Have you ever peered into the bottomless sky during night? When looking at stars, our eyes are drawn into the infinity of space and time. That moment makes us feel excited, doesn’t it?
There is a possibility to see around 3000 stars on a clear night with our naked eye. With the help of a good quality telescope, it is possible to spot many other cosmetic objects in the Universe. However, in larger cities, due to strong exposures of light, most of the stars become invisible. Therefore, many citizens have never seen a pure and clear sky at night time.
We want to make astronomical observations accessible to everyone! Therefore, we are building a fully equipped astronomical observatory, where every resident of Estonia and other guests can visit. It will be located at a sufficient distance from the city and on a certain elevation, so that the exposing light from the city and its tracks won’t interfere with the observation. Observatory equipment will also allow you to conduct visual observations and receive amazing photographs of celestial objects.
For the construction of the observatory, a plot of land and an old water tower in Munalaskme have already been purchased, and even construction work has been started. Work on the project has been conducted since the beginning of 2017.
What can be seen in the observatory?
The universe has no end and we really have something exciting to show you. There are planets of our solar system, distant galaxies and the light, which strays to us for million years. Glittering star clusters and spellbinding nebulae, comets and asteroids. You can stroll through the lunar surface and use a special filter to observe sunspots and prominences. This view will definitely leave everyone speechless.
Observatory equipment
At the first stage, we are going to raise funds for the construction work. As a result, the water tower, which has not been used for many years, will become a functional observatory. When the construction work and interiors are completed, we will install a telescope – a refractor worth 10,000 euros. This is a small high-quality tool, which we can use to open up observations immediately after the construction work is completed. After that, we are planning to install a larger observation tool of the Richie-Chreiten system, which will allow us to see more distant objects.
A telescope and a special equatorial mount have already been purchased and are waiting to be installed.
Our currently finished work:
1. The land and the water tower are bought, which is deal for placing an observatory. The height of the tower is 18 meters. With the dome included, the total height of the observatory will be more than 20 meters.
2. Geodetic work has been carried out.
3. An architectural design was established with the agreement with the communication services.
4. The application was submitted to the township for a building permit.
5. The building was carefully examined.
6. Established constructive design of concrete overlap
7. The dismantling of metal structures and a huge tank inside the tower were
8. In addition, we have a telescope with apochromatic lenses with and an autoguide and a set of German eyepieces worth almost 10,000 euros.
We have invested 17.000 euros for he construction and equipment of the observatory already. We will definitely finish the construction!
Why is our project special?
Certainly, Estonia already has an observatory. The city of Tartu has a whole scientific institution, and the discoveries made at the Tartu observatory are known all over the world. In this observatory constant work is being conducted, therefore, you can only visit it occasionally. Observation time is too valuable for science. Our observatory does not pursue the goal of making scientific discoveries (although, this is not excluded), our mission is educational. We are building an affordable place, where you can always come and gaze at the sky through our equipment. This project is original and nothing similar is in Estonia at the moment.
Now, a little bit about me. I have been engaged in amateur astronomy for the past 20 years. I am the chairman of the Baltic Astronomical Club. My goal is to popularize astronomy in Estonia. I’m sure that not only adults will be interested in spending time romantically contemplating the beauty of the cosmos, but children will also be curious to observe the planets, nebulae and bright stars, simultaneously, studying the map of sky and expanding their knowledge.
