Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian is a collaboration between Harvard and Smithsonian designed to ask — and ultimately answer — humanity’s greatest unresolved questions about the nature of the universe. The Harvard College Observatory (HCO), founded in 1839, is a research institution of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University, and provides facilities and substantial other support for teaching activities of the Department of Astronomy. SAO is part of what is arguably the largest and most diverse astrophysical institution in the world, where the combined staff now numbering more than 300 scientists carries out a broad program of research in astronomy, astrophysics, and earth and space sciences. Key areas of research include exoplanets, the sun and solar weather, asteroids and comets, and "The Extreme Universe" that includes the study of black holes, pulsars, supernovae, white dwarfs, neutron stars and magnetars. Observational facilities include the multipurpose Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory (FLWO) on Mt. Hopkins in Arizona and the Submillimeter Array Telescope (SMA) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, the latter a collaboration with the Academia Sinica in Taiwan. SAO instrumentation is also operating in space in The Chandra X-ray Observatory (SAO, on behalf of NASA, serves as the site of both the Chandra X-ray Observatory Science Center (CXC) and the Chandra Operations and Control Center) and many other current and future missions.
https://pweb.cfa.harvard.edu/about/about-smithsonian-astrophysical-observatory