Main Astronomical Observatory of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

• 1944 - 1948 - Orlov, Alexander Yakovlevich - Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR
• 1948 - 1951 - Tsesevich, Vladimir Platonovich - corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR
• 1951 - 1952 - Orlov, Alexander Yakovlevich - second term
• 1952 - 1959 - Yakovkin, Avenir Aleksandrovich - corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR
• 1959 - 1973 - Fedorov, Evgeny Pavlovich - Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR
• 1973 - 1975 - Koval, Ivan Kirillovich - Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences
• Since 1975 - Yatskiv, Yaroslav Stepanovich - Academician of the NAS of Ukraine

The first letter from A. Ya. Orlov with the proposal to build the Kiev first-class observatory at the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR dates from October 24, 1938 . Then the place of the modern Botanical Garden of NASU in Kiev was chosen. In December of the same year, it was decided to begin construction of the observatory. But World War II prevented the implementation of this plan. Immediately after the liberation of Kiev from German troops, Orlov again sent a letter to the Presidium requesting the creation of an observatory. On July 17, 1944, by the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR, it was prescribed to create the Main Astronomical Observatory of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (GAO). This time, Orlov chose a glade in the Goloseevsky forest as the place for the observatory.

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The Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR Nikita Khrushchev reacted very approvingly to the idea of ​​building an observatory. Academician of architecture A. Schusev worked on the project. The observatory was opened in 1949 .

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Its branch was the war-destroyed observatory on Mount Pop Ivan in the Carpathians , built by the University of Warsaw in 1938 and intended for meteorological and astronomical observations. In the postwar years, the small staff of the GAO was not able to revive the observatory on Mount Pop Ivan, the branch practically did not function. ^{[2] The} first main topic of work was astrometry , taking into account this, the first instruments were chosen - they were delivered from Germany by reparation . Further, the scope of work expanded, and with it the technical base of the GAO expanded.

The efforts of the GAO have built observation bases on Mount Maidanak ( Uzbekistan ), the Bolivian National Observatory ( Tariha , Bolivia ) and the high-altitude observatory at Terskol Peak (3100 m, Elbrus region , Russian Federation). The construction of the latter was begun in 1970 . Now this branch is one of the observational bases of the GAO and since 1992 it has been part of the International Center for Astronomical and Medical-Ecological Research (the head of the center is Ph.D. V.K. Taradiy). Two large telescopes were installed on it: a 2-meter and 60-cm Zeiss . In the mid- 2000s , the 2-meter Zeiss was operated jointly with the RAS . Since 1991, the observatory has been coordinating the activities of Ukrainian institutions on the issue of coordinate-time support, participating in the implementation of the State Space Program of Ukraine and the State Environmental Program.

The structure of scientific and scientific support units of the Main Astronomical Observatory of the NAS of Ukraine, approved for 2015 :

• Department of Astrometry and Space Geodynamics ;
• Department of Physics of Stars and Galaxies ;
• space plasma department;
• physics department of small celestial bodies;
• Department of Physics of Planetary Systems;
• Department of Physics of the Sun ;
• Department of Applied Astronomy and Instrumentation;
• Astrocosmic Information and Computing Center (ACIVC);
• laboratory for determining the parameters of the Earth's rotation (combined with the Taras Shevchenko KNU);
• active starburst galaxy physics laboratory;
• cosmic ray laboratory;
• comet physics laboratory;
• atmospheric optics laboratory (combined with Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv);
• Laboratory of Astro Space Instrumentation;
• laboratory of fast processes in stars ;
• Laboratory of Computer Technology in Astronomy;
• laboratory of astroinformatics;
• Laboratory of methodological and informational support of education and astronomical science (in Ukrainian MIZON-A)
• scientific and technical department, scientific and publishing group, experimental-production department and other scientific and auxiliary units;
• Museum of the History of the GAO NAS of Ukraine - created in 2004 on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the GAO. The museum reflects the pages of the foundation and development of the observatory, the first telescopes are stored. Separate stands are dedicated to outstanding employees.

