Allegheny Observatory is the observatory of the University of Pittsburgh, located in Riverview Park, Pennsylvania, 10 miles northeast of the main university campus. For most of the twentieth century and up to the present, this facility has specialized in astrometric observations and its primary research goal continues to be high-precision astrometry, particularly as applied to exoplanets. One of its principal researchers, George Gatewood, announced in 1996 the preliminary finding of a planetary system around the nearby star Lalande 21185, but this result has not since been verified.

 

Allegheny's main instruments are the Thaw Memorial 0.76-meter (30-inch) refractor, constructed in 1914 and used in the work leading to Gatewood's discovery, and the James E. Keeler 31-inch reflector, built in 1906 and also used for astrometric research.

 

Gatewood, George D. (1940–)

 

 

George Gatewood is professor emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh and at the Allegheny Observatory and was chairman of the Extrasolar Planetary Foundation. Gatewood specializes in high-precision astrometry aimed at detecting exoplanets around nearby stars. He designed and built the Multichannel Astrometric Photometer used in the search for exoplanets..