Central Astronomical Observatory of the Academy of Sciences of the

Central Astronomical Observatory of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic 

a scientific and research institution located 12 km south of the center of Kiev, in the Goloseev Forest. The observatory was founded in 1944. During its first few years, it worked on determining the positions of celestial bodies using a large vertical circle and a 40-cm double as-trograph, both installed in 1949. Later the fundamental astrometry section, the physics of the sun section, the photographic astrometry section, and the section on the physics of the planets and stars were organized. Comprehensive study of the moon, including its shape, relief, and libration, was especially developed. Based on the results of latitudinal observations carried out at Soviet and foreign observatories, a study is being made of the nutation and motion of the earth’s poles. Other subjects of research include the chemical composition and physical properties of planetary atmospheres, the structure of the galaxy, physical conditions in active formations on the sun, the effects of solar activity on processes in comets and interplanetary space, and nonstation-ary processes in the atmospheres and interiors of stars. The basic astrophysical instruments used are 70-cm and 48-cm reflectors; the horizontal solar telescope ATsU-5; and the photospheric-chromospheric telescope. From 1947 to 1963 the observatory published Izvestiia; it has published the collections Astrometriia i astrofizika since 1963.

E. P. FEDOROV