Other name | Obserwatorium Astronomiczne Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego |
---|---|
Established | 1825 |
Head | Tomasz Bulik |
Location | Warsaw , Poland |
Website | https://www.astrouw.edu.pl/en/ |
The Astronomical Observatory University of Warsaw (Polish: Obserwatorium Astronomiczne Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego) is an institute that conducts astronomical research and teaching in astronomy. It is a part of Faculty of Physics University of Warsaw. The Observatory provides astronomy classes for BSc, MSc, and PhD students. Student telescope activities take place at the observing station in Ostrowik. The scientific research is conducted in a wide range of topics. Two main observing projects are long-term sky surveys: OGLE and ASAS. Both surveys take data using dedicated telescopes located at the Las Campanas Observatory, Chile. Scientific staff takes part in large astrophysical collaborations, both ground-based (H.E.S.S., CTA, and LIGO/VIRGO) and satellite (Planck and Gaia). [1]
The Observatory building was opened in 1825 and the first director was Franciszek Armiński. The building is situated inside Botanical Garden University of Warsaw and next to Łazienki Park. Early on, the main equipment of the Observatory were meridian circles that were used for astrometric observations, geodetic measurements, and time keeping. At the onset of the World War I, part of the equipment was moved to Russia. [2]
In 1937, an observing station run by the Observatory was opened at the Pip Ivan peak (currently in Ukraine) as a part of the White Elephant building. The White Elephant was built by the Airborne and Antigas Defence League. The main instrument at this observing station was 33 cm astrograph build by the Grubb Parsons company. The building was abandoned just after the Soviet aggression on Poland in September 1939. There was only a single research paper published based on observations from Pip Ivan and the station was not used for astronomical research later on. [2] [3]
After the German invasion of Poland, the University of Warsaw was closed but the Observatory was re-opened by the occupant. Very limited research was allowed and the main activity was time keeping. During the Warsaw Uprising the Observatory staff was forced to leave Warsaw and the building was burned by German soldiers. In February 1945, the Observatory was re-established in Kraków. Over next few years, the building in Warsaw was rebuilt and astronomers moved back. At the same time an observing station was established at Ostrowik village near Warsaw. In 1973 the 60 cm telescope was opened in Ostrowik. The research interests of the Observatory after the World War II changed to astrophysics. The first post-war professors were Włodzimierz Zonn and Stefan Piotrowski (starting in 1950s). Their most well known junior colleague was Bohdan Paczyński. [2]
The Observatory hosted a PDP-11/45 computer from 1975 till 1978. The computer was owned by the Polish Academy of Sciences and it was moved to a newly established Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center of the PAS. [4]
The observing capabilities of the Observatory astronomers improved significantly with an advancement of the CCD cameras in astronomy. The first CCD camera in Poland was built for Ostrowik 60 cm telescope by Andrzej Udalski in 1991. The next year, Warsaw astronomers led by Andrzej Udalski and supported by Bohdan Paczyński (at the Princeton University then) started the OGLE project. The OGLE observations were first taken with the Swope telescope at the Las Camapanas Observatory (Chile). In 1996, a 1.3 m telescope telescope dedicated to the OGLE project was opened. [5] [6] [2] At the same time, another Warsaw astronomer, Grzegorz Pojmański, started ASAS survey, which was an implementation of an idea proposed by Paczyński. [2] [6]
Aleksander Wolszczan is a Polish astronomer. He is the co-discoverer of the first confirmed extrasolar planets and pulsar planets.
Bohdan Paczyński or Bohdan Paczynski was a Polish astronomer notable for his theories and work in the fields of stellar evolution, accretion discs, and gamma ray bursts. He is the recipient of the Eddington Medal (1987), the Henry Draper Medal (1997), the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1999), and the Order of Polonia Restituta (2007).
Observational astronomy is a division of astronomy that is concerned with recording data about the observable universe, in contrast with theoretical astronomy, which is mainly concerned with calculating the measurable implications of physical models. It is the practice and study of observing celestial objects with the use of telescopes and other astronomical instruments.
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A robotic telescope is an astronomical telescope and detector system that makes observations without the intervention of a human. In astronomical disciplines, a telescope qualifies as robotic if it makes those observations without being operated by a human, even if a human has to initiate the observations at the beginning of the night or end them in the morning. It may have software agents using artificial intelligence that assist in various ways such as automatic scheduling. A robotic telescope is distinct from a remote telescope, though an instrument can be both robotic and remote.
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Grzegorz Pojmański, is a Polish astronomer and professor at the Warsaw University Astronomical Observatory, Poland. In 1997 Pojmański together with professor Bohdan Paczyński implemented the project All Sky Automated Survey (ASAS). With the ASAS Alert System Pojmański discovered two new comets: C/2004 R2 (ASAS) and C/2006 A1 (Pojmański). Pojmański connects with the ASAS automatic telescope located in Las Campanas Observatory, Chile, via Internet.
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Comet Pojmański is a non-periodic comet discovered by Grzegorz Pojmański on January 2, 2006, and formally designated C/2006 A1. Pojmański discovered the comet at Warsaw University Astronomic Observatory using the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile as part of the All Sky Automated Survey (ASAS). Kazimieras Cernis at the Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astronomy at Vilnius, Lithuania, located it the same night and before the announcement of Pojmański's discovery, in ultraviolet images taken a few days earlier by the SWAN instrument aboard the SOHO satellite. A pre-discovery picture was later found from December 29, 2005.
The Silesian Planetarium also Silesian Planetarium and Astronomical Observatory is the largest and oldest planetarium in Poland. It was founded on 4 December 1955 to commemorate Nicolaus Copernicus. It is located in the Silesian Park, on the boundary between the Katowice and Chorzów cities in the Metropolis GZM.
The Microlensing Follow-Up Network is an informal group of observers who monitor high magnification gravitational microlensing events in the Milky Way's Galactic Bulge. Its goal is to detect extrasolar planets via microlensing of the parent star by the planet. μFUN is a follow-up network - they monitor microlensing events identified by survey groups such as OGLE and Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics (MOA).
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Andrzej Jarosław Udalski is a Polish astronomer and astrophysicist, and director of the Astronomical Observatory of the University of Warsaw. He is also head of the Department of Observational Astrophysics at Astronomical Observatory, the head and project manager of the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment, and editor of the quarterly journal Acta Astronomica.
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The Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center, also CAMK or NCAC, is a Polish scientific research institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences headquartered in Warsaw, Poland. It is a leading institution in the country in the field of astronomy.