The foundation of "Saint V{\'e}ran-Paul Felenbok" astronomical observatory

TL;DR

This paper commemorates the 50-year history of the Saint V{\'e}ran-Paul Felenbok astronomical observatory, highlighting its scientific goals, development, and revival after a period of inactivity, emphasizing its contributions to solar corona studies.

Contribution

It provides a historical overview of the observatory's establishment, scientific pursuits, technological developments, and revival, offering insights into its role in solar astronomy and amateur engagement.

Findings

Initial success in solar corona observations using electronic cameras.

The observatory was rebuilt and expanded in 2015 with new telescopes.

The station has engaged thousands of amateur astronomers.

Abstract

This paper is dedicated to the memory of Paul Felenbok (1936-2020) who was astronomer at Paris-Meudon observatory, and founded in 1974, fifty years ago, a high altitude station (2930 m), above Saint V{\'e}ran village in the southern Alps (Queyras). It was initially devoted to the study of the solar corona. Following solar eclipses (1970, 1973) observed with the Lallemand electronic camera, the main goal was to detect with this sensitive detector the structures of the far and hot corona in forbidden lines, using either narrow bandpass filters or spectroscopy. But everything had to be done prior to observations: a track, a house for astronomers, a dome and a complex instrument. We summarize here this fantastic adventure, which was partly successful in terms of scientific results and had to stop in 1982; however, the activity of the station resumed after 1989 under the auspices of the ``AstroQueyras'' association, which replaced the coronagraph by a 62 cm night telescope from Haute Provence observatory; the station extended later with two 50 cm telescopes, was rebuilt in 2015 and received the visit of thousands of amateurs.