Stara Lesna observatory

High in the Vysoké Tatry mountains of Slovakia, the Stará Lesná Observatory has spent decades turning clear alpine air into serious stellar research, run by the country's national academy of sciences.

About Stará Lesná Observatory

Stará Lesná Observatory is operated by the Astronomical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV) and forms part of a wider High Tatras observatory network made up of three linked facilities. Sitting at 785 metres above sea level, it benefits from the clean, stable air typical of Slovakia's high mountain regions.

Telescopes & research

The site's core instruments are two 60-centimetre Cassegrain telescopes built by Carl Zeiss, used for stellar photometry, spectroscopy, and radial and rotational velocity measurements. That work feeds into exoplanet detection research, and the observatory has also hosted a meteorological station since 1988, tracking local climate and air quality alongside its astronomical programme.

Location & getting there

Stará Lesná sits in Slovakia's High Tatras, part of Europe's Carpathian range, at an elevation that keeps it above much of the valley haze that can affect lower-altitude sites. The mountain setting makes for genuinely dark, transparent skies, though the terrain means a car or organised transport is the practical way to reach it.

Visiting Stará Lesná Observatory

As a working research institute, Stará Lesná is primarily a science facility rather than a public visitor centre, so anyone hoping to tour the site should check the Astronomical Institute's own pages for current access arrangements before travelling.

See your named star from here

With two 60cm research telescopes trained on the sky from one of Slovakia's clearest mountain sites, Stará Lesná's location is exactly the kind of place where a named star's coordinates could be picked out with the right equipment. Browse the star catalogue to find the exact star tied to your certificate.