The Gotham Observatory is an astronomical research facility located on a hillside outside Gotham City.
History
Wayne Enterprises funded the scientific research at the Gotham Observatory and employed astronomers to work on numerous different projects. Natasha Knight was hired as an astronomer at the Gotham City Observatory, where she studied the properties of stellar light in a vacuum and began working on an experiment involving lasers. However, she eventually suffered an accident at the observatory and was indirectly exposed to a high level of laser radiation, which gradually drained all pigments from her skin and left her highly sensitive to light rays.[1] Following the incident, Knight adopted the alias of Nocturna and turned to a life of crime as an ally of her adoptive brother Anton Knight.[2]
Residents
Staff Members
- Professor Hendricks[3]
- Natasha Knight
- Dr. Saul Erdel
- Dr. Jason Burr
Other Versions
Super Friends
In this continuity, the Gotham City Observatory was located on Mount Whitmore outside of the city. When Earth was hit by a massive heatwave, Professor Von Knowalot at the observatory researched the origin of this heat crisis and eventually found out that a magnetic force field was moving Earth closer to the sun. It eventually turned out that this was part of an elaborate colonization plan by aliens from the planet Solar Terrarium who wanted to terraform Earth in order to meet their species' needs.[4]
DCAU
After escaping from Arkham Asylum, the Joker used a pirated signal to broadcast his sadistic holiday program "Christmas with the Joker" to the people of Gotham. In order to not reveal the location of his actual hideout at the Laffco Toy Factory, he left a transmitter on Mount Gotham to deceive Batman into believing that the signal was coming from the Gotham Observatory located at the top of the mountain. The Joker also replaced the observatory's main telescope with a massive cannon and left several Joker robots with machine gun hands at the building. When Batman and Robin later arrived at the observatory, they were almost immediately attacked with the giant cannon until Robin was able to destroy the weapon with an explosive. The duo then found out that the Joker's signal was actually not broadcasted from the observatory.[5]
Burtonverse
Wayne Enterprises donated a new advanced telescope to the Gotham Observatory that allowed the scientists to see the sky from anywhere on Earth by utilizing light reflected from satellites in orbit. The observatory was eventually invaded by Mr. Freeze and Bane as part of a larger scheme to convert the telescope into a giant ice gun and freeze Gotham City solid. However, Batman, Robin and Batgirl later went to the Gotham Observatory and managed to use the satellites to thaw Gotham in order to foil Fries' plan.[6]
Trivia
- In the 1997 movie Batman and Robin, the Gotham Observatory building is held up by a giant statue, which may have been inspired by common depictions of the Greek Titan Atlas holding the terrestrial globe.
See Also
- Appearances of Gotham Observatory
- Location Gallery: Gotham Observatory
- Catalogued images related to Gotham Observatory