Observatory and Planetarium in Hradec Kralove

About the Observatory

The Observatory and planetarium are located on the southern outskirts of Hradec Kralove - regional capital of eastern Bohemia. One of the most beautiful places was selected for the building - on the ridge between Zamecek and New Hradec Kralove. A breathtaking view opens onto the lowlands of river Labe and to the south on a smooth valley with mirrors of Datlik and Roudnicka lakes.

The bulid-up of the observatory was held from 1947 till 1961. One branch of the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute - Solar and Ozonospheric Observatory and a part of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, are also housed here. The geographical coordinates of the main dome are 15°50'21" east longitude, 50°10'38" north latitude, 287 m above the sea level.

Telescopes and equipment of the observatory:

• Refractor in the main dome. The telescope is placed on a Zeiss equatoreal mounting. The diameter of its lens is 200 mm, the focal length 3500 mm.
• Newton 250 mm, ratio 1:5, i.e., the focal length 1250 mm. The telescope was added on the equatoreal mount to the main refractor. The manufacturer is Jiri Drbohlav from Rtyne v Podkrkonosi. This telescope, equipped with the ST-5 CCD camera, is used for the photometry of variable stars. For more details look at the scientific program pages.
• CCD camera PixCel 255 (ST-5) by Santa Barbara Instrument Group. CCD matrix has 320×240 pixels, 10 micrometer each.
• Jan Sindel Telescope, Newton 400 mm, ratio 1:5, focal length 2000 mm. Large telescope on an automated mount is located in the observing house. The manufacturer is again Mr. Drbohlav. This instrument, a joint project with the Astronomical society in Hradec Kralove, is used for astrometry of comets and photometry of variable stars and asteroids. More details are avaiable at the scientific program pages.
• CCD camera ST-7 by SBIG. CCd matrix has 768×576 pixels, 10 microns each.
• Small Zeiss projection planetarium. Projection dome of the planetarium is 6.5 m in diameter.
• Schmidt photographic telescope with parameters 420/600/1000 is in the observing house. It was used for the determination of positions of comets, asteroids and satellites orbiting the Earth.
• Small refractor with objective diameter 110 mm situated in the observing house.
• Two Cassegrain telescopes with mirror diameter 150 mm and focal length 2250 mm. One of them is equipped by a meniscus.
• Big and small binoculars 25×100, 10×80, 12×60.

© HPHK, M. Broz aj., http://www.astrohk.cz/, webmaster@astrohk.cz; version May 19th 2007, printed at Mar 12th 2010 3:11:00.