Red Buttes Observatory

The Red Buttes Observatory (RBO) was constructed in 1994 as the second research observatory at the University of Wyoming (UW). Located at 2,240 m elevation, the observatory lies 15 km south of Laramie, Wyoming at 41.1763° N, 105.5741° W. Its 0.6 m f/8.43 Ritchey-Chrétien Cassegrain telescope was constructed and installed by the Colorado-based company DFM Engineering, Inc (DFM).

RBO began operation with the mission of enriching the undergraduate astronomy curriculum with practical experiences in observation. Successful research projects have included prototyping new instrumentation, measuring eclipsing binary distances to star forming regions, and followup confirmation of gamma-ray bursts. The observatory has recently been successfully upgraded to operate in a remote or automated fashion. More information about this is available here.