We are inaugurating our new section, "LIRA – L’Encadré de la Semaine" (LENS), with this image of the snow-covered dome of the Paris Observatory in Meudon, captured last week by Adrien Girardot, a doctoral student at LIRA.
The year 2026 is of particular importance for the Meudon site. It marks both the 150th anniversary of its founding in 1876, on the initiative of Jules Janssen, as a place dedicated to astrophysics, and the 100th anniversary of its affiliation with the Paris Observatory, which was made official in 1926.
The photograph highlights the famous 20-metre diameter dome, built by Jules Janssen. It houses a 16-metre long double equatorial telescope, commissioned in 1896 : an exceptional instrument, the largest in Europe and the third largest in the world, an emblematic witness to the history and scientific ambition of the Meudon site.
Credit : Adrien Girardot (LIRA)
LENS is LIRA’s weekly selection dedicated to laboratory news.
