Štefánik's Observatory ( cs, Štefánikova hvězdárna,
obs. code:
541) is an astronomical
observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. H ...
on
PetÅ™Ãn hill in the center of
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
founded 1928 and named after
Slovak astronomer
Milan Rastislav Štefánik. Nowadays the observatory specializes above all in popularization of
astronomy
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...
and related natural sciences.
Technology
The main
telescope
A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to obse ...
s of the observatory are a double
refractor by Zeiss after the Viennese selenographer
König
König (; ) is the German word for "king". In German and other languages applying the umlaut, the transliterations ''Koenig'' and ''Kœnig'', when referring to a surname, also occur. As a surname in English, the use of ''Koenig'' is usual, and som ...
placed in the main dome (bought in 1928) and a
Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope installed in the western dome in 1976. The eastern dome of the observatory is only being used for scientific observations and since 1999 equipped with a 40 cm mirror telescope by Meade.
Gallery
Image:Štefánik Observatory Zeiss Refractor.jpg, The observatory's main instrument: double refractor made by Zeiss in 1908
Image:Stefanik statue Observatory Prague CZ 01.JPG, Statue of Milan Rastislav Štefánik in front of sundial
A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a fl ...
File:Stefanik Observatory Prague CZ 03.JPG, Štefánik's Observatory from the South
See also
*
List of astronomical observatories
This is a list of astronomical observatories ordered by name, along with initial dates of operation (where an accurate date is available) and location. The list also includes a final year of operation for many observatories that are no longer in ...
*
Statue of Milan Rastislav Štefánik, Prague
References
External links
Observatory and Planetarium of Prague Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stefaniks Observatory
Astronomical observatories in the Czech Republic
1928 establishments in Czechoslovakia
PetÅ™Ãn
20th-century architecture in the Czech Republic