Astronomy and the Beauty
of the Swiss Alps

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Welcome to our Astronomy Center and Observatory

AAV Lue-Stailas is a new center for amateur astrophotography in the eastern Alps of Switzerland. Built on a sunny terrace at 1935 m (6300 ft), it faces south into the beautiful valley of Muestair known for its highly valued protection of the natural habitat and its traditional way of life. Both qualities plus the center's prime geographical location allow us to profit from high-altitude transparency of our sky and about 150 clear nights.

Being one of Switzerland's most impressive rural landscapes, Val Muestair will soon become part of a new high-alpine UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in the European Alps. We are proud to collaborate with this unique Biosfera-Project in order to fulfil an important role in the valley's soft tourism: as an astrophotography center, we make the Reserve's "third dimension" accessible to the public in a practical way by allowing the guests to image the pristine skies with our high-end equipment.


Our telescopes and astrophotography equipment:

In our fully motorized domes, we will provide 10-12.5" main telescopes (either Ritchey-Chretiens or corrected Dall-Kirkhams) mounted on Paramount MEs. For widefield imaging, each system will be equipped with a 4" APO refractor. Large-format CCD astrocameras with filterwheel and sets of 50mm LRGB and Ha/OIII/SII filters will serve as main imaging devices. It is also possible to bring your own DSLR (Canon, Nikon, and Olympus) or dedicated astrocamera for imaging with you (the latter requires arrangement prior to your visit).

For imaging remotely at MROITF in Australia, we provide similar systems.

MROITF

What we offer:
1) Imaging of the northern skies
When opening in 2009, AAV Lue-Stailas will offer an accommodation center with 6 comfortable studios each rented with its own dome, telescope, and photographic equipment.

2) Imaging of the southern skies
Two AAV-owned robotic telescopes placed at the Macedon Ranges Observatory International Telescope Facilities (MROITF) in southern Australia allow our guests to image the southern skies even during daytime and to exchange knowledge and ideas with fellow-imagers "down-under".