Rantiga observatory

Rantiga Observatory sits high in the hills straddling Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany, Italy, a remote-controlled outpost built to hunt for near-Earth asteroids and comets.

About Rantiga Observatory

The observatory is a Polish amateur astronomy project, established in March 2012 by Michal Zolnowski and Michal Kusiak. It stands in the village of Tincana, on the border between Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany, at an altitude of 643 metres, and holds the IAU Minor Planet Center designation D03.

Telescopes & research

Rantiga is built around a 0.4-metre f/3.8 reflector telescope mounted on a Paramount ME, paired with an SBIG STX-16803 CCD camera. Its focus is discovering and observing small solar-system objects, including near-Earth objects and comets. An on-site industrial computer with an internet connection lets its founders control the telescope remotely from Poland.

Location & getting there

The observatory is located at 643 metres altitude in Tincana, on the border of Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany, in northern Italy.

Visiting Rantiga Observatory

As a remotely operated research project, Rantiga Observatory is not set up for public tours. Its work is best followed through its minor-planet discoveries rather than an in-person visit.

See your named star from here

An observatory built to track faint, fast-moving asteroids has more than enough precision to locate a star's fixed coordinates, including one named through Star Register. Name a star as a gift, or browse the star catalogue.