It is said that your wish will come true when you make a bow to god while the meteor is shooting across the sky. To same extent, it shows the importance of celestial phenomena in human being’s mind. Does this saying stir up curiosity about Chinese astronomy? The Purple Mountain Observatory may give you a satisfactory answer.

Located in the Zhong Mountain (Purple Mountain) Scenic Area in the east suburb of Nanjing City, The Purple Mountain Observatory was built in 1934. It was the only observatory before liberation and one of the most famous observatories in China. Of milestone significance, it symbolizes the threshold of Chinese modern astronomy. After liberation, the astronomy workers made great efforts to restore and collect the precious instruments and equipments. So you can find it a comprehensive agency for astronomy research. In this observatory, the astronomers made great contribution well-known in China and the research made here offered many precious materials to many important projects.

Great achievements have been made in the observatory. Successively, more than 30 new variable stars and numbers of asteroids have been discovered, among which 100 asteroids have been numbered by the International Minor Planet Center. In addition, four comets were also discovered. The Ge Wang Comet was the first comet named with the surname of a Chinese discoverer. Besides this, the observatory contributed a lot in applications studies. It has successively established extensive links with other astronomical institutions at home and abroad.

Besides the research function, you can enjoy the beautiful scenery from Purple Observatory, where you can overlook the whole Nanjing city and view the steep and lofty peaks.