 thumb|the refracting telescope inside the dome the observatory of strasbourg is an astronomical observatory in strasbourg, france. following the franco-prussian war of 1870&ndash;71, the city of strasbourg became part of the german empire. the university of strasbourg was refounded in 1872 and a new observatory began construction in 1875. the main instrument was a 50&nbsp;cm repsold refractor, which saw first light in 1880 (see great refractor). at the time this was the largest instrument in the german empire. in 1881, the ninth general assembly of the astronomische gesellschaft met in strasbourg to mark the official inauguration.   the observatory site was selected primarily for instruction purposes and political symbolism, rather than the observational qualities. it was a low-lying site that was prone to mists. during the period up until 1914, the staff was too small to work the instruments and so there was little academic research published prior to world war i. the main observations were of comets and variable stars. after 1909, the instruments were also used to observe binary stars and perform photometry of nebulae.  the observatory is currently the home for the centre de donnÃ©es astronomiques de strasbourg, a database for the collection and distribution of astronomical information. this includes simbad, a reference database for astronomical objects, vizier, an astronomical catalogue service and [[a
1875_establishments_in_Germany Astronomical_observatories_in_France Buildings_and_structures_in_Strasbourg Museums_in_Strasbourg Science_museums_in_France University_of_Strasbourg