The Stockholm Observatory ( sv, Stockholms observatorium,
050) is an
astronomical observatory and institution in
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 ...
, Sweden, founded in the 18th century and today part of
Stockholm University
Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, so ...
. In 1931, the new Stockholm Observatory ( sv, Saltsjöbaden Observatory,
052), nicknamed "Saltis", was inaugurated on the Karlsbaderberget at
Saltsjöbaden
Saltsjöbaden is a locality in Nacka Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 9,491 inhabitants in 2010. It is on the Baltic Sea coast, deep in the Stockholm Archipelago.
History
Saltsjöbaden () was developed as a resort by Knut Agathon Wa ...
, near Stockholm, and operated until 2001.
There are records of daily weather observations from the observatory going back to 1754.
The Stockholm Observatory site at Saltsjöbaden was established with a 40-inch (102 cm) reflecting telescope from Grubb, built in 1931.
Also of historical interest is a double telescope by Grubb, the 24/20-inch refractor, with has one 24-inch aperture another 20-inch on the same mount established in 1931.
The old observatory is in modern times a museum (Observatory Museum) and because it is on a hill is known for a good view of city of Stockholm from the dome, and it also has some sculptures and walled garden. The old observatory has many items from across the centuries, including a Repsold telescope, and a marble inlaid meridian line. Many old observatory instruments involved determining the location of stars, the local time, and data was recorded manually. In the late 19th century astrophotography became more common, and the Replsold refractor is known to have been used for making images, which had to be done with chemicals that reacted with light (not with modern electronic devices).
History
The first observatory was established by the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on the initiative of its secretary
Per Elvius. Construction, according to designs by the architect
Carl Hårleman
Baron Carl Hårleman (27 August 1700 – 9 February 1753) was a Swedish architect.
Biography
Hårleman was born in Stockholm, son of the garden architect and head of the royal parks and gardens Johan Hårleman, who had been ennobled in 1698. ...
, begun in 1748 and the building was completed in 1753. It is situated on a hill in a park nowadays named
Observatorielunden. The first head of the observatory was
Pehr Wilhelm Wargentin
Pehr Wilhelm Wargentin ( Sunne parish, Jämtlands län 11 September 1717 ( OS) – Stockholm 13 December 1783), Swedish astronomer and demographer.
Wargentin was the son of the vicar of Sunne Wilhelm Wargentin (1670–1735) and his spouse Ch ...
. Later heads of the observatory include
Hugo Gyldén and
Bertil Lindblad
Bertil Lindblad (Örebro, 26 November 1895 – Saltsjöbaden, outside Stockholm, 25 June 1965) was a Swedish astronomer.
After finishing his secondary education at Örebro högre allmänna läroverk, Lindblad matriculated at Uppsala Univer ...
. This 18th-century observatory today functions as a museum.
A newer observatory was built in
Saltsjöbaden
Saltsjöbaden is a locality in Nacka Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 9,491 inhabitants in 2010. It is on the Baltic Sea coast, deep in the Stockholm Archipelago.
History
Saltsjöbaden () was developed as a resort by Knut Agathon Wa ...
outside Stockholm and completed in 1931 (the architect this time being
Axel Anderberg
Axel Johan Anderberg (November 27, 1860 – March 27, 1937) was a Swedish architect.
He was active from the 1880s to the early 1930s.
Biography
Anderberg was born in Kristianstad in Skåne County, Sweden. Anderberg received his education ...
). More recent astronomical observations, however, are almost exclusively being done in observatories outside Sweden and closer to the equator.
The research institute was transferred from the academy to the university in 1973 and is since
2001 housed in the
AlbaNova University Centre.
The young
Hjalmar Branting
Karl Hjalmar Branting (; 23 November 1860 – 24 February 1925) was a Swedish politician who was the leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party (SAP) from 1907 until his death in 1925, and three times Prime Minister of Sweden. When Branting cam ...
