Observatories; Since time immemorial, the Chinese, as branch offices of the mathematical tribunal, have had observatories in Beijing, Luoyang and other cities; the Egyptian pyramids, judging by the orientation of their sides according to the cardinal points, were also erected for the purpose of making well-known astronomical observations; traces of the existence of former observatories have been found in India, Persia, Peru and Mexico. In addition to large government observatories, private observatories were also built in ancient times, for example, the very famous Eudoxus Observatory in Knidos.
The main instruments of ancient observatories were: a gnomon for systematic observations of midday altitudes of the Sun, sundials and clepsydras for measuring time; without the help of instruments they observed the Moon and its phases, planets, the moments of sunrise and sunset, their passage through the meridian, solar and lunar eclipses.
The first observatory in the modern sense of the word was the famous museum in Alexandria, established by Ptolemy II Philadelphus. A number of astronomers such as Aristillus, Timocharis, Hipparchus, Aristarchus, Eratosthenes, Geminus, Ptolemy and others raised this institution to unprecedented heights. Here, for the first time, they began to use instruments with divided circles. Aristarchus installed a copper circle on the portico of the museum in the plane of the equator and, with its help, directly observed the times of passage of the Sun through the equinoxes. Hipparchus invented an astrolabe with two mutually perpendicular circles and diopters for observations. Ptolemy introduced quadrants and set them using a plumb line. The transition from full circles to quadrants was, in essence, a step back, but the authority of Ptolemy maintained quadrants at observatories until the time of Roemer, who proved that observations were made more accurately by full circles; however, the quadrants were completely abandoned only at the beginning of the 19th century.
After the destruction of the Alexandrian museum with all its collections and instruments, observatories began to be rebuilt by the Arabs and the peoples they conquered; observatories appeared in Baghdad, Cairo, Maraga (Nasr-Eddin), Samarkand (Ulug-beg), etc. The Arab scientist Geber established an observatory in Seville, the oldest in Europe. From the beginning of the 16th century, it was in Europe that observatories began to be built, first private and then government: Regiomontanus built an observatory in Nuremberg, Wilhelm IV, Landgrave of Hesse, in Kassel (), etc.
The first government observatory in Europe - the so-called. Round Tower - was built in -1656 in Copenhagen. Before the fire of 1728, it had a tower figure of 115 Danish feet in height and 48 in diameter. The observatory itself was located at the top of the tower, where a spiral road led, gently rising inside the walls. It is known that Peter the Great rode along this road in 1716 on horseback, and Catherine I in a carriage drawn by six horses. Roemer also noticed the disadvantages of this high tower for installing instruments and installed the passage instrument he invented in his private observatory at ground level and away from the road.
The Paris Observatory was founded in 1667 and completed in 1671 at the insistence of Colbert, with generous funds allocated by Louis XVI; it was built by the famous Claude Perrault, the architect of the Louvre. Greenwich Observatory, built by Wren and opened after the Paris one in 1675.
The decree of the Queen of England clearly and definitely expressed the purpose of the observatory, which she pursues to this day: to compile accurate catalogs of the stars and tables of the movements of the Moon, Sun and planets in order to improve the art of navigation. At the very foundation, the Paris and Greenwich observatories were abundantly equipped with the most accurate instruments of their time and served as models for the construction of other, later observatories in the cities of Leiden (Leiden Observatory), Berlin (1711), Bologna (1714), Utrecht (1726) ), Pisa (1730), Uppsala (1739), Stockholm (1746), Lund (1753), Milan (1765), Oxford (1772), Edinburgh (1776), Dublin (1783) and others.
