La Cañada Observatory (), is an

astronomical 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 ...

Ávila Ávila ( , , ) is a Spanish city located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Ávila. It lies on the right bank of the Adaja river. Located more than 1,130 m a ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

privately owned by Juan Lacruz, the main activity is to monitor

near-Earth object A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body orbiting the Sun whose closest approach to the Sun ( perihelion) is less than 1.3 times the Earth–Sun distance (astronomical unit, AU). This definition applies to the object's orbit a ...

s other

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 and

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 ...

s. The observatory joined the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...

sending the first

astrometric Astrometry is a branch of astronomy that involves precise measurements of the positions and movements of stars and other celestial bodies. It provides the kinematics and physical origin of the Solar System and this galaxy, the Milky Way. History ...

observations in the summer of 2002. The

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Funct ...

assigned the

observatory 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''. List References {{DEFAULTSORT:Observato ...

J87: La Cañada. Instrumental : Telescope 0.41m F10 Ritchey-Chrétien + CCD

Gallery

File:Observatory WinterView.JPG, A winter view of the observatory File:Comet C2020 NEOWISE 17-07-2020 La Canada observatory.png, Comet C/2020 (NEOWISE) 17-07-2020 20:51:57 UTC File:Moon eclipse.jpg, Lunar eclipse File:Saturn 1-Agust-2015.jpg, Saturn as seen at La Cañada on 1 August 2015 File:C2013 US10 06DEC2015 J87 BW.jpg, Comet C/2013 US10 Catalina as viewed from La Cañada on 6 December 2015; tail disconnection event File:C2013US10 CATALINA 06DEC2015 J87.jpg, C/2013 US10 Catalina imaged on 6 December 2015 File:Comet Lovejoy.jpg, Comet C2014_Q2 Lovejoy and the Perseus double cluster imaged at La Cañada on 27 February 2015 File:Lovejoy 24-jan-2015 J87.jpg, Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy, 24 January 2015, La Cañada File:C2014 Q2 Lovejoy 09-Jan-2015 La Cañada.jpg, C2014 Q2 Lovejoy 9 January 2015, La Cañada File:C2014Q2 Lovejoy 20150109 J87.jpg, Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy, a CCD mosaic composition taken on 9 January 2015, from La Cañada by Juan Lacruz. File:C2009R1 McNaught 2010 06 19 J87 LowRes.jpg, Comet C/2009 R1 Mc Naught as seen at La Cañada, Ávila, on 19 June 2010 File:C2013 R1 Lovejoy.jpg, Comet C/2013 R1 Lovejoy, 6 December 2013, La Cañada File:M42 Orion nebula.jpg, The

Orion Nebula The Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) is a diffuse nebula in the Milky Way situated south of Orion's Belt in the Orion (constellation), constellation of Orion, and is known as the middle "star" in the "sword" of Orion. It ...

, La Cañada, 23 November 2013 File:M31 j87 2013-12-06.jpg, The

Andromeda Galaxy The Andromeda Galaxy is a barred spiral galaxy and is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way. It was originally named the Andromeda Nebula and is cataloged as Messier 31, M31, and NGC 224. Andromeda has a Galaxy#Isophotal diameter, D25 isop ...

, 6 December 2013 File:M31 2015-11-14.tif, The Andromeda Galaxy, 14 November 2015 File:Pleyades j87.jpg, The

Pleiades The Pleiades (), also known as Seven Sisters and Messier 45 (M45), is an Asterism (astronomy), asterism of an open cluster, open star cluster containing young Stellar classification#Class B, B-type stars in the northwest of the constellation Tau ...

External links

Official site

Weather station site

Blogs

Astronomy

Weather and Nature

Meteors and meteorites
La Canada Buildings and structures in Castile and León Minor-planet discovering observatories {{observatory-stub