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About the Observatory
Mt. Suhora Observatory is part of the Astronomy Department of the Pedagogical University in Cracow, Poland. It is located in the Gorce mountains, near Koninki village, approximately 60 km south-east of Cracow. [ Map ] The nine scientific staff work on the photometry of variable stars.
The geographical coordinates of the Observatory are :
longitude = 20 deg 04 min 03 sec East latitude = 49 deg 34 min 09 sec North height = 1009 m above sea level
The development of knowledge that took place in Poland in the second half of the 18th Century included astronomy, which can be illustrated by the establishment of astronomical observatories. These were founded at the University of Vilnius in 1753, in Cracow in 1791 and in Warsaw in 1825. At the end of the 19th Century there was also a small observatory organized at the Polytechnic in Lvov. The above mentioned observatories had modest refractors and other small equipment for astronomical observations.
When Poland regained its independence, there were three astronomy centers, in Warsaw, in Cracow and in Lvov. In the 1920's Poznan Observatory was founded as well as a new Vilnius Observatory. All the 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 (922 m above sea level) on the Lysina range not far from Myslenice. The observatory had two small refractors (diameters of the objectives: 135 and 76 mm), through which visual observations of the variable stars were 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 Myslenice territory.
On the July 29, 1938, a large meteorological-astronomical observatory was opened on the peak of Pop Ivan (2022 m above sea level) in Czarnohora (East Carpathians). An astrograph (a telescope for photographing the sky) with a 330 mm 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.
In the post-war era, astronomical research was carried out in Warsaw, Cracow, Torun, Wroclaw and Poznan. In the 1950's and 1960's, out-of-town stations connected with the above mentioned centres were established, for example; in Ostrowik near Warsaw, at Fort Skala near Cracow, in Piwnice near Torun, and Bialkow near Wroclaw. All of these stations are on lowlands and despite a certain distance away from towns, the conditions for astronomical observations are not ideal.
The idea of building a modern astronomical observatory in a mountainous region, and therefore in good climatic conditions came from Professor Jerzy M.Kreiner, in the first half of 1983. It was accepted by the management of the Cracow Pedagogical University who even at the planning stage identified the observatory not only as a location where new techniques of research for the Astronomy Department could take place, but also a place of vital significance in the training of physics and astronomy teachers. After site visits to several mountainous regions, and also after conducting analyses of climatic conditions, it was decided that the best place to built the observatory would be the peak of Suhora in the Gorce mountain range, 1000 m above sea level. This location was few kilometers away from the nearest villages, and was surrounded by a large forest area. In support for building the observatory at the Suhora site, was the existence of a chair-lift at nearby Tobolow (934 m above sea level), which solved many of the transportation problems.
The design of the observatory was prepared by R.Walczykiewicz and his group In the Cracow Building Company Biprostal and the arrangement of all necessary formal matters took place in 1985.In the spring of the next year, the building started. On July 24, 1986, the corner stone was laid, and a few months later the basic construction of the observatory was completed. The official opening of the observatory took place on November 5, 1987. "Let this place represent a vision for the 21st Century", were the words of the then Rector, Professor Rozmus as he handed the control of the observatory over to the staff of the Astronomical Department of the Cracow Pedagogical University.
The main astronomical instrument of the observatory is the mirror telescope of the Cassegrain system, produced by the Carl Zeiss Jena (Germany). The basic specifications of the telescope are as follows:
The same sort of telescope can be found in Poland in Bialkow, in Ostrowik and in Piwnice.
In the years 1988-1991 the double-beam photometer attached to the telescope was used. A new photometric instrument was installed at the telescope in August 1991. This instrument was designed and constructed in the Astronomical Department of the Cracow Pedagogical University. The photometric instrument consists of a dual-channel photometer, a CCD camera and an autoguiding system linked together. During the WET session a triple channel photometer is use for observations.
In December 2002, the existing two-channel photometer was removed and replaced by a new 3-channel instrument built in Vilnius, Lithuania, and conforming to the WET specifications. It also includes an autoguiding system. It will be used for both WET and other projects at MSO.
The high quality of the Hammamatsu photomultipliers installed in the three-channel photometer, along with the autoguiding system of the telescope, allows one to observe stars brighter than 15.5 mag. By using the CCD camera, it is possible to observe stars up to 18 mag.
The CCD Camera
Photos
ccd: SBIG ST10XME Apogee ALTA U47UV
(chip KODAK KAF-3200E/ME) E2V CCD47 back iluminated
chip size 2184x1472 [14.9mmx10mm] 1024x1024 [13.3mmx13.3mm]
field of view 6.8x4.5['] 6.5x6,5[']
full-well capacity 77,000[e-] 100.000 [e-]
dark current 0.9[e-/pixel/s at 0C] 0.1[e-/pixel/s at -35C]
reading format 16[bits/pixel] (max. 65536) 16[bits/pixel] (max. 65536)
readout noise 9[e-]
gain 1.5[e-/ADU]
readout time 8.7[s/full frame]
pre-binning 1x1,2x2,3x3,9x9,1xN,2xN 1x1 - 10x10024
(The Photometrics Star1 and PixelView (chip SITe) are not in operation)
The modular construction allows one observer to change the configuration of the system in a 20-30 minutes. Each part of the system works independently and is controlled by an IBM/PC computer located in the control room.
The guiding system can be used to control tracking of the telescope during photometric observations. The system consists of three parts: the low light level TV camera, an IBM/PC computer as a control unit, and a motor controller installed at the telescope.
The Observatory is currently also testing an autoguider system which uses a secondary guidescope mounted parallel to the optical axis of the main instrument. If the tests are successful, this system will enable guiding on the target object itself, which will be useful in sparsely-populated fields.
Since 1991, Mt.Suhora observatory has become part of the world-wide network of astronomical observatories, which carry out observations of the same variable stars (at specific set times), wherever possible throughout a 24 hour period. This is possible thanks to the join work of observatories which together form so called The Whole Earth Telescope. The observatories are situated along various geographical longitudes around the whole globe, and if in one location , for example Poland, the night is ending then in a different outpost more to the west, the observation may be continued. Two week observation sessions coordinated by the heatqouter take place a few times during the year. The focus of the research is primarily the white dwarfs, the stars with a high density, which are in the last stages of their evolution. The changes of their brightness (connected with their pulsation) have the amplitude from 0.005 to 0.2 mag.