Orioloromano Observatory

In the hills of Viterbo province, Oriolo Romano Observatory runs largely on its own, a fully robotic amateur facility built to gather astronomical data around the clock without a human at the eyepiece.

About Oriolo Romano Observatory

Oriolo Romano Observatory is an amateur astronomical observatory in Oriolo Romano, Viterbo, Italy, at an elevation of about 400 metres. It was built in 2007 and designed to be fully robotic.

History

The observatory was constructed in 2007 with a focus on automated, remote operation from the outset.

Telescopes & research

Its primary instrument is a Celestron 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain F/10 telescope, paired with a QSI WS40 CCD camera and clear filter for data acquisition. The observatory is used exclusively for astronomical research and educational outreach. It also doubles as a local weather station, logging indoor and outdoor temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, rainfall, wind speed and direction, and dew point in real time and at 15-minute intervals, with data made available to forecasters, pilots, and ships as well as researchers, alongside a live webcam.

Location & getting there

The observatory sits in Oriolo Romano, a town in the province of Viterbo in the Lazio region of central Italy, at roughly 400 metres elevation.

Visiting Oriolo Romano Observatory

As a robotic research facility, Oriolo Romano Observatory is not primarily set up for in-person visitor tours. Check its official website for the latest information on outreach activities or webcam access before getting in touch.

See your named star from here

A fully robotic observatory like this one is built to track exact sky coordinates, the same kind of data behind every named star. Name a star with Star Register or browse the star catalogue to find its position.