The University of Missouri plans to buy into a world-class observatory in Arizona, with a goal of doing research it currently isn't able to perform.
The university will buy into the WIYN Observatory, which includes a 3.5-meter telescope atop Kitt Peak National Observatory in southern Arizona.
Eric Hooper, interim directory of the WIYN Observatory, says the mirror within the Arizona telescope is 75 times larger than the area in a telescope on the University of Missouri campus in Columbia.
Missouri will buy into the observatory at a 5 percent level, meaning it will have 15 dedicated nights of research on the Arizona telescope. The Columbia Daily Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/17P5nt7 ) the annual payment will be $130,000, with $50,000 from the physics and astronomy department and $80,000 from the university provost's office.
