The location that is used for observing terrestrial or celestial events is called observatory. Example of disciplines for which observatories that have been constructed are astronomy, climatology or meteorology, geology, oceanography and volcanology. Observatories were as simple as containing an astronomical sextant that is for measuring the distance between stars or Stonehenge which has some alignments on astronomical phenomena. Astronomical observatories were built and designed to map celestial events throughout the year. Ancient man has discovered that the celestial events follow cycles and needed a way to track them. Around 5,000 years ago early man devised a way to place stones in a certain positions to align for events like the seasons, lunar phases, solar phases and so on. As mankind has always been fascinated by the heavens, their mythologies reflecting many of these monuments connected to the Gods and Goddesses their civilization worshipped.
Ground –based observatories are used to make observations in the radio and visible light portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. It is located on the surface of Earth. Optical telescope are housed within a dome or similar structure to protect the delicate instruments from the elements. The different between a telescope domes and radio telescopes is that telescope domes have a slit or other opening in the roof that can be opened during observing and then if not in used you can closed it or some cases the entire upper portion of the telescope dome can be rotated to allow the instrument to observe in different section of the night sky while radio telescopes usually don’t have domes. During the mid-20th century astronomical observatories have been constructed at very high altitudes which are 4000-5000 m (13,000-16,000 ft). Mauna Kea Observatory is the largest and most notable of these and located near the summit of a 4205 m (13,796 ft) volcano in Hawaii. While Chacaltaya Astrophysical Observatory in Bolivia was the world’s highest permanent astronomical observatory from the time of its construction during the 1940s until 2009, it is at 5230 (17,160 ft). But now it has been surpassed by the new University of Tokyo Atacama Observatory an optical-infrared telescope on a remote 5640 m (18,500 ft) mountain shop in the Atacama Desert of Chile. The oldest astronomical observatories are categories into two: the oldest proto-observatories in the sense of a private observation post that include Chankillo, Peru, El Caracol, Mexico, Abu Simbel, Egypt, Kokino, Kumanovo, Republic of Macedonia, Stonehenge, Great Britain, Goseck circle, Germany, Ujjain, India, Arkaim, Russia, Cheomseongdae, South Korea, Angkor Wat, Cambodia, Karahunj, Armenia; and the oldest true observatories in the sense of a specialized research institute which include c.150 BC: Observatory at Rhodes, Greece, 825 AD: Al-Shammisiyyah observatory, Baghdad, Iraq, 869: Mahodayapuram Observatory, Kerala, India, 1259: Maragheh observatory, Iran, 1276: Gaocheng Astronomical Observatory, China, 1420: Samarqand observatory, Uzbekistan, 1442: Beijing Ancient Observatory, China, 1577: Istanbul observatory of Taqi al-Din, Turkey, 1580: Uraniborg, Denmark, 1581: Stjerneborg, Denmark, 1642: Round Tower, Denmark, 1633: Leiden Observatory, Netherlands, 1667: Paris Observatory, France, 1675: Royal Greenwich Observatory, England, 1711: Berlin Observatory, Germany, 1724: Yantra Mantra, India, 1785: Dunsink Observatory, Ireland, 1789: Armagh Observatory, Northern Ireland, 1830/1842: Depot of Charts & Instruments/US Naval Observatory,USA, 1830: Yale University Observatory Atheneum, USA, 1836: Hopkins Observatory, Williams College, USA, 1839/1847: Harvard College Observatory, USA, 1842: Cincinnati Observatory, USA, 1884: McCormick Observatory, USA, 1890: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, USA, 1894: Lowell Observatory, USA
Space-based observatories are telescope or other instruments that can be found in outer space others orbit around the Earth. It can be used to observe astronomical objects at wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum that cannot penetrate the Earth’s atmosphere and are thus impossible to observe using ground-based telescopes.
Airborne observatories have the advantage of height over ground installations, putting them above most of the Earth’s atmosphere. But they also have an advantage over space telescopes – the instruments can be deployed, repaired, updated much more quickly and inexpensively. The Kuiper Airborne Observatory and the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy use airplanes to observe in the infrared, which is absorbed by water vapor in the atmosphere. Balloons for X-ray astronomy have been used in a variety of countries.