Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute

PARI is a not-for-profit foundation dedicated to providing hands-on educational and research opportunities for a broad cross-section of users in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines.Our goal is to become a recognized center for world-class research in radio and optical astronomy and related disciplines, while providing educational opportunities for all levels of students: K-12, undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral. Scientific instruments at PARI include: two 26 meter (85ft) radio telescopes, a 12.2 meter (40ft) radio telescope housed in a radome, a 4.6 meter (15ft) radio telescope (dubbed “Smiley” and operated remotely by high school students), a high frequency Jupiter-Io/Solar antenna, several optical telescopes on the PARI Optical Ridge, five weather and atmospheric monitoring stations, and various environmental monitoring instruments.