Why are observatories of the sun generally built near bodies of water?

For astronomers, the Observatory is their first place to conduct astronomical observations and research, and its importance is self-evident. Coincidentally, whether at home or abroad, most of the observatories are built on the mountain, standing high, such as the Yunnan Observatory located in the eastern suburbs of Kunming City, Phoenix Mountain, its altitude of 2020 meters, is currently the highest altitude of an observatory in our country.

From the point of view of site selection, the observatory seems to be very "down-to-earth", and there is a sense of "high places are not cold". It is a fact that most of the stars are so far away that they are calculated as "light years," and even the nearest moon is more than 380,000 kilometers away from the earth.

The reason why the observatory was built on a mountain is indeed to see more clearly, but this "clarity" is not based on the shortening of distances, but mainly on mitigating the influence of the atmosphere on astronomical observations.

Wang Jingxiu, a researcher at the National Astronomical Observatories and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, once said: "If the astronomical community does not do a good job in site selection, it is useless to do a good job of large telescopes." "In addition to minimizing the influence of the atmosphere on astronomical observations, climate is also an important factor to consider when selecting a site for an observatory.

Clear and cloudy weather provides the best environment for astronomical observations, allowing astronomers to see the stars more clearly than humid and rainy weather conditions. Therefore, when selecting a site for an observatory, it is best to choose a place with many sunny days (good meteorological conditions), far away from cities or industrial and mining areas (to avoid light pollution), and high altitude (wide field of view, weak atmospheric influence).

This is because there is a difference between the site selection of solar observation and the site selection of the same astronomical observation.

This will have less occlusion.

This is because the site selection of solar observation is different from that of the same astronomical observation. Compared with general astronomical observations, solar observations require daytime atmospheric visual acuity.

It is conducive to a relatively wide field of observation.

This makes the air better and easier to observe.

It is more conducive to observing the changes of the sun.

It is definitely good for observing the sun.

The success rate of observation near water bodies is large and clearer.

Celestial bodies can be observed more favorably near bodies of water.

The main job of the observatory is to observe the stars with astronomical telescopes. Interestingly, most of the world's observatories are located in mountains. For example, the three best observatories in the world are located at the top of the high mountains: the summit of Mount Monacaia in Hawaii at an altitude of 4,206 meters, the summit of the Chilean Andes at an altitude of 2,500 meters, and the summit of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean at 2,426 meters.

The same is true for China, such as the Nanjing Purple Mountain Observatory and the Sheshan Workstation of the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory. Is this choice because the mountain is a little closer to the stars?

The answer is no. In fact, the stars are very far away from us, and the nearest celestial body, the moon, is also 380,000 kilometers away, and ordinary stars are often tens of trillions of kilometers away. If you choose a mountain that is usually only a few kilometers away as an observation point just to get closer to the stars, the shortened distance is really a drop in the bucket and insignificant.

In fact, there is so much material in the atmosphere that surrounds the Earth: smoke, dust, fluctuations in water vapor, and even the nighttime lights of large cities – they illuminate the particles in the air and brighten the sky, which can have a significant impact on astronomical telescopes catching starlight. And the higher the place, the thinner the air, the less material can interfere with astronomical observations.

This is the real reason why most observatories are located in mountains.

Smoke, dust, and water vapor in the atmosphere can affect starlight from afar, which in turn interferes with astronomical observations. For example, when observing infrared radiation from stars, the water vapor in the atmosphere absorbs infrared light waves strongly, which seriously hinders the accuracy of the data obtained by astronomers.

With the science of site selection and the minimization of the impact of various unfavorable factors, the most expensive large telescope placed in the observatory can really play a role and help people capture the "star language" from the universe more clearly and accurately. In order to jump out of the influence of the earth's atmosphere and observe the celestial bodies more clearly, people have also installed telescopes in space, and space telescopes such as Hubble, Chandra, Fermi, and Spitzer have demonstrated the great strength of space telescopes with excellent image and data observation effects. With the help of many "Eyes of the Earth", I believe that in the future, people will obtain more and clearer information from the universe and uncover more secrets about it!