In Russia (Kholmogory, near Arkhangelsk), on the initiative of Archbishop Afanasy (Alexey Artemyevich Lyubimov) (1641-1702), the first astronomical observatory in Russia was equipped in 1692 in a dedicated room for observing the starry sky. The second observatory appeared in Rus' in 1701 in Moscow at the Navigation School. The observatory was headed by Ya.V. Bruce (1670-1735), participated in the construction of the L.F. observatory. Magnitsky. A solar eclipse was observed at this observatory on May 1 (12), 1706. In 1716, Ya.V. Bruce sent the observatory to St. Petersburg, where the Navigation School was transferred in 1715. The first official observatory in Russia was founded by Peter the Great, simultaneously with the Academy of Sciences, in St. Petersburg (opened under Catherine I); this is an octagonal tower that still exists today above the academy library building, on Vasilyevsky Island. Its first director was Delisle. In 1747 it burned down and was rebuilt and improved by Delisle's successors - Heinsius and Grishov. The latter drew attention to the inconvenience of the location of the observatory in the middle of the city and on a tall building: the smoke of the chimneys of the surrounding houses hides the horizon, and the instruments tremble from passing carriages. He even drew up a project for building an observatory outside the city, but his premature death in the city stopped the implementation of the project. The next director, Rumovsky, proposed a new project - to build an observatory in Tsarskoe Selo; this project was not realized only due to the death of Empress Catherine II. However, all subsequent astronomers were aware of the shortcomings of the academic observatory.
To develop a detailed project for a new observatory, in 1833 a committee was formed from academicians Vishnevsky, Parrott, Struve and Fuss, chaired by Admiral Greig, who had already built an observatory in Nikolaev several years earlier. The design of the building and its implementation itself were entrusted to the architect A.P. Bryullov, and the instruments were simultaneously ordered in Munich to Ertel, Reichenbach and Merz and Mahler, and in Hamburg to the Repsold brothers. The groundbreaking of the Pulkovo Observatory took place on June 21, and the solemn consecration of the completed buildings took place on August 7. The total cost of the structure reached 2,100,500 rubles. banknotes, including 40,000 rubles. banknotes issued to state peasants who had their own estates on a plot of 20 dessiatines alienated for the observatory.
According to § 2 of the observatory’s charter, its goal is to “produce:
The initially constructed buildings consisted of the observatory itself, with three towers at the top, and 2 houses on the sides for astronomers to live in. Subsequently, several small towers were erected for small instruments, including a completely separate small observatory for surveying officers, a new large tower to the south of the previous ones, and an astrophysical laboratory. The middle of the main building is occupied by a round hall with a bust of the founder of the observatory - Emperor Nicholas I, portraits of subsequent emperors and famous astronomers. Above this hall is a library, which at the beginning of the 20th century had 15,000 volumes and about 20,000 brochures of astronomical content. Main instruments: large 30-inch Repsold refractor with A. Clark lens and devices for spectroscopic observations and photography of celestial bodies, original 15-inch Merz and Mahler refractor, large passage instrument, Ertel vertical circle, Repsold meridian circle, Repsold passage instrument, installed in the 1st vertical, a Merz and Mahler heliometer, an astrograph, small refractors, astrophotometric instruments, comet finders, watches, chronometers, geodetic instruments, etc. The observatory has a mechanical workshop for repairing instruments, run by a special mechanic. According to the original staff at the Pulkovo Observatory, there was: a director, 4 astronomers and a caretaker; according to the new staff, there was: a director, a vice-director, 4 senior and 2 associate astronomers, a scientific secretary, 2 calculators and an indefinite number of supernumerary astronomers, usually young people who have completed a university course and are preparing to devote themselves to astronomy. The first director was V. Ya. Struve, from 1862 to 1890 his son O. Struve, then F. Bredikhin (until 1895), and after that O. Backlund. The northern latitude of Pulkovo is not conducive to observing the zodiacal zone of the sky, and therefore the observatory set itself the main task of observing the stars in order to compile the most accurate catalog. The so-called “Pulkovo stars” now serve as the basis for deducing the positions of other stars observed at other observatories. Over the course of its almost 60-year existence, astronomers of the Pulkovo Observatory published 16 large volumes of “Observations” and about 500 essays, published separately and in astronomical journals.
Other Russian observatories could not be compared with Pulkovo either in the number of observers or in the wealth of instruments. The most important of them: military in Tashkent (director D. Gedeonov at the beginning of the 20th century), naval in Nikolaev (I. Cortazzi) and Kronstadt (V. Fuss) and university in St. Petersburg (S. Glazenap), Moscow (V. Tserazsky ), Kazan (D. Dubyago), Yuryev [Before the construction of the Pulkovo Observatory, Dorpt (then Yuryevskaya) was the best in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century (see Struve).] (G. Levitsky), Warsaw (I. Vostokov), Kyiv ( M. Khandrikov), Kharkov (L. Struve), Odessa (A. Kononovich) and Helsingfors (A. Donner). The former academic observatory in St. Petersburg was closed, and its instruments were transported to Pulkovo, where an astronomical museum was established in a special gallery around the new tower of a large refractor.
