Temples of Eternal Stars

There are many things and phenomena that are beyond human control. Faced with them, we realize their greatness, our own fragility and fragility of the world that we have built ourselves. Perhaps most of all this description is suitable for distant stars and capricious weather. Nothing is sobering in the case of attacks of its own greatness, as the awareness of the immensity of the Universe, which opens to us in the night sky. And nothing so demonstrates to us its weakness and vulnerability, as the triumph of the elements, before which all our technical and scientific achievements succumb.

Perhaps, of all the scientific buildings of the observatory can be attributed to the most attractive and partly romantic. Here, you probably feel most acutely the dimensions of the cosmos that are not amenable to awareness, the eternal existence of stars and planets in comparison with human life. If deep down you feel about the same, welcome to cat. Here we have collected some of the most interesting observatories and meteorological stations, and located in very beautiful corners of our planet and representing interesting examples of architecture.

Sphinx Observatory (Sphinx), Switzerland

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It was built in 1937 in the town of Jungfraujoch in the Swiss Alps, at an altitude of 3571 m above sea level. This is the second highest observation platform in Switzerland and one of the highest in the world. The observatory is still used for scientific purposes. Tourists can walk on the terrace surrounding the observatory , which overlooks the Great Aletsch Glacier (German: Grosser Aletschgletscher). You can get to the observatory through tunnels and an elevator shaft, laid in the rock from the highest railway station in Europe.

Pic du Midi Observatory, France

The observatory was founded in 1881, and completed in 1908. Located on the top of the mountain Midi de Bigorr (Pic du Midi-de-Bigorr) in the Pyrenees, at an altitude of 2877 m above sea level. The operating observatory is equipped with several telescopes, including the largest 2-meter telescope in France, and coronagraphs.

Griffith Observatory, USA

Located in Los Angeles, on the side of Mount Hollywood, in Griffith Park. Opened in 1935. In fact, it is a complex consisting of an observatory, a planetarium and an exhibition hall. This institution was originally created for public and free visits. Here are held various exhibitions related to space, instruments for astronomical observations are demonstrated.

Alasht Observatory, Iran

This tiny observatory is about the size of a large kiosk, located in the Iranian province of Mazandaran, on the outskirts of the town of Alasht. Translated from Iranian, this means "eagle shelter."

Einstein's Tower Observatory (Einsteinturm), Germany

The architect Erich Mendelsohn, who designed this observatory, seemed inspired by fantasy works. The observatory was built in 1924 in Potsdam, on the mountain Telegrafenberg. Although it was named after Einstein, it was built with the purpose of experimentally confirming the theory of relativity, but the great physicist himself had never been here. Nowadays, the observatory is rather a historical and tourist site, although observations are still being conducted here for the Leibniz Institute of Astrophysics.

Dominion Observatory, Canada

Built in neo-roman style in 1902 in Ottawa, the observatory operated until 1970. It was installed the largest in the history of Canada at the time 38-cm refractor, and it was available to the public during the entire time of the observatory. After the reorganization of Canadian scientific institutions, the observatory was closed, and in 1974 its telescope was sent to the Helen Sawyer Hogg Observatory of the Canadian Museum of Science and Technology. Now in the Dominion Observatory there are offices of one of the divisions of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Canada.

Urania Observatory (Urania), Switzerland

This public observatory was built in 1907 in Zurich. Urania is the muse of astronomy in Greek mythology. The height of the tower is 51 m, a refractor with a 30-cm aperture is installed in it, which allows observations with a 600-fold increase, although 150 and 205-fold are most often used. The telescope itself is mounted on a column that is not connected to the tower, but passes through it to the very foundation of the building. A telescope weighing about 12 tons was designed by Carl Zeiss and for its time was a technical masterpiece.

Submillimeter Observatory of Caltech Submillimeter Observatory, USA

The observatory was built in 1985 on Mount Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Adjacent to this site are the Gemini telescope, the Canadian-Franco-Hawaiian telescope and NASA infrared telescopes. In general, a very good place for astronomers. The main instrument inside this silver sphere is a 10.4-meter telescope for observations in the submillimeter range, from 350 to 1300 micrometers. In 2016, the CSO plans to completely dismantle and return the site to its original appearance.

Weather station on the nieżka mountain, Poland

The only weather station in this collection. Right on the mountain passes the border between Poland and the Czech Republic, the station is located on the Polish side. It was built in 1974 at an altitude of about 1620 m above sea level. Here is a restaurant, from the windows of which there is a beautiful view of the gentle mountain slopes.

Arecibo Observatory (Arecibo), Puerto Rico

One of the most impressive objects in our collection is the Arecibo Observatory, built in 1963. It is located at an altitude of 497 m above sea level. The giant bowl with a diameter of 304 m and a depth of 50 m is one of the world's largest radio telescopes. This is not an artificial pit, a reflector built inside a natural karst funnel. For the suspension of the telescope's antenna feed over the reflector, many kilometers of cables were used.



And finally, if you suddenly come to Australia, you can look into the town of Koala Crescent, Coonabarabran. Here the owners rent a guest house, next to which a real small observatory is built.