Editing Pyrenees (section)

===Pic du Midi Observatory===
[[File:Picdumidi.jpg|thumb|The observatory on the [[Pic du Midi de Bigorre]].]]
The [[Pic du Midi de Bigorre|Pic du Midi Observatory]] is an astronomical observatory located at 2877 metres on top of the Pic du Midi de Bigorre in the French Pyrenees. Construction of the observatory began in 1878 and the 8-metre dome was completed in 1908.

The observatory housed a powerful mechanical equatorial reflector which was used in 1909 to formally discredit the Martian canal theory. A {{Convert|1.06|m|in|adj=on}} telescope was installed in 1963, funded by [[NASA]] and was used to take detailed photographs of the surface of the Moon in preparation for the Apollo missions. Other studies conducted in 1965 provided a detailed analysis of the composition of the atmospheres on Mars and Venus, this served as a basis for [[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]] scientists to predict that these planets had no life.

Since 1980, the observatory has had a 2-metre telescope, which is the largest telescope in France. Overtaken by the giant telescopes built in recent decades, today the observatory is widely open to amateur astronomy.