There's less pollution on the mountain, so it won't.

Because the range of sight in the mountains is a little better.

The most basic thing to say is to stand tall and see far

Because this way there will be less interference and more accuracy.

Because there will be a lot less occlusion this way.

That's because the mountains can better monitor the stars in the sky.

Astronomical observatories are mainly institutions for conducting astronomical observation and research, and most of the world's observatories are located in mountains. The main job of the observatory is to observe the stars with astronomical telescopes. Is the observatory located on a hill because it is closer to the stars?

Because the higher the altitude, the more clearly you can see the stars in the sky.

If you stand high, you can see far away, and if you are high, there will be fewer obstacles.

Because you can see it more clearly.

The poet will sing the praises of the clear night sky of the moon and stars, but the discerning astronomers will find it impossible to work because of the air pollution and the shaking of the atmosphere. Therefore, early congenital writers are like Tao Yuanming, who "loves the hills and mountains", and built the observatory on a hill far away from the world without exception. The atmosphere is quiet, the air is thin, the climate is stable, the atmospheric disturbance is small, and there are naturally more eyes, so it is very conducive to optical observation.

Later, astronomers discovered that the waterside platform also has its own unique advantages. Because water has the greatest specific heat, it can absorb a large amount of solar radiation during the day, so that the temperature of the surrounding air does not rise too high; At night, the heat is released generously, so that the air temperature does not drop too low. In this way, the temperature and section near the surface of the water do not change much, unlike land that is prone to evaporation and causes violent air movements.

Therefore, there are also many people who build platforms by the water.

If we could build an observatory in a lake in the high mountains and let it be close to the mountains and rivers, wouldn't it be able to take into account the dual advantages of mountains and water? Exactly right, and really found such a blessed place, which is the Big Bear Lake Observatory on the south side of California, USA. It is located on the northern shore of Lake Big Bear on a personal industrial island of Yinyu.

The lake is 2,042 meters above sea level and has an average of 300 sunny days per year; And for more than 200 of those days, the sky was clear blue and cloudless. The most precious thing is that the atmosphere is extremely peaceful. The sun shines here is clear and vivid, fine and subtle, and it is a treasure of the same kind, which is all due to its unique environment.

According to the requirements of astronomical observations, the observatory site is carefully selected. Since the radiation of celestial bodies passes through the Earth's atmosphere before reaching the ground, the Earth's atmospheric conditions have a great influence on astronomical observations. In terms of optical observations:

Cloud cover affects the timing of observations; The absorption of the atmosphere weakens the starlight; Fluctuations in atmospheric temperature and density can cause an uneven refractive index in the atmosphere, causing the stars in the telescope to jitter, distort or diffuse, and weaken the starlight entering the receiver. Atmospheric absorption and instability can reduce the observation quality of telescopes. In terms of radio observations in the millimeter wave band, the effect of water vapor absorption is most severe.

In addition to climatic factors, human factors also affect astronomical observations. For example, the lights of cities and industrial mines will brighten the night sky; Smoke and dust increase atmospheric absorption, which will affect the observation of dark stars. Radio waves from radio transmitters can cause interference to radio observations. Therefore, the site of the observatory must be carefully selected and built in the place with the best observation conditions to minimize the impact of various unfavorable factors, otherwise, the most expensive large telescope can only play the role of a small telescope.

The selection of the site of the observatory is a scientific research exercise. To build an optical observatory, we should first determine some areas with sunny days and clear nights and far away from the city and industry and mining according to meteorological data, and then select several candidate sites with a wide field of vision, stable local airflow, small temperature difference, low humidity, convenient transportation, and sufficient hydropower, and carry out comparative observations on astronomical tranquility, atmospheric extinction and meteorology, and then select the best site. For solar observatory sites, it is important to study the conditions of the day.

