Hard Labor Creek Observatory

The Hard Labor Creek Observatory is located about 50 miles east of Atlanta in Rutledge, Georgia. It is owned and operated by Georgia State University. There are three research grade telescopes there and several other telescopes that can be set on the lawn for public open houses (which happen about once per month).

The first telescope, which is a 16 inch telescope, a Boller and Chivens classical Cassegrain, was obtained from Kitt Peak after Kitt Peak moved on to only support larger telescopes. So, it came to live in Georgia.

The second telescope, also a 16 inch telescope, is a Meade Cassegrain telescope permanently mounted there. It gives a beautiful look at the heavens through the eyepiece.

The third research grade telescope is the MTT (Multi Telescope Telescope), which is linked via 9 optical fibers (one for each 13.1 inch mirror to a spectrograph capable of low, medium, and high resolution spectroscopy. I hope to use this a few times before I graduate.

A picture of the site. For pictures of the individual telescopes, look at their individual pages.