Observatories and Instruments

Apache Point Observatory

Ground-Based Optical Observatories

Citation Formats

General Reference

Space and Astronomy Atlas. "Apache Point Observatory." Accessed September 2, 2026. https://dev-space.interactiveatlas.org/observatories/apache-point-observatory.

APA Style

Space and Astronomy Atlas. (n.d.). Apache Point Observatory. Retrieved September 2, 2026, from https://dev-space.interactiveatlas.org/observatories/apache-point-observatory

BibTeX

@misc{spaceandastronomyatlas-apache-point-observatory,
  author = {Space and Astronomy Atlas},
  title = {Apache Point Observatory},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-space.interactiveatlas.org/observatories/apache-point-observatory},
  note = {Accessed September 2, 2026}
}

An astronomical observatory in the Sacramento Mountains at Sunspot, New Mexico, operated by the Astrophysical Research Consortium. Construction began in 1985 and full operations started in November 1994; the site hosts the 2.5-meter Sloan Foundation Telescope used for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey since 2000 and the 3.5-meter ARC telescope, and it houses the APOLLO lunar laser ranging experiment, operational since 2005, which measures the Earth-Moon distance to millimeter precision.

Facts

Observatory Type

Ground-based optical observatory 1

Location

Sunspot, New Mexico, United States 1

Operational

from 1994 1

Measures

Visible-light imaging and spectroscopy for wide-field sky surveys, precision astrometry, and millimeter-precision lunar laser ranging. 1

Operating Principle

Hosts multiple telescopes, including the 3.5-meter ARC Ritchey-Chretien reflector on an alt-azimuth mount and the 2.5-meter Sloan Foundation Telescope; the APOLLO laser ranging station fires laser pulses at retroreflectors left on the Moon by Apollo astronauts. 1

Sources

1. Wikipedia (space and spaceflight articles)

Wikimedia FoundationWikipedia: Apache Point Observatory, lead section

Quote, Wikipedia: Apache Point Observatory, lead section