Xinglong Observatory was founded in 1968, and is one of the primary observatories administered by National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC). As the largest observatory in the continent of Asia, it contains nine telescopes whose effective apertures are larger than 50 cm.
Huairou Solar Observatory is one of the key observatories administered by NAOC. It was built in 1984 and is located on an island near the north bank of the Huairou reservoir, 60 km north of downtown Beijing. The main scientific objective of the observatory is to measure and study solar magnetic and velocity fields at various altitudes in the solar atmosphere.
The Changchun Observatory was founded in October 1957. It was first affiliated with the Purple Mountain Observatory and its primary mission was to track the world’s first artificial satellite launched by the former Soviet Union. It moved to Changchun’s Jingyuetan Lake West Hill in 1974 and became part of NAOC in April 2001. It has 54 employees as well as six graduate students.
