Entoto Observatory and Research Center

The Entoto Observatory Space Science Research Center (EORC) is an astronomical observatory station located in Mount Entoto, close to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The centre was initiated during the establishment of the Ethiopian Space Science Society (ESSS) and officially began operations in 2012. The Board of Directors appointed Dr. Solomon Belay Tessema as the first Scientific Director in May 2012. The Ethiopian space program was born from EORC, and the strong leadership and commitment of Dr. Solomon Belay Tessema were the reasons for its creation. He has established graduate programs in four areas astronomy and astrophysics, space science, Remote sensing and Geodesy affiliated with AAU with a limited budget and resources. Dr. Solomon is the father of the space program in Ethiopia in particular East African in general. The Entoto Observatory installed twin 1m telescopes in early 2014, and science operations began in early 2015. Final commissioning was completed by early 2015 after the installation of essential supplemental equipment. Currently, it is financed by a consortium of universities, ESSS, and the Ethiopian government. It plans to expand the center in Lalibela and other towns.

Observatory data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).