Oak Ridge Observatory


see

The Oak Ridge Observatory, also known as the George R. Agassiz Station, is located at 42 Pinnacle Road, Harvard, Massachusetts. It was operated by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics as a facility of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory from 1933 until August 19, 2005.

Description

The observatory was established in 1933. Through its first 40 years, its primary research focus was on tracking minor planets and asteroids in the Solar System. Starting in the 1980s, astronomers began to use the facility to measure stars over long periods of time, which led to hunts for extrasolar planets, i.e., planets outside the Solar System. Surveys at Oak Ridge found many such distant planets.
The largest telescope east of Texas in the United States is the 61-inch reflector . However, most of its projects were discontinued in 2005. Harvard University's Optical SETI program continues at the site.
It also housed an steerable radio telescope once used in Project BETA, a search for extraterrestrial intelligence. A 41-cm Boller and Chivens Cassegrain reflector originally housed at Oak Ridge is available for public use at the National Air and Space Museum's Public Observatory Project on the National Mall in Washington, DC.
The inner main-belt asteroid 4733 ORO, discovered at Oak Ridge in 1982, was named in honor of the observatory.

List of discovered minor planets

In addition to the discoveries below, the Minor Planet Center inconsistently credits some asteroids such as 4760 Jia-xiang directly to the Harvard College Observatory although they have been discovered at Oak Ridge.
2674 Pandarus27 January 1982
2872 Gentelec5 September 1981
3076 Garber13 September 1982
3342 Fivesparks27 January 1982
3773 Smithsonian23 December 1984
3797 Ching-Sung Yu22 December 1987
4372 Quincy3 October 1984
4733 ORO19 April 1982
5976 Kalatajean25 September 1992
6696 Eubanks1 September 1986
6949 Zissell11 September 1982
7276 Maymie4 September 1983
7383 Lassovszky30 September 1981
7386 Paulpellas25 November 1981

2 August 1992
22 November 1995
8 September 1991
5 December 1986
16 October 1990
7 December 1988
13 August 1985
24 August 1984
5 September 1983
13 September 1982