Main article: Astronomical observatories of the world
Kitt Peak Astronomical Observatory is a US national observatory located on Mount Kitt Peak (2095 m), 72 km from Tucson (Arizona).
Due to the accumulation of a large amount of astronomical data in the world, it became necessary to organize centralized access to it from anywhere on the planet and to have at hand the programs needed to process, study and prepare it for publication in the form of a scientific article. Therefore, at the beginning of the 21st century, at the state level, first national and then international specialized sites for virtual observatories began to be created, providing access to a variety of databases and software for processing them. For example, such an observatory, as part of the international virtual observatory, was created by the Decision of the RAS Scientific Council on Astronomy.
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astronomical observatory- astronomijos observatorija statusas T sritis fizika atitikmenys: engl. astronomical observatory vok. astronomiches Observatorium, n rus. astronomical observatory, f pranc. observatoire astronomique, m … Fizikos terminų žodynas
Astronomical Observatory (meanings): Astronomical Observatory Astronomical Observatory "Geminiano Montanari" Astronomical Observatory Gekko Astronomical Observatory Dainik Astronomical Observatory of Irkutsk... ... Wikipedia
The original name of the Astronomical Observatory is the scientifically advanced branch of the Lviv National University named after Ivan Franko Type astronomical observatory Code 067 ... Wikipedia
Astronomical Observatory of the Lviv National University named after Ivan Franko Original name Astronomical Observatory is the scientifically last branch of the Lviv National University named after Ivan Franko Type astronomical... ... Wikipedia
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Type astronomical observatory Location Irkutsk, Irkutsk region, Russia Coordinates 52.280833, 104.345833 ... Wikipedia
Astronomical observatories (in astronomy). Description of observatories in ancient times and in the modern world.
An astronomical observatory is a scientific institution designed to observe celestial bodies. It is built on a high place from which you can look anywhere. All observatories are necessarily equipped with telescopes and similar equipment for astronomical and geophysical observations.
1. Astronomical “observatories” in ancient times.
Since ancient times, people have located themselves on hills or high terrain for astronomical observations. The pyramids also served for observation. 
Not far from the Karnak fortress, which is located in the city of Luxor, there is a sanctuary of Ra - Gorakhte. On the day of the winter solstice, the sun rose from there.
The most ancient prototype of an astronomical observatory is the famous Stonehenge. There is an assumption that in a number of parameters it corresponded to sunrises on the days of the summer solstice.
2. The first astronomical observatories.
Already in 1425, the construction of one of the first observatories was completed near Samarkand. It was unique, as there was nothing like it anywhere else.
Later, the Danish king set aside an island near Sweden to create an astronomical observatory. Two observatories were built. And for 21 years, the king’s activities continued on the island, during which people learned more and more about what the Universe is.
3. Observatories of Europe and Russia.
Soon, observatories began to be created rapidly in Europe. One of the first was the observatory in Copenhagen.
One of the most magnificent observatories of that time was built in Paris. The best scientists work there.
The Royal Greenwich Observatory owes its popularity to the fact that the “Greenwich meridian” passes through the axis of the passage instrument. It was founded by order of the ruler Charles II. The construction was justified by the need to measure the longitude of a place during navigation.
After the construction of the Paris and Greenwich observatories, state observatories began to be created in numerous other European countries. More than 100 observatories begin to operate. They operate in almost every educational institution, and the number of private observatories is increasing.
Among the first to be built was the observatory of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. In 1690, on the Northern Dvina, near Arkhangelsk, the fundamental astronomical observatory in Russia was created. In 1839, another observatory was opened - Pulkovo. The Pulkovo Observatory was and is of greatest importance compared to others. The astronomical observatory of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences was closed, and its numerous instruments and instruments were transported to Pulkovo.
The beginning of a new stage in the development of astronomical science dates back to the establishment of the Academy of Sciences.
With the collapse of the USSR, the costs of research development are reduced. Because of this, observatories not associated with the state, equipped with professional-level equipment, are beginning to appear in the country.
