Infrared Telescopes

Optical / infrared / submillimeter complex · United States (Hawaii)

Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano in Hawaii, hosts a cluster of the world's most powerful optical, infrared, and submillimeter telescopes at 4,200 metres.

Optical / infrared observatory · United States / Chile

Gemini Observatory operates twin 8.1-metre telescopes — Gemini North in Hawaii and Gemini South in Chile — giving access to the entire sky.

Optical / infrared observatory · Chile

ESO's Paranal Observatory in the Atacama Desert is home to the Very Large Telescope, one of the most productive ground-based facilities in astronomy.

Optical / infrared reflector · 8.2 m

ESO's Very Large Telescope at Paranal comprises four 8.2-metre telescopes that can combine as an interferometer; it is among the most scientifically productive observatories on the ground.

Optical / infrared reflector · 8.1 m

Gemini North is an 8.1-metre telescope on Mauna Kea, one of the twin Gemini telescopes covering the whole sky.

Optical / infrared reflector · 8.1 m

Gemini South is the 8.1-metre southern Gemini telescope, located on Cerro Pachón in Chile.

Optical / infrared reflector · 8.2 m

The Subaru Telescope, operated by Japan's NAOJ on Mauna Kea, is an 8.2-metre telescope renowned for wide-field imaging.

Optical / infrared reflector · 8.4 m

The Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona carries two 8.4-metre mirrors on a single mount, giving it the light-gathering power of an 11.8-metre telescope.

Optical / infrared reflector · 6.5 m

The twin 6.5-metre Magellan Telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile are operated by a US consortium for imaging and spectroscopy.

Optical / infrared reflector · 39.3 m

ESO's Extremely Large Telescope, under construction in Chile, will be the world's largest optical/infrared telescope with a 39-metre segmented mirror. It is not yet operational.

Optical / infrared reflector · 30 m

The Thirty Meter Telescope is a planned 30-metre optical/infrared telescope; its site remains the subject of ongoing decisions. It is not yet operational.

Solar telescope · 4 m

The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope on Haleakalā, Maui is the world's largest solar telescope, resolving features on the Sun as small as 30 kilometres.

Near Infrared · 2021

The James Webb Space Telescope is the largest space observatory, observing the infrared universe from the Sun–Earth L2 point.

Infrared · 2003

Spitzer was NASA's infrared Great Observatory (2003–2020), studying warm dust, exoplanets, and distant galaxies.

Near Infrared

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is a planned NASA wide-field infrared observatory for dark-energy and exoplanet surveys. It is not yet operational.

Infrared · 2009

Herschel was ESA's far-infrared and submillimeter observatory (2009–2013), with the largest single mirror ever flown in space at the time.

Infrared · 2009

WISE surveyed the entire sky in infrared light, cataloguing hundreds of millions of objects and, as NEOWISE, tracking near-Earth asteroids.

Optical / infrared observatory · United States (Hawaii)

The W. M. Keck Observatory operates two 10-metre telescopes on Mauna Kea, among the largest optical and infrared telescopes in the world.

Optical observatory · United States (California)

Palomar Observatory in California, operated by Caltech, is home to the historic 200-inch Hale Telescope.

Optical / infrared reflector · 10 m

Keck I is one of two 10-metre Keck telescopes on Mauna Kea, using a segmented primary mirror of 36 hexagonal segments.

Optical / infrared reflector · 10 m

Keck II is the second 10-metre Keck telescope, used with adaptive optics for high-resolution near-infrared studies, including the Galactic Centre.

Optical / infrared reflector · 10.4 m

The Gran Telescopio Canarias on La Palma is one of the largest single-aperture optical telescopes in the world, with a 10.4-metre segmented mirror.

Ultraviolet · 1990

The Hubble Space Telescope is a 2.4-metre NASA–ESA observatory that has transformed astronomy from low Earth orbit since 1990.

Visible Light · 2023

Euclid is ESA's mission to map the geometry of the dark universe, surveying billions of galaxies to study dark matter and dark energy.