Touring Oak Ridge Observatory (Photos)

News
By published

Oak Ridge Observatory Telescope Building

Nola Taylor Redd, 2016

The observatory's director would climb the ladder on the side of the telescope building to grease the wheels on the section of the roof that opened up to allow the telescope to observe the sky.

Robert Stefanik, Former Director of Oak Ridge Observatory

Nola Taylor Redd, 2016

Robert Stefanik, the last person to serve as director of the observatory, in the spring of 2016.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.

Space.com Staff
Space.com Staff
News and editorial team

Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists. Our current news team consists of Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik; Editor Hanneke Weitering, Senior Space Writer Mike Wall; Senior Writer Meghan Bartels; Senior Writer Chelsea Gohd, Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova and Staff Writer Alexander Cox, focusing on e-commerce. Senior Producer Steve Spaleta oversees our space videos, with Diana Whitcroft as our Social Media Editor. 

More about science astronomy

Astronomers gaze into 'dark nebula' 60 times the size of the solar system (video)

James Webb Space Telescope finds a wild black hole growth spurt in galaxies at 'cosmic noon'

James Webb Space Telescope captures thousands of galaxies in a cosmic 'feast' (image)
See more latest
Most Popular
Thousands of galaxies in various shapes and sizes are captured in this new image from the James Webb Space Telescope. More distant galaxies appear redder and smaller, compared to galaxies that are closer and appear larger and white or blueish.
James Webb Space Telescope captures thousands of galaxies in a cosmic 'feast' (image)
streaks of light race across a starry night sky
The Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks May 6. Here's what to expect from the 'crumbs' of Halley's Comet
An illustration of a blue planet to the right with a bright star in the back.
Doubts mount further over signs of alien life on K2-18b: 'This is evidence of the scientific process at work'
NASA astronaut Anne McClain conducts a spacewalk outside the International Space Station on March 22,2019.
Watch 2 NASA astronauts perform the 5th-ever all-female spacewalk today
An image of Jupiter.
Cyclones on Jupiter and a moon with flowing magma: NASA Juno probe's latest discoveries are awesome
The location of the stars of Ophion (the yellow dots) as seen in the sky. Ophion appears to cover a wide area of sky because it is relatively close to us.
A thousand stars are fleeing home in a hurry, and scientists don't know why
an artificial color map of a galaxy reveals the background scatter of ultraviolet light
New Horizons' new map of the galaxy | Space photo of the day for April 30, 2025
people in helmets and bright orange jackets sit in an inflatable boat in the ocean next to a cone-shaped white capsule floating in the water
NASA has used the US military for astronaut rescue for decades. So why ask private companies for help now?
Multiple blue disks against a dark background.
These are the sharpest images yet of planets being born around distant stars
Three Lego sets stand in front of an orange planet background with the space.com deals logo in the top-left corner
These ARE the Lego Star Wars deals you're looking for