France 1951 – Pic du Midi Observatory
Pic du Midi Observatory lies at an altitude
of 2860 m in the French Pyrenees, near the border with Spain.
It was founded in 1878 primarily for meteorological
observations. The first telescope dome, called the Baillaud
dome after Benjamin Baillaud, the director of Toulouse
Observatory who had it built, was completed in 1908 and a 0.5-m
reflector started work there the following year. In 1930
Bernard Lyot installed the first-ever coronagraph, an
instrument he invented for observing the outer regions of the
Sun, which he mounted on the telescope in the Baillaud dome. In
1963 a 1-m reflector was opened, partly funded by NASA for
lunar mapping in preparation for the Apollo landings. The
observatory’s largest telescope, a 2-m reflector named
after Bernard Lyot, began operation in 1979.
This stamp shows the Pic du Midi
Observatory as it appeared around 1950. Right of centre is the
Baillaud dome, which by then contained a 0.6-m refractor with a
folded optical path; this produced high-resolution images of
the planets until the 1960s. Adjoining it, with sloping roof
and chimneys, is the Nansouty building, named after the founder
of the observatory, which dates to 1878 and was the original
living quarters. The two tall pyramids are radio masts erected
in 1926 to transmit
daily meteorological observations; the base
of one still remains and contains meteorological instruments.
At the far end, partly hidden by one of the masts, is the
Robley dome, which contains a 0.55-m telescope. Between the two
aerials is the low Vaussenat building, which also dates from
the foundation in 1878; it was used for storage until the
1930s. Above and behind the Vaussenat building is the Gentili
dome, which at the time contained a 0.6-m reflector opened in
1947 but since 1963 has housed the 1-m reflector. In the centre
foreground, near the foot of one of the radio masts, is a gap
where part of the terrace collapsed in 1922.
I am grateful to Emmanuel Davoust for
helping me identify the various buildings shown.
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