juliensimon/observatory-database

Observatory Database

Credit: NASA/GSFC/Suomi NPP

Part of a dataset collection on Hugging Face.

Dataset description

Comprehensive database of astronomical observatories worldwide, sourced from Wikidata.

From ancient naked-eye platforms to modern space-based flagship missions, observatories have been humanity's primary windows into the universe. This dataset covers optical telescopes, radio dishes, neutrino detectors, gamma-ray satellites, and space observatories — any facility classified in Wikidata as an astronomical observatory (Q62832), space observatory (Q1377879), or radio observatory (Q148578).

Each entry includes geographic coordinates (latitude/longitude), elevation above sea level, primary aperture size, operating organization, opening date, and the electromagnetic wavelength bands observed. This enables spatial analysis of observatory distribution, historical studies of observational astronomy, and comparison of ground-based vs. space-based capabilities.

Sourced from Wikidata's structured knowledge base, curated by the WikiProject Astronomy community with contributions from professional astronomers and enthusiasts worldwide.

This dataset is suitable for tabular classification tasks.

Schema

Column	Type	Description	Sample	Null %
wikidata_id	str	Wikidata entity ID (e.g. 'Q179224'); stable URI for enrichment and cross-referencing	Q87574922	0.0%
name	string	Full official observatory name (e.g. 'Palomar Observatory', 'European Southern Observatory')	"Terrazza delle Stelle" observatory	0.0%
country	string	Country in which the observatory is physically located (e.g. 'United States', 'Chile'); uses full English name	Italy	27.1%
latitude	float64	Geographic latitude in decimal degrees; range -90 to +90; positive = North; null if not recorded	46.0190607	41.4%
longitude	float64	Geographic longitude in decimal degrees; range -180 to +180; positive = East; null if not recorded	11.0402307	41.4%
elevation_m	float64	Altitude above sea level in metres; relevant for atmospheric transparency and seeing quality; range sea level to ~5,640 m (Atacama sites); null if not recorded	124.687	92.4%
operator	string	Institution or agency operating the observatory (e.g. 'NASA', 'ESO', 'Caltech'); null if not recorded in Wikidata	German Aerospace Center	76.2%
opening_date	string	Date the observatory was inaugurated or began operations (YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY); null if unknown	1879-01-01	96.2%

Quick stats

• 609 observatories from 60 countries
• 357 with geographic coordinates
• 0 with aperture data
• 46 with elevation data
• Highest elevation: Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (13,570 m)
• Estimated ground-based: 510, space-based: 99
• Top countries: United States (110), United Kingdom (43), Italy (24), France (24), Netherlands (19)
• Top wavelength bands:

Usage

from datasets import load_dataset

ds = load_dataset("juliensimon/observatory-database", split="train")
df = ds.to_pandas()

from datasets import load_dataset

ds = load_dataset("juliensimon/observatory-database", split="train")
df = ds.to_pandas()

# Observatories by country
print(df["country"].value_counts().head(10))

# High-altitude observatories (above 3000 m)
high_alt = df[df["elevation_m"] > 3000].sort_values("elevation_m", ascending=False)
print(high_alt[["name", "country", "elevation_m"]].head(10))

# Large aperture telescopes (> 8 m)
large = df[df["aperture_m"] > 8].sort_values("aperture_m", ascending=False)
print(large[["name", "country", "aperture_m"]])

# Elevation distribution
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
df.dropna(subset=["elevation_m"]).hist("elevation_m", bins=40)
plt.xlabel("Elevation (m)")
plt.ylabel("Count")
plt.title("Observatory Elevation Distribution")
plt.show()

Data source

https://www.wikidata.org/

Related datasets

• juliensimon/astronomer-database

• juliensimon/chandra-x-ray-sources

If you find this dataset useful, please consider giving it a like on Hugging Face. It helps others discover it.

About the author

Created by Julien Simon — AI Operating Partner at Fortino Capital. Part of the Space Datasets collection.

Citation

@dataset{observatory_database,
  title = {Observatory Database},
  author = {juliensimon},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/observatory-database},
  publisher = {Hugging Face}
}

License

CC0-1.0