Manastash Ridge Observatory


The Manastash Ridge Observatory is an astronomical observatory built in 1972 by the University of Washington. It is located in a remote area approximately west of Ellensburg, Washington, and can be reached by dirt roads from Ellensburg or Selah. The observatory features a Ritchey-Chrétien telescope built by Boller and Chivens. Initially used for professional and graduate research, the observatory is now used mostly by undergraduate students for instruction and research. For a brief time there was talk of stopping funding for MRO as the University of Washington Astronomy Department focus on the Apache Point Observatory, but funding did continue and MRO is still in use.
The Manastash Ridge Radar is located in the MRO building. MRR is a bistatic, passive radar controlled by the University of Washington's Radar Remote Sensing Laboratory led by Dr. John Sahr. MRR uses commercial FM radio broadcasts from Seattle to sense ionospheric turbulence, meteors, and airplanes. The receivers are located at the University of Washington and at MRO.
In 2015 MRO was granted $59,999 from the University of Washington's Campus Sustainability Fund in an effort to have the observatory run in a more eco-friendly manner. According to the project's Letter of Intent, the main goals were to reduce water and energy consumption. To conserve water they have installed a rainwater harvesting system that can hold 10,000 gallons of water in its tank and can fully supply the MRO's water usage. To conserve energy they have installed two solar panels which will produce more than the necessary 20,000 kWh per year needed to sustain the observatory.