Fabra Observatory

Mailhat refractor telescope of 38 cm in diameter (1904)

The Fabra Observatory (in Catalan Observatori Fabra) is an astronomical observatory located in Barcelona, on a buttress of the Tibidabo mountain, facing south, 415 m s. no. m.. It is owned by the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona and owes its name to the patron who made its construction possible, the industrialist Camil Fabra.

His scientific activity is currently focused on the study of asteroids and comets. It is the fourth oldest observatory in the world that is still active.

History

In 1894 the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona launched the project for a new astronomical observatory located on Tibidabo. A few years before, he had completed the new central building of the Academy, located on La Rambla and on which two observatories designed by José Joaquín de Landerer were installed. However, the new observatories were soon seen to be obsolete almost from the time of their inauguration. The Academy proposed the project to the Barcelona Provincial Council, which rejected it. A press campaign was then started to make the public aware of the need for a research institution of this type and at an international level.

The definitive impulse came when, in 1901, the Marquis of Alella, Camilo Fabra, a prestigious industrialist and former mayor of Barcelona, donated 250,000 pesetas to the Academy with the aim of making the project a reality. Work began in 1902, not without controversy, since the original project by Eduard Fontserè was reviewed by José Comas y Solá, at a time of confrontation between the two scientists. The building is the work of the architect José Doménech y Estapá and was inaugurated on April 7, 1904, with the presence of King Alfonso XIII. At first it was called 'Tibidabo Observatory', but soon after the name was changed to 'Fabra Observatory'.

Initially the observatory was organized into two sections: the Astronomical Section and the Meteorological and Seismic Section. Comas y Solá was appointed director of the Astronomical Section and also, temporarily, director of the Meteorological and Seismic Section until Eduard Fontserè took charge of it in 1912. Until the Civil War, the observatory (which during the Second Republic was integrated into the Catalan Astronomy Service, of which Comas y Solá was director) enjoyed the period of greatest scientific relevance. As regards seismology, he began the systematic study of Catalan and Pyrenean seismology. In the meteorological aspect, daily meteorological observations began in October 1913, in an uninterrupted series up to the present, even during the Civil War (until 1981, a daily observation was made at 8 in the morning, in 1982 it went to 3 and finally to 4 daily observations). As regards astronomy, important observations were made, including the study of the planet Mars, the discovery of eleven minor planets and a comet (32P/Comas Solá) and the study of double and variable stars.

In 1937, after the death of Comas y Solá, the management of the observatory passed to Isidro Pólit and, later, to Joaquín Febrer. Starting in the 1940s, scientific activity was reduced, partly due to a lack of budget and adequate conditions, and partly due to the evolution of astronomical observation, which made the obsolete instruments for top-level research obsolete. He currently focuses his astronomical research activity on the observation of double stars and on the participation in international programs focused on the study and monitoring of asteroids and comets (coordinated by the Center for Minor Planets and the Pulkovo Observatory. It also collects meteorological data and In addition, in the line inaugurated by Comas y Solá himself, in recent years it has recovered the role of a center for the dissemination of astronomy, with visits and talks taking advantage of the double aspect of an active astronomical center and a museum of the history of the astronomy.

Instrumentation

• Astronomical instruments:
  • Mailhat refractor telescope of 38 cm in diameter (1904). It is a double instrument: it has a visual objective of 6.5 m of focal distance and a photographic objective of 3.8 m of focal distance with a slide of 18 x 24 cm. It's still operational today.
  • Meridian circle Mailhat 200 mm in diameter.
  • Baker-Nunn House. It is a 50 cm diameter Schmidt telescope designed for wide field photographic observation. It is part of a project in collaboration with the Royal Institute and Observatory of the Navy of San Fernando (Cádiz), to adapt the camera for use with CCD and which was installed at the astronomical Observatory of the Montsec and opened on September 16, 2010.

• Seismic instruments:
  • Microsismograph Vicentini (1906). Operating.
  • Microsismograph Mainka (1914). Operating.
  • Sismoscope Agamennone, for the registration of vertical and horizontal components (1906). Uninstalled in 1909.
  • Sismometrographs Agamenone i Cancani (1906), to record the horizontal component. Uninstalled in 1910, but the Agamenone has recently been restored.
  • 3 Hiller-Stuttgart electromagnetic seismographs (1966).

Image gallery

Mailhat Circle Telescope with an opening of 20cm Fabra Observatory, with the city of Barcelona at the bottom of the image Observatory Modernist room of the observatory