Urumqi Observatory, National Astronomical Observatories, ChineseAcademy of Sciences

Director: Dr. Na Wang

Address: 40-5 South Beijing Road, Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, 830011, P. R. China

Tel.: 86-991-7823105, 7823140

Fax: 86-991-3838628

E-mail: uao@ms.xjb.ac.cn

Website: http://www.uao.ac.cn

Urumqi Observatory, is part of the National Astronomical Observatories of the ChineseAcademy of Sciences (UO, NAOC) and was officially founded in 1957 as an Artificial Satellite Observatory of CAS. In April 2001 it became part of the newly established National Astronomical Observatories with its current name.

As a part of the Key Laboratory of Radio Astronomy of CAS, UO is one of five bases for radio astronomical research of China. It is mainly engaged in research on radio astronomy, including pulsars, active galactic nuclei, formation and evolution of stars, and development of radio astronomy techniques.

The major facility of UO is a 25-meter radio telescope. It was built in 1994 and has been part of the international Very Long Baseline Interferometer (VLBI) network since then. The telescope is located at NanshanMountain, which is about 60 km south of Urumqi.UO participates in many international research collaborations, such as the European VLBI Network (EVN), the International VLBI Service (IVS), and the Russian low-frequency VLBI network. UO has also participated in the National Large Scientific Project and the Circumlunar Project of China. In pulsar research, UO made important progress in exploiting pulsar observations as a new research area in China by employing small telescope. UO is equipped with 18-cm, 6-cm and 1.3-cm band molecular-line observation systems and has obtained many valuable results with these. UO has established long-term international cooperation with academic institutions of many countries which have helped its astronomical research to reach an advanced international level.

UO currently has 61 staff, 52 of which are scientific and technical personnel, including 3 researchers and 11 associate researchers. The Knowledge Innovation Project of CAS supports 30 employees. There are 1 honorary professor, 3 visiting professors and 28 graduate students.

UO has published one academic book and more than 100 science papers since 1996, 50 of which are published on SCI journals. UO was honored to receive the First Prize of Science and Technology Progress award in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China in 1999 and 2004 respectively and 22 other awards of or above provincial and ministerial level.

UO is also the base of the Astronomical Society of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region with more than 160 members from all over XinjiangProvince.