This article needs additional citations for verification .(April 2024) |
![]() Main seat of the Astronomical Observatory of Rome in Monte Porzio Catone | |
Location | Italy |
---|---|
Coordinates | 41°55′21″N12°27′09″E / 41.92247°N 12.452477°E |
Altitude | 128, 401 m (420, 1,316 ft) |
Established | 1938 ![]() |
Website | www |
Telescopes |
|
![]() | |
The Astronomical Observatory of Rome (Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma in Italian) is one of twelve Astronomical Observatories in Italy. The main site of the Observatory is Monte Porzio Catone. Part of the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica since 2002 [1] .
Monte Mario Observatory (IAU code 034), the "historical" Observatory of Rome, located at 84 via del Parco Mellini in the northwest part of the city, atop Monte Mario, since 2002 is only the administrative seat of the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF). Nevertheless, the Astronomical Observatory of Roma has the responsibility for the Astronomical Copernican Museum and the Solar Tower in Monte Mario.
Monte Porzio Catone is located approximately 20 kilometres southeast of Rome proper.
The Astronomical Observatory of Rome (OAR) was established in 1938, inside the 19th-century Villa Mellini on the hill of Monte Mario in Rome. In the same period, a new Observatory was built in Monteporzio Catone, in order to host a large telescope. With the Second World War, this project failed. In 1948, the building of Monteporzio was assigned to the Astronomical Observatory of Roma. In 1965, a new observing station was built in Campo Imperatore (2200 metres above sea level), on the Gran Sasso mountain. In 2017, the management of this station was transferred to the newly-established Osservatorio D’Abruzzo.
Since 1988, the researchers of the Astronomical Observatory of Rome have been carrying out their research activity in Monteporzio Catone.
The seat of Monteporzio includes the main building (three floors), the guesthouse, two small hoses for the janitors, AstroLAB, LightLAB, and the Monteporzio Telescope (MPT). These three latter structures are entirely devoted to public outreach. A few areas inside the main building are also occasionally used for visitors, i.e. historical rooms, “Livio Gratton” conference room, the modern library inside the main dome. The total area occupied by the structure within the compound sum up to about 8,750 square metres. Together with the garden, it adds up to about 75,000 square metres.
OAR is responsible for the management of the “Museo Astronomico e Copernicano” (Astronomical Copernican Museum – MAC), in the ground floor of Villa Mellini. MAC was established in 1873 by Arthur Wolynski, upon the basis of a Copernican collection, put together on the occasion of the fourth centenary of the birth of Copernicus. This collection was implemented over the years with scientific instruments and historical books belonging to the older Observatories in the centre of Rome, following the evolution of astronomical instruments, private donations, and public institutes. The Museum's collection includes, among other objects, 17th century eyepieces, 14th century telescopes, sextants for measuring the angular distance between stars, astrolabes and night dials (the oldest astrolabe dates back to the twelfth century). Moreover, there is a rich collection of armillary spheres, as well as sky and earth globes, including Mercatore's and Cassini's. The old library contains about 4000 volumes, some of which are rare and precious. For instance, there is a fourteenth century manuscript code, which collects the main astronomical works of the time, 5 incunabula, over 270 “cinquecentine” (16th century books) and 450 “secentine” (17th century books). In particular, among books of ancient Astronomy, one could mention the first editions of Copernicus’ works, Ptolem's Almagestos, Sacrobosco's Sphaera, Hevel's Theatrum Cometarum, Scheiner's Rosa Ursina, and the first editions of Galilei's works.
Scientific and Technological Activity
OAR's scientific productivity is quite high among the 20 institutes belonging to INAF, as proved by ANVUR's National check and by Nature Index.
For example, in the year between November 2016 and November 2017, OAR researchers have taken part in writing 160 articles in referees reviews, which have produced 1597 citations. From 2014 to 2017, the total number of articles is 430, with 7555 citations.
The scientific activity covers all the research areas inside INAF. In the Eighties and Nineties, the scientific area which involved most researchers, and was therefore the most productive was Stellar Astrophysics, with a remarkable number of researchers who were active in the areas of Extra-galactic Astrophysics and Solar Astrophysics. Starting from the mid-Nineties, a number of researchers were recruited in the areas of Relativistic Astrophysics, and Astrophysics of the Solar System. Nowadays, the scientific areas which absorbs most young researchers are Extra-galactic Astrophysics and Cosmology.