Astronomical observatories are research institutions that conduct systematic observations of celestial bodies and phenomena and conduct research in the field of astronomy. Observatories are equipped with observation instruments (optical telescopes and radio telescopes), special laboratory instruments for processing observation results: astrophotographs, spectrograms, records of astrophotometers and other devices that record various characteristics of the study of celestial bodies, etc.
The creation of the first astronomical observatories is lost in the mists of time. The oldest observatories were built in Assyria, Babylon, China, Egypt, Persia, India, Mexico, Peru and some other countries several thousand years ago. The ancient Egyptian priests, who were essentially the first astronomers, made observations from flat platforms specially made on the tops of the pyramids.
In England, the remains of an amazing astronomical observatory built back in the Stone Age were discovered - Stonehenge. The “instruments” for observations at this observatory, which was also a temple, were stone slabs installed in a certain order.
Another ancient observatory was opened recently on the territory of the Armenian SSR, not far from Yerevan. According to archaeologists, this observatory was built about 5 thousand years ago, long before the formation of Urartu - the first state that arose on the territory of our country.
The observatory, outstanding for its time, was built in the 15th century. in Samarkand, the great Uzbek astronomer Ulugbek. The main instrument of the observatory was a giant quadrant for measuring the angular distances of stars and other luminaries. At this observatory, with the direct participation of Ulugbek, a famous catalog was compiled, which contained the coordinates of 1018 stars, determined with unprecedented accuracy. For a long time this catalog was considered the best in the world.
Drawing (see original)
The first observatories of the modern type began to be built in Europe at the beginning of the 17th century, after the telescope was invented. The first large state observatory was built in Paris in 1667. Together with quadrants and other goniometric instruments of ancient astronomy, large refracting telescopes with focal lengths of 10, 30 and 40 m were used here. In 1675, the Greenwich Observatory in England began its activity.
By the end of the 18th century. the number of observatories around the world reached 100 by the end of the 19th century. there are already about 400 of them. Currently, there are more than 500 astronomical observatories operating on the globe, the vast majority of which are located in the northern hemisphere.
Drawing (see original)
In Russia, the first astronomical observatory was the private observatory of A. A. Lyubimov in Kholmogory near Arkhangelsk (1692). In 1701, an observatory at the Navigation School opened in Moscow. In 1839, the famous Pulkovo Observatory was founded near St. Petersburg, which, thanks to its advanced instruments and high accuracy of observations, was called in the middle of the 19th century. astronomical capital of the world. In terms of the perfection of its equipment, the observatory immediately took one of the first places in the world.
In the Soviet Union, astronomical observations and research are now carried out in more than 30 astronomical observatories and institutes equipped with the most modern equipment, including the world's largest telescope with a mirror diameter of 6 m.
Among the leading Soviet observatories are the Main Astronomical Observatory of the USSR Academy of Sciences (Pulkovo Observatory), the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the USSR Academy of Sciences (near the village of Zelenchukskaya in the North Caucasus), the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the Main Astronomical Observatory of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory of the Armenian SSR Academy of Sciences, Uman astrophysical Observatory of the Academy of Sciences of the Georgian SSR, Shemakha Astrophysical Observatory of the Academy of Sciences of the Azerbaijan SSR, Radio Astrophysical Observatory of the Academy of Sciences of the Latvian SSR, Tartu Astrophysical Observatory of the Academy of Sciences of the Estonian SSR, Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Uzbek SSR, Astrophysical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR, Institute of Astrophysics of the Academy of Sciences of the Tajik SSR, city astronomical observatory of the Astronomical Council of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Astronomical Institute named after. P.K. Sternberg of Moscow University, astronomical observatories of Leningrad, Kazan and other universities.
Among the foreign observatories, the largest are Greenwich (Great Britain), Harvard and Mount Palomar (USA), Pic du Midi (France); in socialist countries - Potsdam (GDR), Ondrejov (Czechoslovakia), Krakow (Poland), the Astronomical Observatory of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, etc. Astronomical observatories of various countries working on common topics exchange the results of their observations and research, often conducting observations of the same and the same space objects according to the same program.
The appearance of modern astronomical observatories is characterized by buildings of cylindrical or multifaceted shape. These are observatory towers that house telescopes.
There are specialized observatories that mainly conduct only observations according to a narrow scientific program. These are latitude stations, radio astronomical observatories, mountain stations for observing the Sun, stations for optical observations of artificial Earth satellites and some others.
