Astronomical Observatory in Piwnice

The beginnings of the observatory in Piwnice near Toruń go back to 1947. Then, mainly thanks to the efforts of professor Władysław Dziewulski and professor Wilhelmina Iwanowska who initiated building the first observation pavilion with a revolving dome of a 5 meter diameter.

In the same year, the observatory received a Draper spectrograph – its first astronomical instrumented which was donated by Harvard astronomical centre. The village of Piwnice was carefully chosen for the location of the observatory – a sparsely populated village situated on a height in the distance of 14 km from Toruń and separated from the city by a several-kilometre-wide forest. Such location created optimal conditions to conduct astronomical observations and to develop the Centre. Over the years the observatory gained new elements of equipment such as 90-cm diameter Schmidt-Cassegrain and 60-cm diameter Cassegrain telescopes.

The research currently conducted here concentrates on radio-astronomy. Therefore, two radio telescopes have been constructed: the smaller one of the 15-meter diameter and the bigger one of  32-meter diameter which is the biggest device of that type in Central Europe. Today the Observatory is an important research centre participating  in the international space observation network. It is also a place where students of the Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Applied Informatics of the Nicolaus Copernicus University are educated. This facility also popularises the knowledge of universe and astronomy. The building is available for sightseeing after earlier notification.

The Centre admission fee includes guiding services which makes the offer suitable rather for organised groups.

Distance from Toruń: 14 km

Centrum Astronomii UMK
87-148 Łysomice
Piwnice k/Torunia, tel. 603 750 220
zwiedzanieastro [dot] umk [dot] pl