OSSERVATORIO ASTROFISICO DI TORINO

The Turin Astrophysical Observatory was founded ten years ago, in 2012, following the merger of two particularly important, and historical, Turin institutions: the Turin Astronomical Observatory and the Turin Institute of Interplanetary Space Physics. The origin of the observatory dates back to 1759, when King Vittorio Amedeo III of Savoy entrusted Giovanni Battista Beccaria with the task of calculating the local meridian. The astronomical instruments used to take these measurements served as the basis for the future observatory, which at that time was still located in the center of the Piedmontese capital. However, it was not until the beginning of the 20th century, in 1912 to be precise, that the observatory was moved to the hill of Pino Torinese, the current site. Classical astrometry (the measurement of the stars), geodesy (the study of the shape and dimensions of the planet Earth) and planetology (the science that studies the planets) were the main fields of astronomical activity in Turin for a long time, in fact until the last century. Nowadays, the research programs carried out by the observatory touch much more theoretical fields, even astronautical, with the design of instruments, among others, destined to the space field. This is how the observatory has collaborated to various projects very well known by the enlightened amateurs like SOHO or HIPPARCOS, in particular.