National and University Observatories From Armagh in 1789 to Oukaimeden

Founded in 1789 by Richard Robinson, Lord Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh, this is the earliest start on the path. It has kept an unbroken weather record, recognized by the World Meteorological Organisation in 2018, that spans 224 years, and its adjoining planetarium opened in 1968 under first director Patrick Moore.

Emperor Pedro I founded Brazil's national observatory in Rio de Janeiro on 15 October 1827, which makes it one of the oldest scientific institutions in the country. It still maintains Brazil's official civil time, and since 1980 it has run a 1.6-meter telescope at its Pico dos Dias site in Minas Gerais.

Moscow State University's astronomical institute was established in 1931 on the site of an earlier university observatory founded in 1831, and it carries the name of astronomer Pavel Karlovich Shternberg. The main-belt asteroid 14789 GAISh, discovered in 1969 by Lyudmila Chernykh, was named in its honor.

Completed in 1861, the University of Copenhagen's observatory replaced an older one at the Rundetaarn tower that city light had begun to spoil. Director Heinrich Louis d'Arrest published a catalog of nearly 2,000 nebulae here, and active observation ended in the 1950s when the university moved its work to Brorfelde Observatory.

Ground was broken in November 1883 as part of Pedro Benoit's plan for the newly founded city of La Plata, Argentina. Its first director, Francisco Beuf, had earlier led the Naval Observatory of Toulon, and the observatory grew out of the 1872 National Meteorological Bureau set up at the invitation of Benjamin Apthorp Gould.

Western Australia's state observatory was built from 1896 and opened in 1900 to supply accurate time and weather data. It moved to Bickley in 1965 to escape the growing city's light, discovered 29 minor planets between 1970 and 1999, and its research programs ended in 2013.

Established in 1908 in Punjagutta, Hyderabad, and named for Mahbub Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VI, the sixth Nizam, it later became Osmania University's observatory. It joined the international Carte du Ciel star-mapping project, and with its Japal-Rangapur field station it catalogued nearly 300,000 stars.

Academician Evgeni Kharadze founded Georgia's national astrophysical observatory in 1932 on Mount Kanobili, at an altitude of 1650 meters. Its seven telescopes, from 33 to 125 centimeters across, were installed between 1932 and 1978, and its research covers galaxies, variable stars, solar physics and the upper atmosphere.

Established in 1945 near the village of Nauchnyi, this observatory is credited with roughly 1,286 numbered minor planets found between 1966 and 2007, many by Lyudmila Chernykh, Nikolai Chernykh and Tamara Smirnova. Its instruments include the 2.6-meter Shain telescope, and it has published its own bulletin since 1947.

Founded on 20 April 1954 as the Uttar Pradesh State Observatory and reconstituted in 2004 as an autonomous institute under India's Department of Science and Technology, it observes from Manora Peak near Nainital. Its 3.6-meter Devasthal Optical Telescope was inaugurated remotely by the prime ministers of India and Belgium in March 2016.

Observations began in 1968 at Kavalur in the Javadi Hills of Tamil Nadu, and the site was renamed in 1986 for astronomer Vainu Bappu. Its 2.3-meter telescope was designed and built within India, and astronomers there detected an atmosphere around Ganymede in 1972 and helped confirm the rings of Uranus in 1977.

Run by Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakesh, this High Atlas site stands at 2,750 meters and sees about 250 clear nights a year. It hosts the Morocco Oukaimeden Sky Survey for small Solar System bodies and the TRAPPIST-North telescope, operated remotely from Liege, whose twin in Chile helped discover the TRAPPIST-1 system in 2016.