William Herschel Telescope
The William Herschel Telescope building
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| Organisation | Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes |
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| Location(s) | Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain |
| Coordinates | 28°45′37.7″N 17°52′53.8″W / 28.760472°N 17.881611°WCoordinates: 28°45′37.7″N 17°52′53.8″W / 28.760472°N 17.881611°W |
| Altitude | 2344m |
| Weather | 75% clear nights Median seeing 0.7" |
| Wavelength | Optical / near-infrared |
| Built | 1983–1987 |
| First light | 1 June 1987 |
| Telescope style | Ritchey-Chrétien Cassegrain, Nasmyth or Prime focus reflector |
| Diameter | 4.2m |
| Secondary diameter | 1.0m |
| Collecting area | 13.8m2 |
| Mounting | Alt-azimuth |
| Enclosure | Onion |
| Website | WHT Homepage |
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The William Herschel Telescope (WHT) is a 4.20-metre (165 in) optical/near-infrared reflecting telescope located at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, Spain. The telescope, which is named after William Herschel, is part of the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes. It is funded by research councils from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Spain.
At the time of construction in 1987, the WHT was the third largest single optical telescope in the world. It is currently the second largest in Europe, and was the final telescope constructed by Grubb Parsons in their 150-year history.
The WHT is equipped with a wide range of instruments operating over the optical and near-infrared regimes. These are used by professional astronomers to conduct a wide range of astronomical research. Astronomers using the telescope discovered the first evidence for a supermassive black hole (Sgr A*) at the centre of the Milky Way, and made the first optical observation of a gamma-ray burst.
The WHT was first conceived in the late 1960s, when the 3.9 m (150 in) Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) was being designed. The British astronomical community saw the need for telescopes of comparable power in the northern hemisphere. In particular, there was a need for optical follow-up of interesting sources in the radio surveys being conducted at the Jodrell Bank and Mullard observatories, both located in the UK.
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