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 The University of Padua ( it, Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) is an Italian university located in the city of Padua, region of Veneto, northern Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from ...

. Founded in 1942, it is located on the plateau of Asiago, 90 kilometers northwest of

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

, near the town of

Asiago Asiago (; Venetian: ''Axiago'', Cimbrian: ''Slege'', German: ''Schlägen'' ) is a minor township (population roughly 6,500) in the surrounding plateau region (the ''Altopiano di Asiago'' or '' Altopiano dei Sette Comuni'', Asiago plateau) in th ...

. Its main instrument is the 1.22-meter ''Galilei'' telescope, currently used only for spectrometric observations. The observatory saw the construction of a 1:1 scale model of the

European Extremely Large Telescope The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) is an astronomical observatory currently under construction. When completed, it is planned to be the world's largest optical/near-infrared extremely large telescope. Part of the European Southern Observatory ...

's primary mirror.

Cima Ekar Observing Station

The nearby

Cima Ekar Observing Station The Cima Ekar Observing Station ( it, Stazione osservativa di Asiago Cima Ekar; obs. code: 098) is an astronomical observatory on the crest of Cima Ekar, a mountain ridge located approximately 4 kilometers southeast of and 350 m higher than th ...

( it, Stazione osservativa di Asiago Cima Ekar) is located approximately 3.8 kilometers to the southeast on Mount Ekar. It has the observatory code 098. Cima Ekar also participates in 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 ADA ...

, a prominent international dedicated programme to search and follow-up asteroids and

comets 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 ar ...

, with special emphasis on

near-Earth object A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it into proximity with Earth. By convention, a Solar System body is a NEO if its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU). ...

References

External links

Asiago Astrophysical Observatory
University of Padua

Buildings and structures in the Province of Padua {{observatory-stub

Cima Ekar Observing Station

See also

References

External links