Astronomical Institute of Slovak Academy of Sciences
The Astronomical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences was founded in 1953. Up to this time had the observatory on Skalnaté Pleso (founder Dr. Bečvář, 1943) the statute of astronomical institute. Through the establishment of the new institute was this one of the foundations of the new Slovak Academy of Sciences in Slovakia. With the continuation of the work of former employees of the observatory with current colleagues of the new institute, the two institutions merge more and more into an overarching whole. Therefore, in 1943 are referred to as the year of the founding of the Institute. The Institute now has its headquarters on the outskirts of the city Tatranská Lomnica.
- 3.1 Notes and references
- 3.2 See also
- 3.3 External links
Areas of research and the organization of the Institute
The Institute focuses on the study of the Sun, interplanetary medium and on the astrophysical study of individual stars. Working at the Institute currently about 65 employees, of which approximately 50 active researchers. The work is performed in the following departments:
Department of Solar Physics
In the field of solar physics has led to processes within the solar photosphere, chromosphere and the corona is a permanent interest for the activities in the solar atmosphere for specialization. For this purpose, a separate Koronograf be used, and used the data from spectral analysis of the vacuum tower telescope ( VTT) at the Observatorio del Teide in Tenerife and data from the solar observatory SOHO. The Head of Department is Aleš Kučera.
Department of interplanetary medium
The research involves the photometry and astrometry of asteroids and comets that are carried out using the main telescope of the observatory Skalnaté Pleso. Also, be used with a wide angle lens for observation of Boliden cameras. The Head of Department is Ján Svoreň.
Department of stellar physics
This division focuses on the study of double stars and multiple star systems. These spectroscopic data from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST ) and astrometric data from Hipparcos as well as the Tycho catalog are evaluated or taken as a basis. The Head of Department is Drahomír Chochol.
Work of the MPI
The Institute operates observatories Skalnaté Pleso and Lomnicky stit, as well as a location in Bratislava, which is concerned with theoretical physics and performs the coordination for research on meteorites in the whole Slovakia.
The astronomical observatory on Skalnaté Pleso (1783 m) was founded in 1943. There are two reflectors (one equipped with a CCD camera and the other with a photometer ) is used, their levels have 60 cm diameter. The pump station at Lomnicky Štít has been in operation since the year 1960. It is equipped with a coronagraph and a spectrograph. In the new area of the Astronomical Institute at Tatranská Lomnica a horizontal telescope for solar observation are ( also with a spectrograph equipped ), and two telescopes with 60 cm or 50 cm diameter in operation.
Directors of the Institute
- Antonín Bečvář (1943-1950)
- V. Guth (1951-1956)
- Záviš Bochníček (1956-1958)
- Ludmila Pajdušáková (1958-1979)
- Július Sykora (1979-1989)
- Ján Stohl (1989-1993)
- Juraj Zverko (1993-2001)
- Ján Svoreň (2001-2009)
- Aleš Kučera (since 2009)
Discoveries
The astronomical institute was involved in the discoveries of comets following: