Observatory
Roof-top facility will offer unique telescope experiences to students and astrophysicists.
The Jordan Hall Observatory sits atop the third floor and, when complete, will feature a research-class telescope equipped with a full suite of modern instrumentation contained in its own dome. The telescope will serve as a training and research tool for Notre Dame students who will be able to position research-grade CCD (charge coupling device) cameras to take images of distant stars, nebulae, supernovae, and galaxies. The CCD imagers will be equipped with a filter set that will allow astrophysicists to view astronomical objects in several distinct wavelengths of light (colors), allowing them to isolate specific constituents of star-forming regions and distant galaxies.
As a training tool, the observatory will function like any professional astronomical observatory. It will be computer controlled and, unlike many of its larger brethren, capable of being remotely controlled via the Internet. The observatory will also include a number of smaller telescopes for student use in larger introductory astronomy courses, some of which will make use of CCD cameras, digital video cameras for live viewing, and solar filters to enable students to view the sun in great detail. These telescopes will allow students to view objects within the solar system, our own Milky Way galaxy, and our galactic neighbors.
Fast Facts about Jordan
- 202,000 square feet
- 40 labs
- 500,000 bricks
- $70 million to complete
- Two 250-seat lecture halls
- 136-seat Digital Visualization Theater with a 50-foot dome
- 22 offices
- 223 fume hoods for each student in labs
- 4-bay greenhouse
- 3,000 and 4,000 students: projected enrollment of students in science lecture and lab courses, respectively, per semester
- Largest building on campus devoted to undergraduate education
