La Palma Astronomy

Due to the location of the island and its reaching the height above sea level, many observatories have been built such as the Observatory Roque de los Muchachos.  The geographical location in the middle of the Atlantic, the peculiar climate and the formation of clouds between 1,000 and 2,000 meters, prevent light pollution from the coastal populations from hampering the observation of stars.

There are many telescopes on the island, including:

The Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes (ING) which operates three: William Herschel Telescope of 4.2-m, Isaac Newton Telescope of 2.5-m, and Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope, 1 m.
The Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT), 2.5 m.
The Swedish Solar Telescope (SST) of 1 m, which is operated by the Institute for Solar Physics.
The Dutch Open Telescope (DOT), 0.45 m.
A 0.6 m telescope for the location of areas to investigate.
The Carlsberg Meridian Telescope (CMT).
The Mercator Telescope, 1.2 m.
The Liverpool Telescope, 2 m.
The Great Canary Telescope (GRANTECAN) of 10.4 m.
The Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG), 3.6 m.
The MAGIC Telescope, an open type Cherenkov telescope to observe high-energy radiation (gamma rays). This is at the Observatory Roque de los Muchachos.

The DOT and the SST have been constructed to study the sun.