Rozhen Observatory

Rozhen Observatory is Bulgaria's National Astronomical Observatory, perched at 1,759 metres in the Rhodope Mountains of Smolyan Province, about 90 km south of Plovdiv.

About Rozhen Observatory

Officially opened on 13 March 1981, Rozhen is owned and operated by the Institute of Astronomy of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and stands as the country's principal centre for astronomical research, with an active team of around 50 astronomers. It was the culmination of nearly 20 years of work by Bogomil Kovachev, the astronomer credited as its founder, and represented, at over $10 million, the largest one-time investment in scientific infrastructure Bulgaria had ever made.

Telescopes & research

Rozhen houses a substantial fleet of instruments: a 2-metre Ritchey-Chrétien telescope with a Coudé focus, a 1.5-metre Ritchey-Chrétien-Nasmyth telescope, a 60 cm Cassegrain telescope, a 50/70 cm Schmidt camera, a 30 cm Meade telescope, and a 15 cm solar telescope. It ranks among the largest observatories in south-eastern Europe, and the minor planet 6267 Rozhen was discovered there and named in its honour.

Location & getting there

The observatory sits high in the Rhodope Mountains, 90 km south of Plovdiv and about 15 km from the nearest town, Chepelare — a remote, high-altitude setting that gives it some of the darkest, clearest skies in the region.

Visiting Rozhen Observatory

Check the observatory's official website for current visiting hours, tours, and any public observing nights before planning your trip, as access to a working research site like this can vary by season.

See your named star from here

With a 2-metre telescope and a team of professional astronomers on-site, Rozhen is about as capable a place as any to think about the coordinates of a star you've named. Name a star of your own, or search the star catalogue for one already registered.