Currently, the work of some observatories (Byurakan, Crimean) is closely related to observations carried out by astronauts from spacecraft and orbital stations. At these observatories, the equipment necessary for astronauts to make observations is manufactured; Observatory employees process material coming from space.
In addition to astronomical observatories, which are research institutions, in the USSR and other countries there are public observatories - scientific educational institutions designed to show celestial bodies and phenomena to the public. These observatories, equipped with small telescopes and other equipment, traveling astronomical exhibitions and exhibits, are usually built at planetariums, Palaces of Pioneers or astronomical societies.
A special category consists of educational astronomical observatories created at secondary schools and pedagogical institutes. They are designed to ensure high-quality observations provided for in the curriculum, as well as to develop circle work among students.
Observatories; Since time immemorial, the Chinese, as branch offices of the mathematical tribunal, have had observatories in Beijing, Luoyang and other cities; the Egyptian pyramids, judging by the orientation of their sides according to the cardinal points, were also erected for the purpose of making well-known astronomical observations; traces of the existence of former observatories have been found in India, Persia, Peru and Mexico. In addition to large government observatories, private observatories were also built in ancient times, for example, the very famous Eudoxus Observatory in Knidos.
The main instruments of ancient observatories were: a gnomon for systematic observations of midday altitudes of the Sun, sundials and clepsydras for measuring time; without the help of instruments they observed the Moon and its phases, planets, the moments of sunrise and sunset, their passage through the meridian, solar and lunar eclipses.
The first observatory in the modern sense of the word was the famous museum in Alexandria, established by Ptolemy II Philadelphus. A number of astronomers such as Aristillus, Timocharis, Hipparchus, Aristarchus, Eratosthenes, Geminus, Ptolemy and others raised this institution to unprecedented heights. Here, for the first time, they began to use instruments with divided circles. Aristarchus installed a copper circle on the portico of the museum in the plane of the equator and, with its help, directly observed the times of passage of the Sun through the equinoxes. Hipparchus invented an astrolabe with two mutually perpendicular circles and diopters for observations. Ptolemy introduced quadrants and set them using a plumb line. The transition from full circles to quadrants was, in essence, a step back, but the authority of Ptolemy maintained quadrants at observatories until the time of Roemer, who proved that observations were made more accurately by full circles; however, the quadrants were completely abandoned only at the beginning of the 19th century.
After the destruction of the Alexandrian museum with all its collections and instruments, observatories began to be rebuilt by the Arabs and the peoples they conquered; observatories appeared in Baghdad, Cairo, Maraga (Nasr-Eddin), Samarkand (Ulug Bey), etc. The Arab scientist Geber established an observatory in Seville, the oldest in Europe. From the beginning of the 16th century, it was in Europe that observatories began to be built, first private and then government: Regiomontanus built an observatory in Nuremberg, Wilhelm IV, Landgrave of Hesse, in Kassel (), etc.
The first government observatory in Europe was built in 1637-56. in Copenhagen. Before the fire of the city, it had the shape of a tower 115 Danish feet high and 48 feet in diameter. The observatory itself was located at the top of the tower, where a spiral road led, gently rising inside the walls. It is known that Peter the Great rode into the city along this road on horseback, and Catherine I in a carriage drawn by six horses. Roemer also noticed the disadvantages of this high tower for installing instruments and installed the passage instrument he invented in his private observatory at ground level and away from the road.
The Paris Observatory was founded in the city and completed in the city at the insistence of Colbert, with generous funds allocated by Louis XVI; it was built by the famous Perrault (Claude Perrault), architect of the Louvre. Greenwich Observatory, built by Wren and opened after the Paris one in the city.
The decree of the Queen of England clearly and definitely expressed the purpose of the observatory, which she pursues to this day: to compile accurate catalogs of the stars and tables of the movements of the Moon, Sun and planets in order to improve the art of navigation. At the very foundation, the Paris and Greenwich observatories were abundantly equipped with the most accurate instruments of their time and served as models for the construction of other, later observatories in the cities of Leiden (Leiden Observatory), Berlin (1711), Bologna (1714), Utrecht (1726) ), Pisa (1730), Uppsala (1739), Stockholm (1746), Lund (1753), Milan (1765), Oxford (1772), Edinburgh (1776), Dublin (1783), etc.
