Rijeka Observatory, Croatia

[Astrofriend]

The last observatory we visited in Croatia was the Rijeka Observatory. It's a 4.5 km walk from city center or it's possible to take the bus 7A to the observatory. They have a Cafe on top of the observatory with a panorama view. Even a planetarium.

Here is my report from the observatory:
http://www.astrofriend.eu/astronomy/observatory-sites/rijeka-observatory-croatia/01-rijeka-observatory-croatia.html

Later I will have more photos, it will be sent to me from their archive. I make a notice when they are online.

We got a lot of exiting things to see in Croatia !

/Lars

[bojan]

Lars,

This is one beautiful report, thank you!
I never visited that observatory (not sure if it existed in early '90 (when we moved to Australia).

About that 140 mm Newtonian..
I think the mirror kit (primary and small rectangular secondary) was manufactured by "Juraj Vega", optical company from Ljubljana (Slovenia). (BTW, my very first telescope was also "Vega" (refractor ø45 mm, FL 700 mm).. )

This mirror kit was on sale up to mid '70s, and I used it to build my second Newtonian, mounted into a frame built using 20 mm extruded aluminium "L" profile. After the first light, I became aware of the existence of "pinched optics" :P (mirror was very thin and had a conical back side..)
Later I gave the primary to a colleague from work (it was not very good, it had strong astigmatism), and I still have and use the secondary in my flip-mirror box.

And about 250mm Newtonian..
In '80-ies, Coulter Optical had 10" mirrors on special (US$105.00). Could they used one of those for second wooden Newt? (nope, now I see on the plate it was home made).
I used one of those for my Dob (now fully motorized)

Anyway.. memories... thank you again.

[Astrofriend]

Hi Bojan,
Great information about the 140 mm Newton. A conical shaped thin mirror must have been very advanced at that time. I had a Russian Rubinar mirror telephoto lens, it also had problem with astigmatism, a squized mirror caused it. I copied your information and placed it together with the 140 mm Newton telescope here:

http://www.astrofriend.eu/astronomy/observatory-sites/rijeka-observatory-croatia/02-rijeka-observatory-croatia.html

I hope it was okay, otherwise I take it away.

I think this observatory is much older than the 1990s, they said it has been destroyd three times, maybe WW II was one of them. I come back when I get some feedback from the staff at the observatory.

In another thread you said you was very active at the Zagreb observatory, what did you do at that observatory ?

Thanks a lot !

/Lars

[bojan]

Hi Lars,

Comments about "Vega mirror " are OK, but I really don't know if they used that kit or not (it is just my guess.. timing is right, that's for sure).

In Zagreb (I was born in that town and I spent there first 41 years of my life), I was a member of Astronomical society during my high school and uni days..Those were great times :-)We even became "famous" ;) (see this, post #10 (https://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=54253&highlight=UFO))

Below on the first picture is me on the Zagreb's Observatory terrace, '65 ~ '66 (?), second one was shot during my visit in Sept 2000 (you can see the glimpse of Zeiss 130/1954 mm refractor that was under the dome at the time).

[bojan]

I found the website (https://www.astronom.si/galerija/index.php?n=6766) mentioning that mirror..

[Astrofriend]

Hi Bojan,
Wonderful photos !

I edited the text and put in a "guess" and small adaption of the surrounding text. And put in the link you gave about the mirror, I have never seen any other telescope with a rectangular mirror, doesn't it give heavy spikes ?

http://www.astrofriend.eu/astronomy/observatory-sites/rijeka-observatory-croatia/02-rijeka-observatory-croatia.html

Thanks a lot of for the information !

/Lars

[Saturnine]

Hi Lars

As I may have said before, I love your reports of your travels to observatories around Europe, please keep travelling and sharing your images and stories.

[Astrofriend]

Hi Jeff,
We are very glad to hear that the observatory reports give pleasure to read. We like to travel and look after old remnants from Roman and Greece culture and of course astronomy related things. For sure there will be more reports :-)

ps.
At Pula we met a couple from Australia, they did a three weeks journey.

Lars and Gunilla

[Astrofriend]

Hi Bojab,

I have now got the old photos from the Rijeka observatory. You find them on page 5.

http://www.astrofriend.eu/astronomy/observatory-sites/rijeka-observatory-croatia/05-rijeka-observatory-croatia.html

Now I know that it was an Italian Fortress from the beginning.

/Lars

[bojan]

Hi Lars,

Thank you!
Now I know why I didn't know about this observatory - it was opened back in 2001, and I was already here in OZ for ~10 years :-)
University of Rijeka was famous in Former Yu, it gave couple of very good astrophysicists.. Dijana Dominis-Prester PhD, is one of them...
I remember her as a little girl participating in the school excursion from Rijeka when they visited Zagreb's Observatory :-)

[Astrofriend]

Hi Bojan,
What a beautiful memory of the young astronomer. It's always give a good feeling when you can help the young ones.

I corrected the Rijeka report, a link to page 5 was broken.

ps.
Isn't a relative bright comet on Southern sky now ?

/Lars

[bojan]

You are probably referring to this one:
http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2017K2/2017K2.html

[Astrofriend]

Yes, that one it is. In Sweden we can't see the the comet until next summer and then it's too bright.

/Lars