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An observatory located in the French Pyrenees, near the northern end of the mountain range, at an altitude of 2,877 metres (9,350 feet). A meteorological observatory was founded at the site in 1878. In 1903 it was affiliated to the Toulouse University Observatory and two telescopes - a 50-centimetre (20-inch) reflector and a 23-centimetre (9-inch) refractor - were installed. A 60-centimetre (24-inch) refractor was brought into operation in 1943 and a 1.06-metre (42-inch) lunar and planetary telescope in 1964, with the sponsorship of NASA. The most recent instrument is a 2-metre (79-inch) reflector, which started operation in 1980. There are also solar instruments: the first experiments with a coronagraph were carried out here by Bernard Lyot in the 1930s.
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