The first observatory in Russia was founded by Peter the Great, simultaneously with the Academy of Sciences, in St. Petersburg (opened under Catherine I); this is an octagonal tower that still exists today above the academy library building, on Vasilyevsky Island. Its first director was Delisle. In 1747 it burned down and was rebuilt and improved by Delisle's successors - Heinsius and Grishov. The latter drew attention to the inconvenience of the location of the observatory in the middle of the city and on a tall building: the smoke of the chimneys of the surrounding houses hides the horizon, and the instruments tremble from passing carriages. He even drew up a project for building an observatory outside the city, but his premature death in the city stopped the implementation of the project. The next director, Rumovsky, proposed a new project - to build an observatory in Tsarskoe Selo; this project was not realized only due to the death of Empress Catherine II. However, all subsequent astronomers were aware of the shortcomings of the academic observatory.
According to § 2 of the observatory’s charter, its goal is to “produce:
The initially constructed buildings consisted of the observatory itself, with three towers at the top, and 2 houses on the sides for astronomers to live in. Subsequently, several small towers were erected for small instruments, including a completely separate small observatory for surveying officers, a new large tower to the south of the previous ones, and an astrophysical laboratory. The middle of the main building is occupied by a round hall with a bust of the founder of the observatory - Emperor Nicholas I, portraits of subsequent emperors and famous astronomers. Above this hall is a library, which at the beginning of the 20th century had 15,000 volumes and about 20,000 brochures of astronomical content. Main instruments: large 30-inch Repsold refractor with A. Clark lens and devices for spectroscopic observations and photography of celestial bodies, original 15-inch Merz and Mahler refractor, large passage instrument, Ertel vertical circle, Repsold meridian circle, Repsold passage instrument, installed in the 1st vertical, a Merz and Mahler heliometer, an astrograph, small refractors, astrophotometric instruments, comet finders, watches, chronometers, geodetic instruments, etc. The observatory has a mechanical workshop for repairing instruments, run by a special mechanic. According to the original staff at the Pulkovo Observatory, there was: a director, 4 astronomers and a caretaker; according to the new staff, there was: a director, a vice-director, 4 senior and 2 associate astronomers, a scientific secretary, 2 calculators and an indefinite number of supernumerary astronomers, usually young people who have completed a university course and are preparing to devote themselves to astronomy. The first director was V. Struve, from 1862 to 1890 his son O. Struve, then F. Bredikhin (until 1895), and after that O. Backlund. The northern latitude of Pulkovo is not favorable for observing the zodiacal zone of the sky, and therefore The observatory set itself the main task of observing stars in order to compile an accurate catalog. The so-called “Pulkovo stars” now serve as the basis for deducing the positions of other stars observed at other observatories. Over the course of its almost 60-year existence, astronomers of the Pulkovo Observatory published 16 large volumes of “Observations” and about 500 essays, published separately and in astronomical journals.
Other Russian observatories could not be compared with Pulkovo either in the number of observers or in the wealth of instruments. The most important of them: military in Tashkent (director D. Gedeonov at the beginning of the 20th century), naval in Nikolaev (I. Cortazzi) and Kronstadt (V. Fuss) and university in St. Petersburg (S. Glazenap), Moscow (V. Tserazsky ), Kazan (D. Dubyago), Yuryev [Before the construction of the Pulkovo Observatory, Dorpt (then Yuryevskaya) was the best in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century (see Struve).] (G. Levitsky), Warsaw (I. Vostokov), Kyiv ( M. Khandrikov), Kharkov (L. Struve), Odessa (A. Kononovich) and Helsingfors (A. Donner). The former academic observatory in St. Petersburg was closed, and its instruments were transported to Pulkovo, where an astronomical museum was established in a special gallery around the new tower of a large refractor.
After the collapse of the USSR, the costs of financing and developing fundamental research in our country sharply decreased. The rise in per capita income and recovery from the crisis in the late 90s of the 20th century again attracted the attention of the general public to astronomy. Now non-state observatories equipped with professional-level equipment are beginning to appear in the country: Ka-Dar - the first private public observatory in Russia, the PMG observatory with a 41-cm telescope, the Boris Satovsky observatory and others. The Astrotel-Caucasus project is also being developed (founders - B. Satovsky and KSU), where on the territory of the Kazan observation station on Mount Pastukhov (SAO RAS
An observatory is a scientific institution in which employees - scientists of various specialties - observe natural phenomena, analyze observations, and on their basis continue to study what is happening in nature.