OAR researchers make use of most earth and space infrastructures, from radio to gamma rays:
OAR Researchers are either PI or are involved in a good number of Large Programs on VLT, LBT, Chandra, and XMM.
Cutting-edge research is in the following areas:
Extra-galactic Astrophysics and Cosmology –
Stellar Astrophysics –
The Sun and the Solar System –
Relativistic Astrophysics –
OAR takes part in a large number of technological projects, both on the ground and in the space:
Laboratories and technological/scientific infrastructures
OAR hosts and optical lab and an electronic lab.
OAR hosts the LBT Italian Coordination Center, and manages proposals, observations, data reduction and analysis, as well as an archive of scientific data
OAR supports the activities of di ASI Science Data Center, manages its staff, and carries on a scientific and technological collaboration.
Museum, library, historical archive, Public Outreach and teaching
OAR has always been committed to a very intense activity of Astronomy outreach and teaching.
OAR hosts AstroLAB (since 2001) and LightLAB (since 2013), interactive labs open to school groups. Every year, a total number of 5.000 to 10.000 pupils (from kindergarten to primary and secondary schools) visit these labs with experienced guides.
OAR has organized three editions of “Cosmoscuola”, a series of Astronomy lessons and practical activities for children from 7 to 14 years of age. A certain number of OAR researchers have collaborated in organizing lessons on their scientific area of study.
OAR has organized – in particular in the years from 2011 to 2017 – 15 to 50 star-gazing nights per year, open to the public. These evenings, in which visitors could visit Astrolab, observe planets and the Moon at the MPT telescope, listen to an astronomer's lecture or take part in activities with their children (Astrokids) have attracted 1000 to 5000 visitor per year.
OAR has also organized a certain number of temporary exhibitions:
2014 Guarda che scoperta!
2015 Astronomi, GPS del passato
2016 Nidi di stelle. Scienza e Arte alla scoperta del cosmo. Opere di Enrico Benaglia
2017 Chrono-grafia. Copper engravings especially made by many artists for the event
Finally, OAR has organized, from 2012 to 2017, six editions of “Estate Sotto le Stelle” (Summer under the Styars), offering to the public a series of lectures, concerts, debates, exhibitions inside its “Parco Scientifico”.
Relationships with Universities
OAR maintains intense relationships with all three Universities of Roma, with which it signed agreements years ago. Several lecturers and researchers of the three Universities hold teaching assignments with OAR.
OAR Researchers hold lections for both Bachelor and master's degree courses at the Physics departments of La Sapienza (4) and Roma Tre (1).
OAR takes part in the Doctorate in Astronomy, Astrophysics and Space Science which represents a consortium between la Sapienza and Tor Vergata Universities.
Human Resources
OAR houses 40 researchers and technologists, 39 technicians, and administrative staff, all tenure track.
OAR houses 9 temporary researchers and technologists and manages 6 contracts for fixed-term researcher or technologist and 1 contract for a technicians at ASI SSDC.
OAR houses 2 Astrofit2
OAR houses 15 grant recipients and manages another 5 at ASI SSDC
Every year, OAR welcomes a dozen Masters-degree students, as well as 10 to 15 PhD students.
All in all, OAR houses about 130 people, including staff, post-doc and students.
The following outline is provided as an overview and topical guide to space science:
The European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, commonly referred to as the European Southern Observatory (ESO), is an intergovernmental research organisation made up of 16 member states for ground-based astronomy. Created in 1962, ESO has provided astronomers with state-of-the-art research facilities and access to the southern sky. The organisation employs over 750 staff members and receives annual member state contributions of approximately €162 million. Its observatories are located in northern Chile.
The VLT Survey Telescope (VST) is a telescope located at ESO's Paranal Observatory in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. It is housed in an enclosure immediately adjacent to the four Very Large Telescope (VLT) Unit Telescopes on the summit of Cerro Paranal. The VST is a wide-field survey telescope with a field of view twice as broad as the full Moon. It is the largest telescope in the world designed to exclusively survey the sky in visible light.
The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA), previously known as the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, is an astrophysics research institute jointly operated by the Harvard College Observatory and Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Founded in 1973 and headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, the CfA leads a broad program of research in astronomy, astrophysics, Earth and space sciences, as well as science education. The CfA either leads or participates in the development and operations of more than fifteen ground- and space-based astronomical research observatories across the electromagnetic spectrum, including the forthcoming Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) and the Chandra X-ray Observatory, one of NASA's Great Observatories.
