Noun
A place or building for making observations on the heavenly bodies.
A building fitted with instruments for making systematic observations of any particular class or series of natural phenomena.
A place, as an elevated chamber, from which a view may be observed or commanded.
A lookout on a flank of a battery whence an officer can note the range and effect of the fire.
Source: Webster's dictionaryThe soul without imagination is what an observatory would be without a telescope. Henry Ward Beecher
Where there is an observatory and a telescope, we expect that any eyes will see new worlds at once. Henry David Thoreau
You are invited to come to see the Earth turn, tomorrow, from three to five, at Meridian Hall of the Paris Observatory. Léon Foucault
The result was that, if it happened to clear off after a cloudy evening, I frequently arose from my bed at any hour of the night or morning and walked two miles to the observatory to make some observation included in the programme. Simon Newcomb
[T]he instrumental conceptions derived from the use of a common globe are sufficient, in almost every case, for the understanding of the instruments in an Observatory... George Biddell Airy
In October, 1865, occurred what was, in my eyes, the greatest event in the history of the observatory. The new transit circle arrived from Berlin in its boxes. Simon Newcomb