Conrad Magnetic Observatory

Conrad Magnetic Observatory is the geomagnetic monitoring station of GeoSphere Austria, built into the Trafelberg mountain near Pernitz in Lower Austria.

About Conrad Magnetic Observatory

This is the geomagnetic wing of the wider Conrad Observatory complex, operated by GeoSphere Austria (formerly ZAMG, the Central Institution for Meteorology and Geodynamics). It continuously tracks variations in Earth's magnetic field from a remote mountaintop location chosen specifically to avoid the electrical interference of towns and infrastructure.

History

The geomagnetic observatory (GMO) has been operational since 2014, joining the seismic-gravimetric observatory that had opened on the same mountain in 2002. Both facilities are named after the Austrian seismologist Victor Conrad (1876-1962).

Telescopes & research

Rather than telescopes, the site's instruments are built for geophysics: magnetometers that record magnetic field variations around the clock, alongside the sister facility's seismometers and one of only around 35 superconductive gravimeters in the world. Data from the observatory is made freely available in real time and feeds into international geomagnetic and earthquake-monitoring networks.

Location & getting there

The station sits atop the Trafelberg at roughly 1,146 metres elevation near Pernitz, about 45 km southwest of Vienna, in Austria's Lower Austria region.

Visiting Conrad Magnetic Observatory

As a working scientific installation, the observatory is not a typical tourist attraction; anyone wanting current visiting details should check the GeoSphere Austria website before planning a trip.

See your named star from here

Its instruments watch the Earth rather than the sky, but the wider Trafelberg site's dark mountain setting is the kind of place where a telescope could be aimed at any set of coordinates. Anyone with a star named through Star Register can browse similarly named stars in our catalogue.