The Arcetri Observatory is an astrophysical observatory located in the hilly area of Arcetri on the outskirts of Florence, Italy. It is located close to Villa Il Gioiello, the residence of Galileo Galilei from 1631 to 1642. Observatory staff carry out theoretical and observational astronomy as well as designing and constructing astronomical instrumentation. The observatory has been heavily involved with the following instrumentation projects:
The Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), with its headquarters in Bengaluru, is an autonomous research institute wholly funded by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. IIA conducts research primarily in the areas of astronomy, astrophysics and related fields.
The Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie is a research institute of the Max Planck Society (MPG). It is located in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany near the top of the Königstuhl, adjacent to the historic Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl astronomical observatory. The institute primarily conducts basic research in the natural sciences in the field of astronomy.
51 Arietis is a star in the northern constellation of Aries. 51 Arietis is the Flamsteed designation. It is a dim, yellow-hued star – a challenge to view with the naked eye, having an apparent visual magnitude of 6.6. Based upon parallax measurements, the star is located at an estimated distance of 67.3 light-years from the Sun. It is receding from the Earth with a heliocentric radial velocity of +9.5 km/s, and is a member of the IC 2391 moving group.
Konkoly Observatory is an astronomical observatory located in Budapest, Hungary is part of the Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences and belongs to the HUN-REN Magyar Kutatási Hálózat. Konkoly Observatory was founded in 1871 by Hungarian astronomer Miklós Konkoly-Thege (1842–1916) as a private observatory, and was donated to the state in 1899. Konkoly Observatory, officially known as HUN-REN CSFK Konkoly Thege Miklós Csillagászati Intézet in Hungarian, is the largest astronomical research institute in Hungary, and hosts the largest telescopes in the country. The Observatory has more than 60 researchers, a quarter of them are non-Hungarian.
The Brera Observatory is an astronomical observatory in the Brera district of Milan, Italy. It was built in the historic Palazzo Brera in 1764 by the Jesuit astronomer Roger Boscovich. Following the suppression of the Jesuits by Clement XIV on 21 July 1773, the palace and the observatory passed to the then rulers of northern Italy, the Austrian Habsburg dynasty.
Astronomical Observatory of Trieste is an astronomical center of studies located in the city of Trieste in northern Italy.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to astronomy:
An astronomical interferometer or telescope array is a set of separate telescopes, mirror segments, or radio telescope antennas that work together as a single telescope to provide higher resolution images of astronomical objects such as stars, nebulas and galaxies by means of interferometry. The advantage of this technique is that it can theoretically produce images with the angular resolution of a huge telescope with an aperture equal to the separation, called baseline, between the component telescopes. The main drawback is that it does not collect as much light as the complete instrument's mirror. Thus it is mainly useful for fine resolution of more luminous astronomical objects, such as close binary stars. Another drawback is that the maximum angular size of a detectable emission source is limited by the minimum gap between detectors in the collector array.
Catherine Jeanne Cesarsky is an Argentine and French astronomer, known for her research activities in astrophysics and for her leadership in astronomy and atomic energy. She is the current chairperson of the Square Kilometre Array's governing body, SKAO Council. She was the first female president of the International Astronomical Union (2006-2009) and the first female director general of the European Southern Observatory (1999-2007).
Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) is a German research institute. It is the successor of the Berlin Observatory founded in 1700 and of the Astrophysical Observatory Potsdam (AOP) founded in 1874. The latter was the world's first observatory to emphasize explicitly the research area of astrophysics. The AIP was founded in 1992, in a re-structuring following the German reunification.
The National Institute for Astrophysics is an Italian research institute in astronomy and astrophysics, founded in 1999. INAF funds and operates twenty separate research facilities, which in turn employ scientists, engineers and technical staff. The research they perform covers most areas of astronomy, ranging from planetary science to cosmology.
The Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences is a scientific institute headquartered at the Ondřejov Observatory, roughly 35 km southeast of Prague, Czech Republic.
The Giuseppe S. Vaiana Astronomical Observatory is an astronomical observatory located in Palermo, Sicily, Italy, housed inside the Palazzo dei Normanni. It is one of the research facilities of the National Institute of Astrophysics. The observatory carries out research projects in the field of astronomy and astrophysics including the study of solar and stellar coronas, stellar evolution and of the supernova remnants.
Giampaolo Vettolani is an Italian astrophysicist, scientific director of the National Institute for Astrophysics in Rome (INAF) since 2012.