Astronomy in Estonia

Astronomy in Estonia has been a passion since time immemorial. There are more than twenty five astronomers, who are devoted to this field of Astronomy in Estonia and are working day-in and day-out in order to solve the mystery of the stars and the heavenly objects. Under the governance of Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve, at the old University Observatory, astronomy in Estonia gained huge recognition worldwide. It is since then that the University of Tartu played a major role in the development of the sector of Astronomy in Estonia and have taken the section to the summit.

The first major breakthrough came after Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve measured the distance of the blue planet that is earth to Vega, the bright star. Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve also claimed that the light from Vega takes a span of twenty six years in order to reach the earth. In the beginning of the 20th century, the astronomers were well acquainted about fifteen thousand nebulae.

Ernst Julius Opik is one of the most celebrated names in the astronomy of Estonia and is also referred to as the Grand Old Man of the modern Estonian astronomy. He even invented a new method for the calculation of the distance to nebulae.

There are three major institutes dealing with the Astronomy in Estonia, namely,

Estonian Astronomical Society

• Tartu Observatory
• Tartu Old Observatory