For radio observatory sites, radio interference should be avoided as much as possible. To prepare a radio observatory with various antenna arrays, it is necessary to choose an area that is flat enough. For millimeter-wave and infrared observations, it is necessary to select places with the least amount of water vapor.

1 The summit of the mountain is higher above sea level, closer to the sky, and easier to observe celestial bodies than from the ground;

2 There are generally no lights on the top of the mountain, and the light has a great influence on the observation of astronomical phenomena, which can be avoided on the top of the mountain;

3 The top of the mountain is quiet, unaffected by the noise of the world.

1.The air ratio is good. There is no line of sight.

2.The top of the mountain is high and has a good line of sight, which is easy to observe.

The wide observation area makes it easy to determine the location.

Generally built on a hill.

Relatively remote places.

In order to reduce atmospheric disturbances, most observatories are built on extremely high mountain tops, but there are exceptions, and scientists have built the world's deepest observatory at 4,800 meters below sea level in the northwest Pacific Ocean.

To talk about this question, we need to start with some other knowledge.

A neutrino is an elementary particle in the universe. This particle is rather peculiar, and its mass is even much smaller than that of an electron. Although it is an uncharged neutral particle, it has a strong penetrating power and can penetrate any matter, even the earth!

Astronomers attach great importance to this substance because neutrinos carry information from cosmic objects. However, it is very difficult to capture it in space or in the atmosphere on the surface of the Earth. Therefore, according to the characteristics of neutrinos, scientists hope to use rocks and seawater on the surface to block other particles from the universe, and move the device for searching and observing neutrinos to the underground and seabed.

It's better to keep an eye on the neutrino and try to capture it than anywhere else.

The "Temamut" undersea observatory in Hawaii, USA, is located at a depth of 4,800 meters below sea level. The clear water is used as a device to gather light sources. At the same time, in order to avoid the interference of waves and some luminescent marine organisms, scientists racked their brains to make high-tech processing of the device to ensure the best observation effect.

Scientists have claimed that the effect of undersea observatories in observing and receiving certain information about celestial bodies is incomparable to that of terrestrial observatories. For example, when observing the Sun, an undersea observatory can observe instantaneous changes in the Sun's core, an effect that is difficult for any ground-based telescope to achieve.

It turns out that submarine observatories can help us open an important "window" into the universe. There is a strange elementary particle in the universe called neutrinos, and it took scientists 30 years from predicting its existence to actually capturing it. Don't underestimate neutrinos, although they are not charged and have a mass smaller than electrons, they have great penetrating power and can penetrate any matter, even the earth.

Scientists have found that neutrinos carry information from cosmic objects, but it is very difficult to capture them. So scientists came up with a way, according to the characteristics of neutrinos, move the capture and observation device to the bottom of the sea, use seawater to block other particles in the universe, and pay close attention to the behavior of neutrinos, trying to capture it. The "Temamut" submarine observatory built in Hawaii, USA, is located in the depths of the Pacific Ocean 4,800 meters below sea level, scientists use the clear sea water as a "device" to gather light sources, after a long period of observation, scientists believe that the ability of the submarine observatory to observe and receive some information about celestial bodies is beyond the reach of ground observatories, such as the same observation of the sun, the submarine observatory observes the instantaneous changes in the core of the sun, which is impossible for any ground telescope.

I think that the United States must have a special meaning in doing so, and perhaps there is some ulterior secret.

It is extremely penetrating and is more suitable for keeping a close eye on neutrinos than elsewhere.

Submarine observatories can observe transient changes in the core of the Sun.

Submarine observatories can observe instantaneous changes in the core of the Sun, an effect that is difficult for any ground-based telescope to achieve.

The Temamut Underwater Observatory in Hawaii, USA, is located in the depths of the Pacific Ocean 4,800 meters below sea level, and scientists use the clear water as a device to gather light sources.