The Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory (Russian: Пу́лковская
астрономи́ческая обсервато́рия, official name The Central
Astronomical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences at
Pulkovo, Гла́вная (Пу́лковская) астрономи́ческая обсервато́рия
Росси́йской акаде́мии нау́к), the principal astronomical
observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences, located 19 km
south of Saint Petersburg on Pulkovo Heights (75 m above sea
level). It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Historic
Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments.
Early years The observatory was opened in 1839. Originally, it
was a brainchild of the German/Russian astronomer Friedrich
Georg Wilhelm von Struve, who would become its first director
(in 1861, his son Otto Wilhelm von Struve succeeded him). The
architect was Alexander Bryullov. The observatory was equipped
with the state-of-the-art devices, one of them being the a 38-cm
(15 in.) aperture refractor, one of the large refractors in the
world at that time (see Great Refractor