Royal Observatory of Belgium

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Royal Observatory of Belgium
Code	012  (observations)
Location	Uccle (Ukkel (Dutch))
Coordinates	50°47′54″N 4°21′30″E / 50.79833°N 4.35833°E / 50.79833; 4.35833Coordinates: 50°47′54″N 4°21′30″E / 50.79833°N 4.35833°E / 50.79833; 4.35833
Established	1834 1890 Uccle/Ukkle
Website www.orb.be

The Royal Observatory of Belgium, officially known in French as the Observatoire Royal de Belgique, and in Dutch as the Koninklijke Sterrenwacht van België, is situated at Uccle (Ukkel in Dutch) since 1890, although it was originally founded in 1834. It was home to a 100 cm diameter aperture Zeiss reflector in the first half of the 20th century, one of the largest telescopes in the world at the time. It has had a variety of other astronomical instruments, such as astrographs, as well as a range of seismograph equipment (such as for detecting earth quakes).

The main activities are :

• Reference Systems and Geodynamics
• Astrometry and Dynamics of Celestial Bodies
• Astrophysics
• Solar Physics.

Contents 1 History 2 See also 3 References 4 External links 5 Further reading 6 See also

[edit] History

The Royal Observatory was founded by Adolphe Quetelet in 1828, and the facilities there began operation by 1834. It was moved to Uccle in 1890, however, this was a fairly common practice for observatory in those days. It suffered some damage in 20th century wars, but it was repaired and new instruments were acquired (new instruments were bought on a regular basis also).

Since 1981, the Sunspot Index Data center, the World data center for the Sunspot Index is harbored at the observatory^[1]

The asteroid 1276 Ucclia is named for City and the Observatory.

The Planetarium (Belgium) is there also.

[edit] See also

• Belgian Federal Science Policy Office
• Royal Meteorological Institute
• Planetarium
• Europlanetarium Genk

[edit] References

1. ^ Solar Influences Data analysis center

[edit] External links

• Official site

[edit] Further reading

• Centennial of the Royal Observatory Belgium (The Observatory, Vol. 58, p. 208-209 (1935))

[edit] See also

• List of largest optical reflecting telescopes

This article about a Belgian building or structure is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e

This article about a specific observatory, telescope or astronomical instrument is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e