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Observatories > Haute-Provence Observatory
HAUTE-PROVENCE OBSERVATORY
| Founded : | 1937 |
| Activities : | observing station laboratory building detectors for large telescopes |
| Welcoming to general public, tours : | -from July 1 to August 31t, tours are organized on Wednesday and Thursday
by the "Centre Astronomique de Saint Michel l'Observatoire" (be on the square of the village of
Saint-Michel between 13h30 and 16h30); phone: 33(4) 92 76 69 69; e-mail: contact@centre-astro.fr -from April 9 to June 30 and from September 1 to November 5, be at the entrance of the observatory every Wednesday except holidays between 14h and 16h. |
| Address : | F-04870 Saint Michel l'Observatoire |
| Phone : | 33(4) 92 70 64 00 |
Haute-Provence Observatory has been founded in 1937
thanks to Jean Perrin. Earlier in 1924, the project of such an observatory in France
has been proposed by the General Ferrié and the Dina foundation.
First at Fortcalquier, the observatory was put on its present site in 1938.
The first telescope was the 80cm-telescope followed by the 120cm-telescope
coming from Paris Observatory in 1943. The 193-cm telescope
was built in 1958 and the 1m52-telescope a few years later. Smaller telescope
were also put at the observatory such as the Schmidt-telescope by Liege University.
The spectrographe "Elodie" on the 193cm-telescope allowed, in 1995, the discovery of the first extra-solar planet around 51 Pegasi.
