Mbour Magnetic Observatory

Mbour Magnetic Observatory was a geomagnetic research station on the Atlantic coast of Senegal, in operation for nearly seven decades before closing in 2020.

About Mbour Magnetic Observatory

Unlike a stargazing observatory, Mbour was built to monitor the Earth's magnetic field rather than the night sky. It recorded continuous geomagnetic data as part of a global network of monitoring stations, contributing measurements used by scientists studying variations in the planet's magnetism.

History

The observatory was founded in 1952 by ORSTOM, the French overseas scientific research office, and was modernised in 1992 by the Institut de physique du globe de Paris. It was later run in collaboration with the Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD). Operations ceased in March 2020 when IRD sold the land the station stood on, and a replacement facility (SOK) was opened roughly 60 km inland to continue the monitoring work.

Location

The site sits near Mbour on Senegal's coast in West Africa, an area better known today for its beaches and fishing villages than for its decades of quiet geomagnetic record-keeping.

See your named star from here

Mbour's own instruments were built for magnetism, not stars, but Senegal's coastal skies are otherwise well placed for stargazing. If you've named a star for someone, any observatory or telescope operator can point their instrument at its exact coordinates once you share them. Browse the star catalogue to find the listing and its precise right ascension and declination.