Stars and Olives
44.9033 N  13.9625 E ALT 78 M 20 August at 11:07 DARK UNTIL 04:22

The dark begins at the last olive tree.

Minutes from Pula airport there is an olive grove dark enough to see the Milky Way with your own eyes — Bortle 4, and a working observatory in the middle of it. Broken cloud right now, and the sky is properly black from 21:53.

The air is dry enough that nothing will fog — no dew on lenses or mirrors tonight.

Weekly session · next up At risk · forecast is against it

Once a week

Friday 21 August

21:30 — 23:00

A short talk, then the eyepiece

Half an hour on the terrace off the dome, beside the telescope — a brief introduction to astronomy, given by Luka Scotti, son of Walter Scotti, who built the instruments on this ground with Franko Kaić. It is pitched for anyone: no prior knowledge assumed, no age it is aimed at. Then we point the 16-inch Meade LX200 at one thing, whatever shows best that night, and everybody looks.

Best in the eyepiece tonight Jupiter, 60° up to the southeast

Free. Nothing to book and nobody to tell — your host will let you know it is on.

  • Talk on the terrace 30 min
  • One object through the telescope 30 min
  • Dress warm
  • No telescope experience needed

If the sky closes

Cloud decides, not us. The call is posted here and does not change after:

18:00 on the day

Cloud cover above 40% or rain and it moves to the next clear week.

  • Then
  • 28 Aug5% cloud
  • 4 Sep0% cloud
  • 11 Sepscheduled
  • 18 Sepscheduled
  • CLOUD 100%
  • RAIN 63%
  • WIND17 KM/H
  • FORECASTIN RANGE

Sky now · alt-azimuth

NESW VENUS MARS JUPITER ISS 04:12 ZENITH AT CENTRE · RINGS AT 30° AND 60°
ObjectAltAzMag
VenusPlanet. Look east (e), 8 degrees up.
8° 108° -4.5 mag
MarsPlanet. Look southwest (sw), 62 degrees up.
62° 229° +1.3 mag
JupiterPlanet. Look southeast (se), 60 degrees up.
60° 151° -1.8 mag
ISS passSunlit and silent from 04:12. It does not blink; aircraft do.
30° SW → E 5 min

Traffic overhead

8 above the horizon · 1 at Pula
  • VOE2CB Crossing the Adriatic corridor Look west, 47 degrees up — a steady light crossing without blinking off. 8,968 m · climbing 8.3 km
  • EXS6KA Crossing the Adriatic corridor Look southeast, 44 degrees up — a steady light crossing without blinking off. 11,201 m · level 11.5 km
  • OKHHH Leaving Pula (PUY) Look northwest, 5 degrees up — climbing away from the airport. 1,584 m · climbing 17.6 km
  • FUU543N Crossing the Adriatic corridor Look northwest, 33 degrees up — a steady light crossing without blinking off. 12,138 m · level 19 km
  • EZS73NK Crossing the Adriatic corridor Look southeast, 18 degrees up — a steady light crossing without blinking off. 11,529 m · level 36.4 km
  • BAW836 Crossing the Adriatic corridor Look southeast, 15 degrees up — a steady light crossing without blinking off. 11,201 m · level 42.2 km
  • HBVVA Crossing the Adriatic corridor Look southwest, 18 degrees up — a steady light crossing without blinking off. 13,670 m · level 42.6 km
  • PEV540 Crossing the Adriatic corridor Look northwest, 15 degrees up — a steady light crossing without blinking off. 11,209 m · level 43.2 km

Five instruments that need no power

Valtura · 1999–2001

Everything above this line is computed. Everything below it was built in stone and steel, and measures the same sky without a single line of code. All five were made by Walter Scotti and Franko Kaić, and Walter’s son Luka is the one who gives the talks.

The sundials read now 09:59 Your watch says 11:07 — 68 minutes ahead of the sun. Summer time, the distance from the meridian your zone is named after, and the Earth’s own uneven orbit.
The stone circle next speaks 23 September September equinox, 34 days away. On that evening the setting sun passes through the openings, and on no other evening of the year.
  • Armillary sphere — A one-metre model of the sky itself, standing in the courtyard — the same rings the chart above draws flat. catalogue
  • Stonehenge 2000 Stone with openings cut so the setting sun passes through them on the solstices and the equinoxes, and on no other day. catalogue
  • Horizontal sundial 2000 On the lawn, with steel tubing drawing the parallels of the Earth. catalogue
  • Vertical sundial 1999 On the western wall of the observatory — the oldest of the five, and part of the same building as the telescope. catalogue
  • Equatorial sundial 2001 Wrapped around the axis the Earth turns on, so its shadow keeps even hours all year. catalogue

All five are catalogued on celestialscenes.com. They stand on private ground — ask before you wander, and the whole collection is easier to find with someone pointing.