OBSERVATOIRE DE NEUCHÂTEL
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The observatory dates back to 1858 and was created by the Department of Public Economy of the canton of Neuchâtel. As with many other astronomical observatories of the period, its role was to calculate time very precisely and to improve measurement techniques, a vital task in support of navigation and shipping, the needs of which increased sharply from the second half of the 19th century onwards. But the observatory was much more than just that: under its dome was a first-class telescope that is still in use today: the 300 mm diameter Zeiss telescope of highly atypical design. In addition to a main tube 4,500 mm long, it is equipped with two photographic instruments, each 360 mm in diameter, giving it an impressive appearance. Informed visitors will no doubt wonder what purpose these two astrographs of identical characteristics, mounted in parallel, served... In fact, they were used to study the ultraviolet radiation coming from the stars, a study penalized in practice by the natural absorption of our atmosphere in this particular field of light, and of which we had no real idea at the time! With the skies degraded by light pollution, observations during public evenings were mainly focused on sufficiently luminous celestial objects, such as the Moon and planets.
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