Astronomical Institute of Czech Academy of Sciences
The Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences was founded in 1954. Currently, it has its headquarters in Ondřejov observatory, roughly 35 km south-east from Prague and its director is Vladimír Karas.
The institute is focused on stellar, solar and galactic astronomy, research of meteors and motion of cosmic bodies. It has about 157 permanent employees (status on 31.12.2005) of which roughly 80 percent works in Ondřejov. It is divided into the following departments:
Regions of solar eruptions are studied mainly in this department. For the observations are used optical telescopes and radiotelescopes. The head of the department is František Fárník.
Meteors, comets and asteroids are the main research targets of this department. The meteors are observed by optical telescopes and a meteoric radar. For the photometric observations of asteroids, the department uses 65 cm optical telescope. The head of the department is Pavel Spurný.
This department is focused on research of stars. It focuses mainly on studies of hot stars (class Be), models of stellar atmospheres, dynamics of stellar winds and relativistic astrophysics. For this purpose uses the department the biggest telescope in Czech Republic - reflector with a 2m wide mirror. The head of the department is Jiří Kubát.
This department is located in Prague. It deals mainly with a research of effects of solar system on the Earth. The head of the department is Jan Palouš.
The Astronomical Institute is a direct descendant of an observatory founded at the beginning of 18th century by Jesuits in the Old town of Prague. After the first world war, the observatory has become a state observatory. In meantime, there was another observatory being built by Josef Jan Frič in Ondřejov which he donate to the Czech state in 1928. At the foundation of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences were these two observatories merged into one institution under the name Astronomical institute of Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. Its first director was Dr. B. Šternberg.
Coordinates: 49°54′32.98″N 14°46′54.8″E / 49.9091611°N 14.781889°E
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