Astronomical observatories are especially common: we usually imagine them when we hear this word. They explore stars, planets, large star clusters, and other space objects.
But there are other types of these institutions:
— geophysical - for studying the atmosphere, aurora, the Earth’s magnetosphere, the properties of rocks, the state of the earth’s crust in seismically active regions and other similar issues and objects;
- auroral - for studying the aurora;
— seismic - for constant and detailed recording of all vibrations of the earth’s crust and their study;
— meteorological - to study weather conditions and identify weather patterns;
— cosmic ray observatories and a number of others.
Observatories are built in areas that provide scientists with maximum material for research. 
Meteorological - in all corners of the Earth; astronomical - in the mountains (the air there is clean, dry, not “blinded” by city lighting), radio observatories - at the bottom of deep valleys, inaccessible to artificial radio interference.
Astronomical - the most ancient type of observatories. In ancient times, astronomers were priests; they kept a calendar, studied the movement of the Sun across the sky, and made predictions of events and the destinies of people depending on the position of celestial bodies. These were astrologers - people whom even the most ferocious rulers feared.
Ancient observatories were usually located in the upper rooms of the towers. The tools were a straight bar equipped with a sliding sight.
The great astronomer of antiquity was Ptolemy, who collected a huge number of astronomical evidence and records in the Library of Alexandria, and compiled a catalog of positions and brightness for 1022 stars; invented the mathematical theory of planetary movement and compiled tables of motion - scientists used these tables for more than 1,000 years!
In the Middle Ages, observatories were especially actively built in the East. The giant Samarkand observatory is known, where Ulugbek - a descendant of the legendary Timur-Tamerlane - made observations of the movement of the Sun, describing it with unprecedented accuracy. The observatory with a radius of 40 m had the form of a sextant-trench oriented to the south and decorated with marble.
The greatest astronomer of the European Middle Ages, who turned the world almost literally, was Nicolaus Copernicus, who “moved” the Sun to the center of the universe instead of the Earth and proposed to consider the Earth as another planet.
And one of the most advanced observatories was Uraniborg, or Castle in the Sky, the possession of Tycho Brahe, the Danish court astronomer. The observatory was equipped with the best, most accurate instruments at that time, had its own workshops for making instruments, a chemical laboratory, a storage room for books and documents, and even a printing press for its own needs and a paper mill for paper production - a royal luxury at that time!
In 1609, the first telescope appeared - the main instrument of any astronomical observatory. Its creator was Galileo. It was a reflecting telescope: the rays in it were refracted, passing through a series of glass lenses.
The Kepler telescope improved: in its instrument the image was inverted, but of higher quality. This feature eventually became standard for telescopic devices.
In the 17th century, with the development of navigation, state observatories began to appear - the Royal Parisian, Royal Greenwich, observatories in Poland, Denmark, Sweden. The revolutionary consequence of their construction and activities was the introduction of a time standard: it was now regulated by light signals, and then by telegraph and radio.
In 1839, the Pulkovo Observatory (St. Petersburg) was opened, which became one of the most famous in the world. Today there are more than 60 observatories in Russia. One of the largest on an international scale is the Pushchino Radio Astronomy Observatory, created in 1956.
The Zvenigorod Observatory (12 km from Zvenigorod) operates the only VAU camera in the world capable of carrying out mass observations of geostationary satellites. In 2014, Moscow State University opened an observatory on Mount Shadzhatmaz (Karachay-Cherkessia), where they installed the largest modern telescope for Russia, the diameter of which is 2.5 m.
Mauna Kea- located on the Big Hawaiian Island, has the largest arsenal of high-precision equipment on Earth.
VLT complex(“huge telescope”) - located in Chile, in the Atacama “telescope desert”. 
Yerkes Observatory in the United States - “the birthplace of astrophysics.”
ORM Observatory(Canary Islands) - has the optical telescope with the largest aperture (ability to collect light).
Arecibo- is located in Puerto Rico and owns a radio telescope (305 m) with one of the largest apertures in the world.
Tokyo University Observatory(Atacama) - the highest on Earth, located at the top of Mount Cerro Chainantor.
