THE "VIRGINIO CESARINI" OBSERVATORY
157 Frasso Sabino

Hosted in the Old Mill building in Frasso Sabino, our Observatory was inaugurated on November 25th 1995.

Here on the right you can see the main entrance.

It's been named after Virginio Cesarini,
illustrious man of letters who lived in Sabina in XVI century,
member of the renowned family of which he carried the name,
friend of Federico Cesi and keen on astronomy himself.
Here on the left you can see him in a portrait by Van Dyck exposed at the Hermitage Museum of St.Petersbourg.

The wall facing the street hosts a sundial designed by our member Bruno Pulcinelli

The Observatory, for its intense scientific activity (verification and discovery of asteroids, comets, etc…), obtained on September 22nd 1998 from the Minor Planet Center, Cambridge (Massachussets - USA), the international astronomic certification code 157 Frasso Sabino, proving the reliability of our team's observations

157 FRASSO SABINO OBSERVATORY'S COORDINATES
LATITUDE 42° 13' 46,04" NORTH 42,22945555 NORTH
LONGITUDE 12° 48' 41,42 EAST 12,81150555 EAST
ALTITUDE a.s.l. 465 meters (to the telescope's axis)

Our instrumentation includes:

      • Main telescope (Cassegrain reflector - mirror 370 mm f/12)
      • Refractor telescope (102 mm f/10)
      • Reflector telescope (Schmidt-Cassegrain 200 mm f/10)

Inside the building you can find the Museum "La Citta' delle Stelle" (the City of the Stars) and the Planetarium.

Working since June 1998, the didactic Planetarium has a projection sphere of 40 cm (diameter) with about 700 stars, Sun, Moon, planets, the ancient constellations and the precession effect.

The reflecting dome, suspended from the ancient wooden truss-beam roof, has a diameter of about 5 meters.

There are dawn and sunset effects, the meridian circle, the celestial equator and the ecliptic, the precession, and the representation of ancient constellations.

The simulation of the celestial vault makes a complete rotation in 3 minutes and 30 seconds, forward or backward.

The declination axis can be oriented in such a way to show the North Pole sky or the Equatorial one, while the precession movement shows how the polar axis (and consequently the pole star) change position describing a cone in 26.000 years. As a result of that the equatorial and ecliptic line crossing move through the constellation's zodiacal belt and the great greek astronomer Hipparcos from Nicea (II century b.C.) noticed before others this important modification: in the Caldei times Spring started with the Sun in Taurus, during Hipparcos epoch all had slided in Aries and today it is in Pisces; it will be in Acquarius by year 2.700 about.
During planetarium sessions we give information about next space flights, comets and meteors, black holes and light pollution.

It is possible to book for groups or schools visits: visits are usually held on friday afternoon or saturday morning. You can book calling
Fausto cell. 3477953051 - home 067827346 (evening); e-mail fausto_porcellana@yahoo.it or Fabio cell. 3397900809; e-mail f.anzellini@alice.it
The fee, indicated at the moment of reservation, will have to be paied by Postal Account N° 15006026 addressing to "Frasso Sabino - Ufficio Tesoreria". On the form back as reason of payment write "Visita Osservatorio Astronomico".
ATTENTION: The receipt of payment must be consigned at the moment of entering the Observatory to ARA members coordinating the tour.

Free tours for public take place during the monthly opening saturday afternoon (Moon in proximity of first quarter). Visits, including the new Interactive Museum "La Citta' delle Stelle" (The City of the Stars), the Planetarium conference and, meteo allowing, the observation with the main telescope, are carried out by the A.R.A..
Schedules may vary: please, always verify date and time of activities and of monthly public openings calling the A.R.A. in advance.

The exact Observatory address is:

Osservatorio Astronomico e Civico Planetario "Virginio Cesarini"
Via Vaschetta 1
02030 Frasso Sabino (RI)