Pulkovo Observatory

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The Pulkovo Space Observatory (Russian: Пу́лковская Астрономи́ческая обсервато́рия), the principal space observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences, located 19 km south of Saint Petersburg on Pulkovo Heights (75 m above the sea level), at 59°46′18″N, 30°19′34″E. It is a World Heritage Site [1].

The observatory was opened in 1839 (chief architect - Alexander Bryullov). Originally, it was a brainchild of an outstanding German/Russian scientist Vasili Yakovlevich Struve, who would become its first director (in 1861, his son Otto Vasiliyevich Struve replaced him on this post). The architect was Alexander Bryullov. The observatory was equipped with the state-of-the-art devices, one of them being the biggest 38-cm refractor in the world. The principal line of work of the observatory consisted of determination of coordinates of stars and astronomical constants, such as precessions, nutations, aberrations and refractions, and also discovering and measuring double stars. Observatory’s activities have also been connected to the geographical study of the territory of Russia and development of navigation. The star catalogues, containing the most precise positions of 374, and then 558 stars, were made for the years 1845, 1865, 1885, 1905 and 1930.

By the 50th anniversary of the Observatory, they had built an astrophysical laboratory with a mechanical workshop and installed the world’s largest 76-cm refractor. Astrophysical research really gained momentum with the appointment of Feodor Bredikhin as a director of the Observatory in 1890 and transfer of Aristarkh Belopolsky from the Moscow Observatory, an expert in stellar spectroscopy and solar research. In 1923, they installed a big Littrow spectrograph, and in 1940 - a horizontal solar telescope, manufactured at a Leningrad factory. After having received an astrograph in 1894, the observatory began its work on astrophotography. In 1927, the Observatory received a zone astrograph and with its help the Russian astronomers catalogued the stars of the near-polar areas of the sky. Regular observation of movements of celestial poles began with the construction of the zenith telescope in 1904. In 1920, the Observatory started transmitting the exact time by radio signals. The observatory participated in the basic geodesic work, namely in measuring degrees of the arc of the meridian from the Danube to the Arctic Ocean (until 1851), and in triangulation of Spitsbergen in 1899-1901. Military geodesists and hydrographers used to work at the Observatory as interns. The Pulkovo Meridian, which passes through the center of the main building of the Observatory and is located at 30°19,6‘ east of Greenwich, was the point of departure for all former geographical maps of Russia.

In order to observe the southern stars that could not be seen on the observatory’s latitude, the scientists organized 2 affiliates. One of them was an astrophysical station in the Crimean town of Simeiz (Simeiz Observatory), which had been organized on the basis of a private observatory presented to the Pulkovo Observatory by an astronomy lover N.S.Maltsev in 1908. The other affiliate of the Pulkovo Observatory was an astrometric station in Nikolaev - a former observatory of the Department of the Navy (today’s Nikolaev Astronomical Observatory).

[edit] Later history

The observatory staff was very badly affected by the Great Purge and many Pulkovo astronomers, including the director Boris Gerasimovich, were arrested and executed in the late 1930s.

From the very start of the Great Patriotic War, the Observatory became the target of fierce German air raids and artillery bombardment. All of the buildings were completely destroyed. Under dramatic conditions the main instruments were saved and stored safely in Saint Petersburg, including the world biggest telescope, as well as a significant part of the unique library with scripts and important works from the 15th to 19th Century. On February 5, 1997, nearly 1,500 of the 3,852 books were destroyed by malicious arson and the rest of the library items were damaged by flames, smoke or water damage.

Even before the end of the war, the Soviet government made a decision to restore the Observatory. In 1946, they began the construction after having cleared the territory. In May of 1954, the Observatory was re-opened, which had not only been restored but considerably expanded in terms of instruments, employees and research subjects. They created new departments, such as the Department of Radio Astronomy and Department of Instrument Making (with its own optical and mechanical workshop). The surviving old instruments were repaired, modernized and put into service once again. They also installed new instruments, such as the 65-cm refractor, horizontal meridian device, a photographic polar telescope, a big zenith telescope, stellar interferometer, 2 solar telescopes, coronagraph, a big radio telescope and all kinds of labware. The Simeiz station became a part of the new Crimean Astrophysical Observatory of the Soviet Academy of Sciences in 1945. They also built the Kislovodsk Mountain Astronomical Station and a laboratory in Blagoveshchensk. The Observatory organized many expeditions for determining differences of longitudes, observing passages of Venus and solar eclipses, studying astroclimate. In 1962, the Observatory sent an expedition to Chile to observe stars in the southern skies.