The Cima Ekar Observing Station ( it, Stazione osservativa di Asiago Cima Ekar;
obs. code:
098) is an
astronomical observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...
on the crest of Cima Ekar, a mountain ridge located approximately 4 kilometers southeast of and 350 m higher than the town of
Asiago, Italy.
The Station is an annex to the nearby
Asiago Astrophysical Observatory
The Asiago Astrophysical Observatory (''Osservatorio Astrofisico di Asiago'', or Asiago Observatory for short) is an Italian astronomical observatory (IAU code 043) owned and operated by the University of Padua. Founded in 1942, it is located on ...
, also operated by the
University of Padua. Cima Ekar hosts the 1966-built 67/92-cm
Schmidt telescope and the 182-cm telescope dedicated to
Nicholas Copernicus, the largest telescope in Italy.
Asiago-DLR Asteroid Survey
Co-located at Cima Ekar is the
Asiago-DLR Asteroid Survey
The Asiago-DLR Asteroid Survey (ADAS; obs. code: 209) was an astronomical survey conducted in the early 2000s to search for comets and asteroids, with special emphasis on near-Earth objects. The Minor Planet Center directly credits ADAS w ...
(ADAS), IAU code
209
Year 209 ( CCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Commodus and Lollianus (or, less frequently, year 962 '' Ab urbe cond ...
. At Cima Ekar,
Andrea Boattini
Andrea Boattini (born 16 September 1969) is an Italian astronomer and a prolific discoverer of minor planets and comets.
Career
After developing a growing interest in minor planets, he graduated in 1996 from the University of Bologna with ...
,
Flavio Castellani
This is a list of minor-planet discoverers credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of one or several minor planets (such as near-Earth and main-belt asteroids, Jupiter trojans and distant objects). , the discovery of 612,011 numb ...
,
Giuseppe Forti
Giuseppe Forti (December 21, 1939 – July 2, 2007) was an Italian astronomer and a discoverer of asteroids.
Forti was a trained solar physicist, and worked at Harvard's ''Radio Meteor Project'' and later at the Arcetri Observatory, in Florence, ...
,
Vittorio Goretti
Vittorio Goretti (born 1939 – 7 July 2016) was an Italian amateur astronomer and a discoverer of minor planets at his observatory in Pianoro, on the outskirts of Bologna, Italy.
Vittorio Goretti is a retired teacher of physics and mathemat ...
,
Ulisse Munari
Ulisse Munari (born 1960) is an Italian astronomer and discoverer of minor planets. He is Professor of Astronomy at the University of Padua, and works at the Asiago Observatory. He is a member of the Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE) team, an al ...
, and
Maura Tombelli
Maura Tombelli (born 1952 in Montelupo Fiorentino) is an Italian amateur astronomer who began her training in astronomy as an observer of variable stars. She is a prolific discoverer of almost 200 minor planets, including the main-belt asteroid ...
have discovered a great number of
asteroid
An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere.
...
s.
Description of Cima Ekar
, from Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica website.
See also
* List of astronomical observatories
References
External links
The 67/92-cm Schmidt telescope at Cima Ekar Observing Station
University of Padua
Asiago
Buildings and structures in the Province of Padua
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