The National Astronomical Observatory (NAO) Rozhen in Bulgaria is the largest astronomical complex in Southeast Europe.
It has 3 telescopes made by Carl Zeiss, Jena: a 2-meter reflector, one of the largest in Europe, a 60-centimeter Cassegrain, a 50/70-centimeter Schmidt telescope and a 15-centimeter Lio solar coronagraph. NAO Rozhen ranks Bulgaria among the nations with its own base for space exploration, reports BGNES.
The Rozhen telescopes are used to observe a wide variety of astronomical objects: solar system bodies (comets, planets, asteroids), stars, nebulae and galaxies. Astronomers, students, PhD students and their teachers use the entire infrastructure of the Observatory for research and teaching.
There is a Planetarium at NAO Rozhen, and the "heart" of the Planetarium is a 15 m diameter, 15 seat star hall. In its centre is the main projector, the "Planetarium for Space Flight", manufactured at the Karl Zeiss Works, Jena, Germany. It creates an artificial starry sky - a copy of the real one. It reproduces the movements of the celestial sphere, the Sun, Moon and planets, solar and lunar eclipses, star rain, aurora borealis, imitates space flight, transports us to other worlds and other times.
Star shows (séances) are performed in the hall. They are more than 70 - popular, educational, children's, musical, including in English, German, French, Greek, Turkish and Russian, and their duration is 35 - 45 minutes.
Both concerts and live shows are performed under the starry sky of the Planetarium.
A 15-cm reflector telescope, the Cassegrain system, is mounted under the Planetarium's 3-meter observatory dome. With it, under clear skies, visitors can observe the Sun and active regions of the solar photosphere during the day; the Moon, planets, binary stars, star clusters, and nebulae at night.
NAO Rozhen is the only observatory in the world with a building with religious functions. This is the Holy Trinity Chapel, built in 1935.
The Holy Trinity Church was supposed to be demolished so that a large ramp could be built for delegations to take a souvenir photo in front of the observatory. Fortunately, no one decided to tear it down. And so to this day you can walk into it and light a candle for health.
And in order to function properly, the telescopes of NAO Rozhen need constant technical care, and for this the astronomers call on anyone who wishes to become a donor, and donations are used only for the Observatory. These are resources needed to operate the telescopes and to purchase upcoming supplies for scientific equipment. | BGNES
