The Specola Solare opened in 1957, on the occasion of the International Geophysical Year, as a station south of the Alps for the Federal Observatory of the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. Since the middle of the last century, this Observatory has specialised in solar observation and in particular in the determination of the international index of solar activity, initially called the \u201crelative Wolf number\u201d and today the Sunspot Number (SSN). The Specola stands on the same land as the Ticino Meteorological Observatory, from which it is nevertheless scientifically and administratively independent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1981, the new management of the Federal Observatory completely changed the scientific work programme and gave up the determination of the Wolf number, which was entrusted to the newly established \u201cSunspot Index Data Center\u201d at the Free University of Brussels, now the Sunspot Index and Long-term Solar Observations (SILSO). It was decided to close the Locarno Observatory and early retire the two scientific assistants working there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A group of members of the Ticino Astronomical Society then took the initiative to ensure the continuation of the Specola\u2019s scientific and educational activities into the future, seeking the necessary funding from the Canton, the municipalities of the Locarno area, and public and private bodies. To this end, a specific association was set up: the Specola Solare Ticinese Association (ASST) (v. statutes<\/a>), separated from the Astronomical Society. The ASST has managed to secure funding up to the present day, so as to guarantee the employment of a full-time scientific officer and the part-time collaboration of other suitably trained individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The scientific programme includes, as a priority task, the determination of the Wolf number, which is regularly sent to SILSO in Brussels, of which the Specola has become the worldwide pilot station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For about fifteen years (1981-1995) the applied physics group of the University of Bern collaborated with the Specola, carrying out optical observations of transient solar phenomena (chromospheric flares, prominences and so on) in the heliophysical laboratory, observations that resulted in master's and doctoral theses in physics for about ten Swiss university students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A good portion of the staff's time at the Specola is taken up by outreach activities involving lectures, contributions to newspapers, radio and television, telephone consultations, and visits by school classes and cultural groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Visits to the Specola are possible for groups (maximum of around fifteen people), by appointment, on days with good weather, for observing the Sun (photospheric sunspots in the dome, spectrum in the heliophysical laboratory).<\/p>\n\n\n\n