Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur - Site du plateau de Calern

In the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, the Plateau de Calern housed instruments that were forerunners in their field, including laser rang finding (photo) and interferometry. The Schmidt telescope for imaging wide fields of view with limited aberrations was also intensely utilized until the early 2000s. Today, the scientific life of the Plateau continues with projects that make the most of experience gained and the special relationship between astronomy and geophysics, including laser range finding, time transfer, and space geodesy.

Earth sciences and astronomy rely heavily on observations which aim to monitor, understand and model the natural objects and phenomena with which these fields are concerned. Due to the truly essential nature of observation for research in the Earth sciences and astronomy, the Côte d’Azur Observatory is seeking to have its Calern site acknowledged as an “accredited observation site” by the CNRS National Institute of Earth Sciences and Astronomy (INSU).

OCA wishes to stress the importance of observational techniques developed in the past on the Plateau de Calern, particularly interferometry, and to share the observation techniques that are being developed today and which legitimate recognition of the Calern site as an INSU-CNRS-accredited observation site.