Some Facts About Alaska

The population in the state of Alaska is just under 627,000. Compared to other states in the union, Alaska ranks 48th in population size, but first in land size. If Alaska's land was divided equally to all Alaskans, each person would receive 582 acres. Alaska is 1/3 the size of the continental U.S. with 365 million acres.

Some Facts About Fairbanks

Fairbanks, Alaska is located in the interior of Alaska. Fairbanks is Alaska's 2nd largest city with about 32,000 people. Fairbanks lies in a valley between 2 mountain ranges, the Alaska Range and the Brooks Range, that cause near desert conditions. Fairbanks receives less than 10 inches of precipitation per year. Temperatures can reach + 90° F in the summer and below - 50° F in the winter.

Fairbanks is located in the interior of Alaska.

Where is the Dobson Spectrophotometer Located?

The Dobson spectrophotometer is located northwest of Fairbanks at the University of Alaska at 64.86° north of the equator and 147.86° west of the prime meridian. Because of its northern latitude (110 miles south of the Arctic Circle), Fairbanks gets over 20 hours of daylight in summer and less than 4 hours of daylight in the winter. During the shortest days in late fall and early winter, the sun is too low in the sky to take solar ozone observations with the Dobson spectrophotometer, however, lunar observations are possible.

The Dobson spectrophotometer is located on the roof of the Elvey building at the University of Alaska - Fairbanks.