Established May 1991 (1991-05) Phone +34 649 99 77 52 | ||
Location Costitx, Mallorca, Spain Address CamÍ de Son Bernat, 9, 07144 Costitx, Illes Balears, Spain Similar Museu de Ciencies Naturals, Sierra Nevada Observatory, Vidrierias Gordiola SL, Teide Observatory, Starkenburg Observatory | ||
The Astronomical Observatory of Mallorca (Spanish: Observatorio Astronómico de Mallorca, OAM) is an observatory just south of Costitx, Mallorca, Spain.
The observatory was inaugurated in May 1991 and was the first astronomical center in the Balearic Islands autonomous community and province of Spain.
The observatory is a pioneer among Spanish observatories and uses robotic telescopes (four of them located at La Sagra in Andalucia) to discover and track asteroids.
Researchers at the OAM have found asteroids that are potential threats to Earth, such as the 2006 WH1. Salvador Sánchez is director of the OAM. In 2008, asteroid number 128036, discovered at the OAM in 2003, was named after Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal. As of 2008, the OAM tracks more than 2,000 asteroids.
There is a large planetarium attached to the observatory, which often runs performances open to the public. The Open University is one of a number of academic institutions which runs summer schools at the observatory.