Bonus trip · Family Walk
Observatory
Szeged Observatory · Kertész utca · since 1992
It was built from donations because of a telescope from Odessa. On Friday evenings anyone can look through one of the best demonstration telescopes in the country.
Why go: it's open to the public on Friday evenings. After a talk, if the sky is clear, you can look at planets and stars through a telescope; on cloudy nights there's a virtual sky.
In 1985 the university's partner in Odessa donated a 40 cm telescope, but there was nowhere to put it, so it stood in Baja for years. In 1990 a foundation was set up on Károly Szatmáry's initiative, and in 1991 building began from donations, for 2.5 million forints.
It opened to the public on 6 July 1992, and the Friday-evening tradition has continued ever since.
In January 2022 a storm tore off the top of the dome. That same year the Baja observatory gave a 50 cm telescope, which became the main instrument. The old Odessa telescope was made portable and nicknamed Gombóc Artúr, after a Hungarian cartoon character.
A radio antenna on the roof listens for meteors. In August, during the Perseids, there's a Night of Shooting Stars; in 2023 more than 700 people came.
It stands next to the Botanical Garden, opposite a football pitch. University students and volunteer amateur astronomers run the evenings.
Open in the app →Animated scene, old photos, stamps and the full map. Free, nothing to install.Facts and labels
- TrueOpen to the public since 6 July 1992, with Friday-evening viewings.
- TrueThe old 40 cm Odessa telescope's nickname: Gombóc Artúr.
- TrueSince 2022 a 50 cm telescope from Baja is the main instrument.