The Observatori Astronòmic de Mallorca (OAM) appears to have more scientific fame than visitors. Even though, the relatively young observatory is considered a pioneer amongst Spanish observatories. This year, the institution is busy celebrating its 20th anniversary. The astronomic centre was built thanks to some stubborn insistence of a certain Maria Antònia Munar, whether one actually likes her or not, and opened to grand fanfare in 1991.

Ever since, the Mallorca observatory has been making observations of astronomical, meteorological and other natural phenomena, sometimes to great success, using a total of 11 robotic telescopes to discover and track stars, comets, novas, supernovas and asteroids. OAM is also the seat of the Spanish delegation of Spaceguard.

A state-of-the-art planetarium was opened at the observatory’s premises in 2003, affording a dome of 11 m diameter with a projection area of 200 m², where courses are offered and the opportunity is given to watch the sky and learn about the stars and planets. Beware the opening hours though which may be intermittent, certainly during the winter months. When I went there recently, the observatori and the planetarium were both closed and no opening hours were being displayed. Instead, a note urged callers to concert a visit under telephone 650.386.881. Concert then if you will.

The photos (top and bottom) were taken near Costitx, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: February 19th, 2011. The time was 15:28:48 and 15:24:53, respectively. The image (centre) was borrowed from the Internet, courtesy of OAM‘s website.

Moltes gràcies.