The Real Instituto y Observatorio de la Armada (Royal Institute and Observatory of the Spanish Navy) is the scientific institute and
astronomical observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed.
Th ...
of the
Spanish Navy
The Spanish Navy, officially the Armada, is the Navy, maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces and one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Spanish Navy was responsible for a number of major historic achievements in navigation ...
(''Armada''), located in
San Fernando in the
Province of Cádiz
Cádiz is a Provinces of Spain, province of southern Spain, in the southwestern part of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is the southernmost part of mainland Spain, as well as the southernmost part of ...
,
Andalusia
Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...
,
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
.
History
It was founded in 1753
and is the oldest in Spain. Astronomy was of particular importance to the navy in the context of navigation.
In 1790 the
Royal Observatory in Madrid was built to take over the purely astronomical work of the facility at San Fernando.
Current activities
In recent years the observatory has been adversely affected by
light pollution
Light pollution is the presence of any unwanted, inappropriate, or excessive artificial Visible spectrum, lighting. In a descriptive sense, the term ''light pollution'' refers to the effects of any poorly implemented lighting sources, during the ...
. However, it uses laser technology to monitor pieces of
space junk.
The observatory operated a
time ball
A time ball or timeball is a time-signalling device. It consists of a large, painted wooden or metal ball that is dropped at a predetermined time, principally to enable navigators aboard ships offshore to verify the setting of their marine chron ...
so that ships at sea could synchronize their clocks.
After better timekeeping at sea made it obsolete, it was disabled, but it was reactivated in the late 20th century every day at 13:00.
See also
*
ROA Time
References
External links
*
Astronomical observatories in Spain
Buildings and structures in San Fernando, Cádiz
1753 establishments in Spain
Spanish Navy
Time balls
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