THE HISTORY OF MOUNTAIN ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORIES IN POLAND (1922–1944)
Journal Title: Studia Historiae Scientiarum - Year 2013, Vol 12, Issue
Abstract
When Poland regained its independence all the astronomical observatories were built in large towns which meant that as the towns developed, the conditions for conducting astronomical observations worsened. This is because the clear and dark sky is essential for observations. The initial proposal to establish an observatory in a place with good climate, first came from Professor Tadeusz Banachiewicz, director of the Cracow Observatory. His efforts led to the establishment of an observatory at Lubomir (912 m above sea level). The observatory had a few small refractors through which mainly visual observations of the variable stars carried out. The observatory at Lubomir became famous after the discovery of two comets in 1925 and 1936. The observatory was burnt down in 1944 during the fighting over the Myślenice territory. On the July 29, 1938 a large meteorological-astronomical observatory was opened on the peak of Pop Ivan (2022 m above sea level) (East Carpathians). An astrograph with 33 cm objective was brought from England and installed. However, soon after, in September 1939, the work of the observatory was interrupted by the invasion of the Red Army. This left the building in ruins from which it never recovered. The idea of building a modern astronomical observatory in the highlands was proposed by the author of this paper. The governing body of the Pedagogical University of Cracow determined that a modern observatory would provide both valuable scientific results and fill an important role in training future teachers of physics and astronomy. After the analysis of climate data, it was decided that the best place for this observatory would be the location at Suhora elevation (1000 m above sea level) in the Gorce Mountains, about 70 kilometres south of Kraków. The Observatory was opened on 5 November 1987. The Observatory carries out photometric observations of variable stars in wide international cooperation
Authors and Affiliations
Jerzy KREINER
Keywords
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