A photo from open sources
Of course, absolutely all observatories amaze our imagination their grandeur and location, since they are built high in mountains. But the French Observatory Pic du Midi is just a charm. It is no coincidence that she literally attracts numerous tourists from all over the world.
It is located in the French Pyrenees on Mount South Peak Bigorra “(Pic du Midi de Bigorre, its height is 2877 meters above sea level), almost on the border of France and Spain. The construction of this unique structure began in 1878 (Ramon Society), but private construction is so the expensive observatory was beyond the power of the Society, and already 7 August 1882, Pique du Midi became state. She opened a little earlier than this momentous event for her, in 1881 as independent meteorological station, going further under jurisdiction of the University of Toulouse.
In 1908, the observatory “acquired” its magnificent eight-meter dome, cableway, and it is installed mechanical equatorial reflector (38 centimeters). More a powerful, 106-cm telescope, was mounted here in 1963 year at the expense of NASA (using it was carried out a detailed shooting of the moon in preparation for the flight to this space satellite ship “Apollo”).
France’s largest telescope installed at the observatory Pic du Midi in 1980. This is a magnificent two meter – en: Bernard Lyot Telescope.
Want to visit the Observatory Pic du Midi, a real wonder of the world, – watch the video. This is just a fairy tale!
Telescope