, later the first social democratic
prime minister of Sweden
The prime minister ( sv, statsminister ; literally translating to "Minister of State") is the head of government of Sweden. The prime minister and their cabinet (the government) exercise executive authority in the Kingdom of Sweden and are subj ...
, was employed as a mathematics assistant at the Stockholm Observatory 1879–1880 and 1882–1883.
Honors
In August 2000, the asteroid
36614 Saltis was discovered at the Stockholm Observatory. The asteroid was named after the nickname of the observatory's location,
Saltsjöbaden
Saltsjöbaden is a locality in Nacka Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 9,491 inhabitants in 2010. It is on the Baltic Sea coast, deep in the Stockholm Archipelago.
History
Saltsjöbaden () was developed as a resort by Knut Agathon Wa ...
, by its discoverer
Alexis Brandeker in 2003.
4043 Perolof is named after a director of the Stockholm Observatory, Per Olof Lindblad.
Stockholm Observatory at Saltsjöbaden
It was common all over Europe for really old observatories to build in a new site, fortunately the old observatory was not torn down has happened in many cases. Then as the utility of the new sites also waned, the old site was revitalized. This happened similarly in England, where the Greenwich Observatory was moved to a new site in Sussex with new buildings, but then back to the old site again. One issue was the increased crowding in the cities, and also astronomy was growing more focused on data from space in the late 20th century.
In any case the 40-inch (102 cm) reflector was one of the larger telescopes in the whole world for 1931, and is still a large and popular telescopes size even in the 21st century.
Instruments
Some first instruments for the observatory in the 1750s were two refractors and a small quadrant.
Throughout the late 1700s the collection was increased, including a refractor from Dollond and various clocks.
The clocks would be set by a device known as a transit instrument.
Other activities at that time included trying determine distances in the solar system, observing comets, and observations of the
Mira
Mira (), designation Omicron Ceti (ο Ceti, abbreviated Omicron Cet, ο Cet), is a red-giant star estimated to be 200–400 light-years from the Sun in the constellation Cetus.
ο Ceti is a binary stellar system, consisting of a vari ...
(aka Omicron Ceti).
Of note the output of this star was recorded for thirty years by the observatory.
Later instruments by the 19th century include a 7-inch Repsold refractor on an equatorial mount, which was noted to be used at the observatory for parallax observations of bright stars in 1884 edition of ''Encyclopædia Britannica''.
Some of the new instruments at Saltsjöbaden:
*40 inch (102 cm) reflecting telescope from Grubb, built in 1931.
*Grubb, the 24/20-inch refractor
See also
*
Architecture of Stockholm
The architecture of Stockholm has a history that dates back to the 13th century, possibly even earlier. According to some sources, there might have been a simple defense structure, perhaps a small castle, on the northeast part of the island Stad ...
*
List of observatory codes
This is a list of observatory codes (IAU codes or MPC codes) published by the Minor Planet Center. For a detailed description, ''see observations of small Solar System bodies''.
List
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Observatory codes
*
Astrono ...
*
Aina Elvius
*
List of largest optical telescopes in the 20th century
The following is a list of the largest optical telescopes in the 20th century, paying special attention to the diameter of the mirror or lens of the telescope's objective, or aperture. Aperture rank currently goes approximately by the usable physi ...
*
List of largest optical telescopes in the 19th century
List of largest optical telescopes in the 19th century, are listings of what were, for the time period of the 19th century large optical telescopes. See List of largest optical telescopes in the 20th century for the 1900s. The list includes variou ...
*
List of largest optical telescopes in the 18th century
List of largest optical telescopes in the 18th century, are listings of what were, for the time period of the 18th century, large optical telescopes. The list includes various refractor and reflector that were active some time between about 1699 t ...
References
Further reading
From research institution to astronomical museum: a history of the Stockholm Observatory(2008)
External links
*{{Commons category-inline
Observatory Museum (The Old Stockholm Observatory)Stockholm Historical Weather Observations
Astronomical observatories in Sweden
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 ...
Stockholm University
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Science museums in Sweden