The Astronomical Observatory of Mallorca (, OAM) is an

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 ...

just south of Costitx,

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

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 ...

. The observatory was inaugurated in May 1991 and was the first astronomical center in the

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands are an archipelago in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago forms a Provinces of Spain, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain, ...

autonomous community The autonomous communities () are the first-level administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Spanish Constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonomy to the nationalities and regions that make up Sp ...

and

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of Spain. The observatory is a pioneer among Spanish observatories and uses robotic telescopes (four of them located at La SagraObservatorio Astronómico de La Sagra
Observatorio de La Sagra
/ref> in Andalucia) to discover and track

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. Researchers at the OAM have found asteroids that are potential threats to

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

, such as the . Salvador Sánchez is director of the OAM. In 2008, asteroid number 128036, discovered at the OAM in 2003, was named after Spanish tennis player

Rafael Nadal Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...

. As of 2008, the OAM tracks more than 2,000 asteroids. There is a large planetarium attached to the observatory, which often runs performances open to the public. The

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

is one of a number of academic institutions which runs summer schools at the observatory.Observing the Universe
''Open University'' – Course content, Summary In March 2017, the observatory has closed and gone into liquidation. The land will be up for auction at €1.7 million.

List of discovered minor planets

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Observatorio Astronomico de Mallorca Astronomical observatories in Spain Buildings and structures in Mallorca * Space Situational Awareness Programme

List of discovered minor planets

See also

References

External links