Plana Geodetic Observatory

Plana Geodetic Observatory occupies a mountaintop site about 30 kilometres southeast of Sofia, Bulgaria, where it has combined astronomical and geodetic measurement since the early 1980s.

About Plana Geodetic Observatory

Inaugurated in 1983 under the Central Laboratory of Higher Geodesy, the observatory is now part of the National Institute of Geophysics, Geodesy and Geography (NIGGG), founded in 2010. Its equipment includes astrometric and astronomical instruments alongside GPS/GNSS receivers, seismometers, accelerometers, an automatic weather station, an ionospheric station, and solar radiation and environmental monitoring gear.

History

The observatory was founded in 1969 and formally inaugurated in 1983 as part of Bulgaria's Central Laboratory of Higher Geodesy, later becoming a facility of the NIGGG.

Location & getting there

The observatory sits at 1,300 metres elevation on Plana Mountain, roughly 30 kilometres southeast of Sofia, Bulgaria.

Visiting Plana Geodetic Observatory

As a scientific geodesy and monitoring station rather than a public tourist site, visiting arrangements are best confirmed through NIGGG directly before travelling.

See your named star from here

An observatory built around precise measurement of positions on Earth is a fitting place to think about the precise coordinates of a star you've named through Star Register. Look up its right ascension and declination in the star catalogue.