• Wanshuff vertical circle (D = 19 cm, F = 2.5 m, astrometry );
• a small solar telescope with a spectrograph (installed in 1954 );
• chromospheric telescope (installed in 1957 );
• AZT-2 reflector (D = 70 cm, F = 3.1 m and F = 10.5 m, installed in 1959 );
• ATSU-5 horizontal solar telescope (D = 44.5 cm, F = 17 m, installed in 1965 );
• ATSU-26 horizontal solar telescope (installed in 1989 at Terskol peak);
• Zeiss double wide-angle astrograph (DSA) (D = 40 cm, F = 2 m, installed in 1975 );
• telescope TPL-1 (D = 1 m, F = 21 m, AES laser rangefinder , installed in 1985 ) ^{[3] [4]} ;
• ABP-2 (D = 20 cm, F = 2.8 m, two - lens achromat , demonstration telescope).
• DDA - a double telephoto astrograph of Tepper-Steingel, is currently a museum exhibit (D = 40 cm, F = 5.5 m, astrometry, installed in 1946 );
• Celestron 14 "- Schmidt-Cassegrain

Highlights: ^[5]

• positional astronomy and space geodynamics;
• physics of the sun and the bodies of the solar system;
• physics and evolution of stars and galaxies;
• cosmic plasma physics;
• astronomical and space instrument engineering
• atmospheric optics
• astronomical and space instrument engineering
• automation of astronomical observation processes and astronomical data processing

Details: ^[6]

• photographic astrometry and stellar astronomy , fundamental astrometry, solar system astrometry, selenodesy and the dynamics of the moon ;
• studies of problems of the theory of rotation of the Earth creation of reference systems on Earth and in outer space;
• study of the physical and evolutionary characteristics of blue dwarf galaxies according to observations on the best astronomical instruments of the world: BTA ( SAO RAS ), space telescope im. Hubble , NMT installation in Arizona ( USA ) and others;
• modeling the chemical evolution of irregular and disk galaxies of late types , the processes of origin and evolution of giant shells of neutral hydrogen in galaxies of various types, the processes of formation and evolution of galaxies , the analysis of stellar spectra taking into account deviations from LTE and determining evolutionary changes in the chemical composition of stars of late spectral classes, the study of evolutionary and physical characteristics of stars of different types ;
• studies of the fast small-scale variability of stars , in particular, according to parallel observations using a system of spatially separated optical telescopes;
• creation of new models of pulsed energy release and conversion in solar flares ; the construction of a theory of the generation of electromagnetic radiation in the solar atmosphere and magnetosphere of the Earth ; studying plasma instabilities in the sun, in the solar wind and the Earth’s magnetosphere;
• research on the physics of cosmic rays and their interaction with the near-Earth and interplanetary medium;
• the study of active solar formations ( prominences , flares, etc.) and the calm photosphere ;
• studying the physics and optical properties of atmospheres and surfaces of planets and their satellites , the theory of radiation transfer , as well as astronomical instrumentation ;
• physics of comets and infrared astronomy ;
• development of equipment and methods for optical monitoring of planetary atmospheres, in particular the Earth’s atmosphere .

• Atlas of the far side of the moon was created according to the data of the survey of the Zond-3 spacecraft;
• FONAC star data catalog created;
• for the first time in the world, original spectral, photometric and polarimetric instruments have been created, with the help of which the physical characteristics of the atmospheres of Mars , Jupiter and Saturn are determined;
• Academician E.P. Fedorov developed the world's first nutation theory for an absolutely elastic Earth model and determined nutation parameters from observational data;
• a family of comet photometric models and a physical theory of cometary nuclei have been developed;
• an automatic telescope-computer complex was created for studying the Fraunhofer spectrum of the Sun , with the help of which for the first time in the world the oscillator strengths of about 2,000 lines of 49 chemical elements were obtained;
• the blue compact galaxy SBS 0335-052 is discovered with a record deficit of heavy elements;
• Original methods and software have been developed for observing space and astronomical objects and processing received data;
• a technology has been developed for the manufacture of multicomponent achromatic and superchromatic phase-shifting plates.

GAO NASU was the initiator and participant of international programs and projects, in particular, creating a catalog of faint stars and a photographic sky survey, observing Halley's comet ( SOPROG ), determining variations in the global characteristics of the Sun , and also participated in the preparation and implementation of VEGA space projects, “ PHOBOS "," CORONAS "and others. ^[7]

• Gavrilov, Igor Vladimirovich
• Orlov, Alexander Yakovlevich
• Tsesevich, Vladimir Platonovich
• Yakovkin, Avenir Alexandrovich
• Yatskiv, Yaroslav Stepanovich

Ukraine , Kiev , 03680, st. Academician Zabolotny, d.27

• National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
• uk: Ukrainian astronomical astronomy
• White elephant (observatory)
• Observatory Peak Terskol
• List of Astronomical Instruments

• Official site
• About Golovna astronomical observatory of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
• History of the observatory (inaccessible link)
• Goloseevskaya Observatory (near Kiev)
• GAO NFNU on Wikimapia
• Wikimapia
• Anniversary of the Main Astronomical Observatory of Ukraine
• Fidelity to a scientific goal - above the honor of being an academician - the history of the observatory
• World observatories
• Laser Observations at the Observatory
• Walk along the Main Astronomical Observatory of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine