Bologna observatory

Hi everyone!
I am currently on holidays 50 km from venice. Bologna is quite far away and i was just wondering has anyone been to the observatory and if so, is it worth visiting?
Matthew C

Sorry Matthew - I've not been to Bologna Observatory but judging by the web site, it looks worth a visit. Lots of history...

From www.bo.astro.it/

Guided visits take place on the first Saturday of each month, (September to April 2-4 p.m.; May to August 4 - 6 p.m.)
Daytime visits for groups and schools can be also organized after reservation.

Night visits are not usually allowed, except at the beginning of August, when some nights are dedicated to the public, after a personal reservation.

If you don't make it there, enjoy the hols anyhow. And for your information, Galway is currently experiencing a heatwave - 24+ degrees and bright sunshine forecast for the next 7 days and the pubs have been instructed to serve free drinks for the duration. Yeh right.....

Cheers

Dave McD

Hi Mathew,

I have never been there myself , but a friend of mine used to work at the observatory, called the Loiano Observatory. He was just at my house a month ago. Apparently, there hasn't been any change since the telescope was established back in the 1970s. The telescope and observatory have never been upgraded since then.

The telescope is a GOTO but everything else is fairly manual. Even the observatory slit has to be moved every few minutes as the telescope is tracking.

It's a 1.52m RC (English mount) built by a French firm.

BTW, a group of students 2nd year from NUI Galway go out there for a few days each year to use the telescope.

There is also a radio astronomy facility at Medici , Bologna. It's a 32 m dish, steerable radio telescope.

Have a good holiday

Eamonn A

BTW, a group of students 2nd year from NUI Galway go out there for a few days each year to use the telescope.

Hopefully I'll be one of them next February

Did you make it out to the observatory, Matthew?