Teide Observatory, IAU code 954, is an astronomical observatory on Mount Teide at 2390 m, located on Tenerife, Spain. It has been operated by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias since its inauguration in 1964. It became one of the first major international observatories, attracting telescopes from different countries around the world because of the good astronomical seeing conditions. Later, the emphasis for optical telescopes shifted more towards Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma.

Telescopes

Solar telescopes

Nocturnal telescopes

Radio telescopes for cosmic microwave background astronomy

Other buildings on the site

The observatory has a visitors' centre and a residencia (hostel) for astronomers. Brian May helped construct a building there to study interplanetary dust.

List of discovered minor planets

The Minor Planet Center credits the discovery of several minor planets directly to the observatory.

Discovery of the first brown dwarf star

In 1995, Rafael Rebolo López, María Rosa Zapatero-Osorio and Eduardo L. Martín published their discovery of Teide-1, which they found through optical observations using the 0.8 meter telescope at Teide Observatory.

Climate

The position where the observatory is situated has a mediterranean climate (Köppen Csb), with average temperature features reminiscent of southern England. This renders in warm summers that averages around 23 C with light frosts being possible and sometimes happening in winter. Extremes are moderated by its marine features, which combined with the altitude keeps temperatures below 30 C even during heat waves, and in spite of the altitude the marine features are strong enough to prevent severe frosts. Sunshine levels, as typical of the nearby lowland arid climates, are high throughout the year. Many alpine areas at further distance from the equator are above the tree line at this elevation, but Teide is far above even any subarctic temperatures due to its position on the 28th parallel north.

Astroclimate and seeing

The useful observing time is given as 78% and the median FWHM seeing from DIMM measurements is given as 0.76" and 0.70" at two sites near the Carlos Sánchez Telescope.