The Kvistaberg Station or Kvistaberg Observatory ( sv, Kvistabergs observatorium, links=no; obs. code: 049) was a Swedish

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 ...

and a station of the

Uppsala Astronomical Observatory The Uppsala Astronomical Observatory (UAO), Astronomiska observatoriet i Uppsala) is the oldest astronomical observatory in Sweden. It was founded in 1741, though there was a professorial chair of astronomy at the University of Uppsala from 1593 ...

, which both belong to the Department of Physics and Astronomy at

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...

. It is located between the Swedish cities of

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...

and

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, at almost equal distance. Since 2009, the domes and telescopes of the Kvistaberg Observatory are part of a museum. The observatory established a 1-meter

Schmidt telescope Schmidt may refer to: * Schmidt (surname), including list of people with the surname * Schmidt (singer) (born 1990), German pop and jazz singer * Schmidt (lunar crater), a small lunar impact crater * Schmidt (Martian crater), a crater on Mars * ...

in 1963, which is a large size for this type of telescope designed to give a wide field of view.

History

The observatory was the result of a donation in 1944 from Nils Tamm, an artist who had studied astronomy in his youth under

Nils Christoffer Dunér Nils Christoffer Dunér ( Billeberga, Malmöhus län 21 May 1839 – Stockholm 10 November 1914) was a Swedish astronomer. His parents were Nils Dunér and Petronella (née Schlyter). Dunér received his doctorate from Lund University in 18 ...

and

Östen Bergstrand Carl Östen Emanuel Bergstrand (1 September 1873 – 27 September 1948) was a Swedish astronomer. He was Professor of Astronomy at Uppsala University from 1909 until 1938 and from where he received his Ph.D. in astronomy in 1899 under Nils C ...

in Uppsala and remained an avid amateur astronomer throughout his life. Through the work of professor

Åke Wallenquist Åke Anders Edvard Wallenquist (January 16, 1904 – April 8, 1994) was a Swedish astronomer. He worked at the Dutch Bosscha Observatory in Indonesia between 1928 and 1935, and became assistant professor at Uppsala's Kvistabergs Observatori ...

and professor

Gunnar Malmquist Karl Gunnar Malmquist (21 February 1893 – 27 June 1982) was a Swedish astronomer. Biography Gunnar Malmquist was born in Ystad, where he completed his secondary school education before matriculating at the Lund University in 1911. He receiv ...

at the observatory in Uppsala, the new observatory was fitted out with a large

(100/135/300 cm) in 1963. Wallenquist became the first director of the observatory (1948–1970) and was succeeded by

Tarmo Oja Tarmo Oja (born 21 December 1934 in Tallinn, Estonia) is a professor in astronomy at Uppsala University Claes-Ingvar Lagerkvist Claes-Ingvar Lagerkvist (born 1944) is a Swedish astronomer at the Uppsala Astronomical Observatory. He is known for his work on the shapes and spin properties of minor planets. He has discovered three comets, P/1996 R2, C/1996 R3 and 308P/La ...

(1999–2007). The asteroid 3331 Kvistaberg, was named for the astronomical observatory, where hundreds of

minor planet According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...

s had been discovered with the Schmidt telescope between 1975 and 2005. Around 2004, Uppsala University decided to discontinue active research at the observatory. The property was sold to the municipality of Upplands-Bro, where Kvistaberg is situated. The domes and telescopes are now part of a museum, which was inaugurated in 2009.

Gallery

File:Kvistaberg tamm obs.jpg, The Kvistaberg Station in 1919

References

External links

Kvistaberg Observatory
- official website
Pictures from the inauguration of the museum
{dead link, date=December 2017 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes Uppsala University Minor-planet discovering observatories Astronomical observatories in Sweden Buildings and structures in Stockholm County

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links