The Črni Vrh Observatory ( sl, Observatorij Črni Vrh,

IAU code 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 Observations of minor planets as well as comets and natural satellites ...

: 106) is an astronomical observatory located in western

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

, close to the settlement of Črni Vrh, near the town of

Idrija Idrija (, in older sources ''Zgornja Idrija''; german: (Ober)idria, it, Idria) is a town in western Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Idrija. It is located in the traditional region of Inner Carniola and is in the Gorizia Statisti ...

. The current observatory was built in 1985 and stands at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Ver ...

of . Much of the construction was done by volunteers. Regular astronomical observations started in 1975, at a small observatory that was equipped with home-made

instruments Instrument may refer to: Science and technology * Flight instruments, the devices used to measure the speed, altitude, and pertinent flight angles of various kinds of aircraft * Laboratory equipment, the measuring tools used in a scientific lab ...

and was set up 4 km from the present site. At that time, the first images of

Comet West Comet West, formally designated C/1975 V1, 1976 VI, and 1975n, was a comet described as one of the brightest objects to pass through the inner Solar System in 1976. It is often described as a "great comet." History It was discovered photograp ...

were taken. The site is well above the

inversion Inversion or inversions may refer to: Arts * , a French gay magazine (1924/1925) * ''Inversion'' (artwork), a 2005 temporary sculpture in Houston, Texas * Inversion (music), a term with various meanings in music theory and musical set theory * ...

border much of winter, which allows undisturbed observations on many successive clear nights. The observatory runs
comet and asteroid search program named PIKA
after its Slovene acronym. Since March 2003, the program has been operated on a ne

equipped with a Finger Lake 1k × 1k CCD detector. Telescope project funding has been covered in part by the

Planetary Society The Planetary Society is an American internationally-active non-governmental nonprofit organization. It is involved in research, public outreach, and political space advocacy for engineering projects related to astronomy, planetary science, a ...

Shoemaker Grant 2000 and 2010. The recent grant was for the purchase of a deep-cooling Apogee Alta U9000 CCD camera that will increase sensitivity of the imaging system, enabling discoveries of even fainter objects. The new camera has been in operation since October 2011. Members of the Department of Physics, Astronomical Observatory, of the

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana ( sl, Univerza v Ljubljani, , la, Universitas Labacensis), often referred to as UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 39,000 enrolled students. History Beginnings Although certain ...

, used the site for observations with their S-C telescope during the period 1994–2009. On 18 August 2008, the amateur astronomer Stanislav Matičič discovered the

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ...

C/2008 Q1 (Matičič), the first comet discovered in this observatory and in Slovenia. On 16 April 2010, the student Jan Vales discovered the periodic comet designated P/2010 H2 (Vales) in a strong outburst. The

Catalina Sky Survey Catalina Sky Survey (CSS; obs. code: 703) is an astronomical survey to discover comets and asteroids. It is conducted at the Steward Observatory's Catalina Station, located near Tucson, Arizona, in the United States. CSS focuses on the search ...

researchers scanned the same region of the sky only 15 hours earlier and missed it. MPEC 2010-H12: COMET P/2010 H2
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Telescopes

Observing team

Discoveries

The Minor Planet Center credits a large number of minor planet discoveries directly to the observatory (Crni Vrh).

List of discovered minor planets

References

External links