Kleť Observatory (; obs. code: 046) is an

astronomical Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest include ...

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. Th ...

in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. It is situated in

South Bohemia The South Bohemian Region () is an administrative unit (''kraj'') of the Czech Republic, located mostly in the southern part of its historical land of Bohemia, with a small part in southwestern Moravia. The western part of the South Bohemian Reg ...

, south of the summit of Mount Kleť, near the town of

České Budějovice České Budějovice (; ) is a city in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 97,000 inhabitants. The city is located in the valley of the Vltava River, at its confluence with the Malše. České Budějovice is the largest ...

. Constructed in 1957, the observatory is at an altitude of and has around 150 clear nights per year.

Astronomers

Astronomer

Antonín Mrkos Antonín Mrkos () (27 January 1918 – 29 May 1996) was a Czech astronomer. Biography Mrkos entered the University in Brno in 1938. His studies were interrupted by the onset of World War II, and in 1945 he became a staff member at the Skalna ...

became director of Kleť Observatory in 1965. Two main astronomers who currently work at Kleť Observatory are Jana Tichá and her husband Miloš Tichý.

Instruments

The observatory has two primary telescopes: * 1.06-m KLENOT telescope (since 2002) * 0.57-m f/5.2 reflector (since 1993)

Gallery

File:Mount Klet.jpg, Summit of Mount Kleť, the observatory is visible on the left File:Jana Tichá, Miloš Tichý and KLENOT.jpg, Jana Tichá, Miloš Tichý and KLENOT in 2004 File:Výlet na Klet - 28 srpna 2009 116.JPG, Telescope

Discoveries

As of 2015 over a thousand

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

s were discovered at Kleť Observatory, as well as

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma surrounding ...

196P/Tichý. Asteroid 5583 Braunerova was discovered by A. Mrkos at Kleť Observatory in 1989. The asteroid 7796 Járacimrman was (re)discovered at Kleť Observatory on 16 January 1996 by Zdeněk Moravec and was designated 1996 BG. It was observed until April 1996 and then in June and July 1997. It was discovered to be a lost asteroid which had previously been observed twice: at the Brera-Merate Observatory in northern

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

on 12 December 1973 and at

Siding Spring Observatory Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia, part of the Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics (RSAA) at the Australian National University (ANU), incorporates the Anglo-Australian Telescope along with a coll ...

(

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

), on 8 and 9 July 1990. Asteroid 4250 Perun, provisional designation "1984 UG", was discovered by

Zdeňka Vávrová Zdeňka Vávrová (born 1945) is a Czech astronomer. She co-discovered periodic comet 134P/Kowal-Vávrová. She had observed it as an asteroid, which received the provisional designation 1983 JG, without seeing any cometary coma. However, lat ...

on 20 October 1984.

Discoveries credited to Kleť Observatory

KLENOT project

KLENOT is an

initialism An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial letter of each word in all caps wi ...

of ''KLET Observatory Near Earth and Other unusual objects observations Team and Telescope''. It is limited to objects with a visual

apparent magnitude Apparent magnitude () is a measure of the Irradiance, brightness of a star, astronomical object or other celestial objects like artificial satellites. Its value depends on its intrinsic luminosity, its distance, and any extinction (astronomy), ...

of 22.0 and brighter.

List of discovered minor planets

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Klet Observatory Astronomical observatories in the Czech Republic Minor-planet discovering observatories Český Krumlov District 1957 establishments in Czechoslovakia 20th-century architecture in the Czech Republic