Crimean Astrophysical Observatory

Crimean Astrophysical Observatory (CrAO) An observatory at an altitude of 600 m at Nauchny, Ukraine, owned and operated by the State Committee of Science and Technology of the Ukraine. Its main instrument is the Shajn 2.6-m reflector, opened in 1961 and named after Grigorii Abramovich Shajn (1892–1956), a former director. There are also two 1.25-m telescopes (opened in 1955 and 1981), a 1-m solar tower telescope (1955), and a gamma-ray telescope (1989). The CrAO also operates several smaller optical instruments on Mount Koshka, near Simeis, at an altitude of 346 m. A 22-m radio telescope, opened in 1966, is located near the foot of Mount Koshka. The observatory originated at Simeis in 1912 as an outstation of Pulkovo Observatory, but was destroyed in World War II. It was subsequently rebuilt, when it received its current name and the main site was moved to Nauchny. Until 1991 the CrAO was operated by the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. http://sun.stanford.edu/~crao/