Daily Bulletin

Celebrating 85 years of the High Altitude Observatory at NSF NCAR

January 8, 2026

Last month marked the 85th anniversary of NSF NCAR’s High Altitude Observatory (HAO), a milestone celebrating nearly a century of advancing solar science.

HAO’s legacy began in 1940 with the establishment of the Climax Observatory near Leadville, Colorado, which housed North America’s first coronagraph. This pioneering facility eventually evolved into HAO and became a founding division of NSF NCAR in 1960.

For over eight decades, HAO has integrated innovative instrumentation with world-class research to illuminate the complex processes driving the Sun and its impact on Earth’s geospace. Historical images and further details on the legacy of the Climax Observatory are available via the HAO photo archives.

Image shown above: The Climax Observatory in the 1940s, with Walter Orr Roberts in the foreground on skis. Roberts served as the superintendent of the observatory between 1940 and 1947.

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Center for Atmospheric Research, a major facility sponsored by National Science Foundation and managed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.