GRANGE OBSERVATORY in italiano

Grange Observatory

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The Grange Observatory lies atop a private house in Bussoleno (50 km W from Turin, Italy), in Susa Valley near the French border; Grange comes from the name of the town's suburb.
The observatory's roll-off roof opens in two parts and covers a 3 m by 3 m room; the telescope is a 0.3 m Newton-Cassegrain f/4 - f/31 (focal lenghts respectively of 1.2 m and 9.3 m) guided by a refractor ø 80 mm f/11 with an illuminated eyepiece adjustable within 1° from the scope axis.
The main instrument is permanently mounted on a concrete pillar and is independent from the room's floor; the observing site can be reached via a foldable ladder from a room devoted to laboratory / library.
The telescope has two interchangeable CCD cameras connected to a 486 DX2 computer with CD-ROM drive, this one being useful for having a quick access to huge star catalogues and sky surveys: in fact, the field given by the cameras does not exceed 30 arcmin and the faintest stars recorded are about magnitude 20.
The main research activity is astrometry and Grange Obs. is one of the observatories appointed by I. A. U.'s Commission 20 which send their measures via modem to the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams/Minor Planet Center, located at Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA (U.S.A.).
Grange Obs. is also one of the observing sites of Gruppo Italiano Astrometristi, the Italian Astrometry Group, which coordinates all the astrometric activity done in Italy by amateur astronomers, and is a proud member of Spaceguard Foundation.
Grange Obs. has also a Service page in which the latest observations and the services offered are listed!

Technical description:

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