Specola Solare Ticinese
| Organization | Private association | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Location | Locarno-Monti, Ticino, Switzerland | ||
| Coordinates | 46°10′20″N 8°47′17″E / 46.172333°N 8.787928°E | ||
| Altitude | 367 m (1,204 ft) | ||
| Established | 1957 | ||
| Website | www | ||
| Telescopes | |||
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Location of Specola Solare Ticinese | |||
The Specola Solare Ticinese is the oldest solar observatory in Locarno.
The observatory was founded in 1957 during the International Geophysical Year and is located in Locarno-Monti at the site of the regional center of MeteoSwiss. It measures the sunspot relative number and was part of the Federal Observatory at ETH Zurich until 1980. Since then it has been operated by a private association and provides data to the Royal Observatory of Belgium, which is now responsible for the distribution of the sunspot relative number. It is largely financed by the Canton of Ticino through the lottery fund.
As of May 2025, the Specola Solare Ticinese temporarily suspended its scientific outreach activities due to major building renovations. The renovation work is scheduled for completion summer 2026, at which point all activities are expected to resume.[1]
Literature
- Sergio Cortesi et al.: Sunspot observations and counting at Specola Solare Ticinese in Locarno since 1957. In: Solar Physics, 2016, arXiv:1602.07998, doi:10.1007/s11207-016-0872-7.