, which has been equipped to teach visitors about science. The centre has a capacity of around forty people and is used to explain what an observatory is, how telescopes work and the importance of Astronomy for the human race.
Observatorio del Teide (Tenerife)
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
C/ Vía Láctea, s/n
38200 – La Laguna (Tenerife). España
Tel: 34 / 922 329 110
Fax: 34 / 922 329 117
Enquiries: teide@iac.es