The starry sky is mesmerizing. Although today the pleasure of seeing the Milky Way is very difficult - the dustiness of the atmosphere, especially in cities, significantly reduces the ability to see the stars in the night sky. That is why a trip to the astronomical observatory becomes a revelation for the layman. And the stars again begin to instill hopes and dreams in a person. There are about 60 observatories in Russia, the most important ones will be discussed in this article.
A bit of general knowledge
Modern ground-based observatories are research centers. Their tasks are much broader than just observing celestial bodies, phenomena and artificial space objects.
Modern ground-based observatories are equipped with powerful telescopes (optical and radio), modern tools for processingreceived information. They are characterized by the presence of buildings with opening hatches or buildings in general that rotate with optical telescopes. Radio telescopes are installed outdoors.
Most observatories are located on high ground or with good all-round visibility, and usually their location is tied to certain coordinates important in astronomy.
History of domestic observatories
In Russia, the first such object in a separate room appeared on the initiative of Archbishop Athanasius in 1692. The optical telescope was installed on the bell tower in Kholmogory in the Arkhangelsk region.
In 1701, a colleague and associate of Peter I, diplomat and scientist Yakov Vilimovich Bruce (James Daniel Bruce, 1670-1735) initiated the opening of an observatory at the Navigation School on the Sukharev Tower in Moscow. It was of great practical importance, there were sextants and quadrants. And it was here that the solar eclipse of 1706 was first observed.
The first official observatory appeared on Vasilyevsky Island. It was founded by Peter I, but opened under Catherine I in 1725. It has survived to this day, but already as an architectural monument, under the library of the Academy of Sciences. And at one time this octagonal tower had many drawbacks, including its location within the city.
All of its equipment was transported to the Pulkovo Observatory, which was laid in 1835 and opened in 1839. For a long time, this particular astronomical observatory was the leading one in Russia, and today it has retained its position.
Today there are about 60 observatories and research centers in Russia, about 10 higher educational institutions with departments of astronomy, more than a thousand astronomers and several tens of thousands of passionate lovers of the starry sky.
Most Important
The Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory is the main one in the Russian Academy of Sciences. It is located on the Pulkovo Heights, which is 19 kilometers south of St. Petersburg. It is located on the Pulkovo meridian and has the coordinates 59°46"18" north latitude and 30°19"33" east longitude.
This main Russian observatory has 119 researchers, 49 candidates of sciences and 31 doctors of sciences. All of them work in the following areas: astrometry (parameters of the Universe), celestial mechanics, stellar dynamics, stellar evolution and extragalactic astronomy.
All this is possible thanks to the most sophisticated equipment, the main among which is one of the largest solar telescopes in Europe - the ACU-5 horizontal telescope.
Evening and night excursions are held here, when you can see especially starry "black" nights. And at this observatory there is a museum where exhibits illustrating the entire history of astronomy are collected. Here you can see unique astronomical and geodetic ancient instruments.
Number two
One of the largest in Russia is the Pushchino Radio Astronomy Observatory of the ASC FIAN. It was founded in 1956 and today is one of the bestequipped with: RT-22 radio telescope, meridian-type radio telescopes with two antennas DKR-100 and BSA.
Located in Pushchino, Moscow region, its coordinates are 54°49" north latitude and 37°38" east longitude.
An interesting fact is that in windy weather you can hear the "singing" of telescopes. They say that in the film "War and Peace" Sergei Bondarchuk used a recording of this hysterical song.
Astronomical Observatory of Kazan University
In the center of Kazan, on the campus, there is an old observatory founded in 1833 at the Department of Astronomy. This amazing building in the style of classicism is always popular with guests of the city. Today it is a regional center for training and use of satellite navigation systems.
Main instruments of this observatory: Merz refractor, Repsold heliometer, George Dollon tube, equatorial and time clock.
One of the youngest
Baikal Astrophysical Observatory was opened in 1980. It is located in a place with a unique microastroclimate - local anticyclones and small ascending air currents from Lake Baikal create unique conditions for observations here. It belongs to the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences and is equipped with unique equipment: a large solar vacuum telescope (the largest in Eurasia), a full-disk solar telescope, a chromospheric telescope, and a photoheliograph.
Main destinationsThe activities of this observatory in Russia are the observation of the fine structure of solar formations and the registration of flares on the Sun. No wonder it is called the Solar Observatory.
The biggest telescope
The largest astronomical center in Russia is the Special Astrophysical Observatory. It is located near Mount Pastukhovaya in the North Caucasus (the village of Nizhny Arkhyz, Karachay-Cherkess Republic). It was founded in 1966 to operate the largest telescope in Russia - the Large Azimuth. Work on its assembly was carried out for 15 years and today it is a telescope with a maximum six-meter optical mirror. Its dome is 50 meters high and 45 meters in diameter.
Besides it, 2 more telescopes of slightly smaller sizes are installed here.
There are guided tours for tourists, and during the summer, this telescope is visited by up to 700 people a day. Tourists go to this remote area also to see the icon of the Face of Christ. This is a unique rock icon, which is located one kilometer from the observatory.
Here, in Arkhyz, the past seems to come into contact with the future and humanity's desire for the stars.
We don't have enough sky of our own
In 2017, a Russian-Cuban project was launched to equip two observatories in Cuba. There is an active discussion on the choice of the most optimal astroclimatic and meteorological conditions for the placement of these autonomous and fully automated telescopes.
The goal of the project involves the collection and analysis of information on spectral, positional and photometriccharacteristics of various space objects.
