Andriy Butenko, Ukraine’s Minister of Education and Science, together with Marcin Kulasek, Poland’s Minister of Science and Higher Education, opened a new International Center for the Shared Use of Scientific Equipment on Mount Pip Ivan and signed a declaration of cooperation.
“We agreed to develop the Carpathians as a shared European space for science and education: joint research, student and researcher exchanges, and support for young researchers. A telescope has been installed here under a dome, specifically designed for challenging high-altitude weather conditions. Next, a robotic system will be added to the telescope—and it will be possible to control it remotely. This is one of four high-altitude observatories of this caliber,” Budenko wrote on Facebook.
According to him, the observatory was restored by the Vasyl Stefanyk Carpathian National University in collaboration with Polish partners.
“They will work here together, but the equipment is also open to others: any research team will be able to submit an application,” the minister said.
He noted that astronomy is not the only field of study here, as the Chornogora range features high-altitude flora and distinct ecosystems where the climate and nature can be studied. There are meteorological laboratories on site.
The minister recalled that the observatory was built back in 1938 as a research station for the University of Warsaw. Later, the Soviet authorities destroyed it, and for decades, ruins stood on the mountaintop. Ukrainians and Poles restored it together. The project began back in 2012.
