FOR ASTRONOMY
The possibility of obtaining impressive images through star photography and night time-lapse are a great attraction of the peaks of Tenerife, both for professional photographers and for those who practice photography as a hobby. The Geminids meteor shower, which occurs in December, is one of the most anticipated moments for astronomy enthusiasts in Tenerife, as Las Cañadas del Teide is one of the best spots in the world to enjoy it from. Some of the most prominent observation points within the National Park are Chipeque, El Portillo, Ucanca and Izaña.

Astronomical studies have always had a close relationship with Mount Teide. Natural scientists and astronomers of past centuries already knew its advantages as an observation point for the study of the cosmos, as early as the mid 19th century when Piazzi Smyth installed an observatory for a period of three months at 3,300 meters above sea level. altitude, taking advantage of the exceptional possibilities offered by the sky of Las Cañadas.
In recognition of his work, lunar sites were baptized with the names of Teide and Tenerife. The astronomical tradition continued in the early twentieth century, with the studies of comet Halley made by the French astronomer Jean Mascart in 1910 on the peaks of Guajara, at 2,718 meters.
Altitude: 2,400 meters
Longitude: 16º30´35 “West
Latitude: 28º18´00 “North

THEMIS solar telescope, 90 cm.
GREGOR * solar telescope, 1.5 m.
Solar Laboratory:
Spectrophotometers (MARK-I, IRIS-T, ECHO)
High resolution photometer TON
Fourier GONG speedometer
Mons reflector telescope, 50 cm.
IAC-80 telescope, 80 cm.
OGS telescope, 100 cm. (Earth Optical Station)
STARE telescope, 10 cm.
Bradford Robotic Telescope *
STELLA robotic telescopes *
COSMO10 and 15
VSA (Very Small Array) interferometric network
(*) Not yet in operation.
With this telescope it is possible to study the dynamics, structure and chemical composition of the solar atmosphere, with the possibility of studying how solar granulation evolves. For this type of observations that require high spatial resolution, the telescope has a “Solar Correlator”, a unique instrument of its kind, developed by the Canarias Institute of Astrophysics.
HEMIS (Heliographic Telescope for the Study of Magnetism and Solar Instabilities) was designed by a group of French astronomers from the Meudon-París Observatory. Today, THEMIS is a collaboration between Italy and France.
With its 90 cm in diameter, THEMIS is the largest solar telescope in the Teide Observatory and was designed to measure the intensity and direction of the solar magnetic field. One of the characteristics of THEMIS is its ability to operate simultaneously in different bands, which is fundamental for these types of studies. In addition, THEMIS instrumentation allows to obtain experimental data on the structure of the solar atmosphere in 3 dimensions.
Visit to the Teide Observatory: among the dissemination tasks carried out by the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics, so that astronomical knowledge reaches everyone, visits by schools and groups to the Observatory are organized. The Teide Observatory has a visitor center, the result of the recovery of an empty dome, which was equipped with elements of scientific dissemination. With a capacity of forty people maximum, it is used to explain to schoolchildren what an observatory consists of, how telescopes work and the importance of astronomy for man.