The Observatorio Astronómico de Mallorca (OAM) (Astronomical Observatory of Mallorca) is an observatory

Observatory

An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geology, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed...

 just south of Costitx

Costitx

Costitx is a small municipality on Majorca, one of the Balearic Islands, Spain.The Observatorio Astronómico de Mallorca is situated just south of Costitx....

, Mallorca

Mallorca

Majorca or Mallorca is an island located in the Mediterranean Sea, one of the Balearic Islands.The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Cabrera Archipelago is administratively grouped with Majorca...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

.

The observatory was inaugurated in May 1991 and was the first astronomical center in the Balearic Islands

Balearic Islands

The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...

 autonomous community and province

Provinces of Spain

Spain and its autonomous communities are divided into fifty provinces .In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian , sing. província.*Galician , sing. provincia.*Basque |Galicia]] — are not also the capitals of provinces...

 of Spain.

The observatory is a pioneer among Spanish observatories and uses robotic telescope

Robotic telescope

A robotic telescope is an astronomical telescope and detector system that makes observations without the intervention of a human. In astronomical disciplines, a telescope qualifies as robotic if it makes those observations without being operated by a human, even if a human has to initiate the...

s to discover and track asteroid

Asteroid

Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...

s.

Researchers at the OAM have found asteroids that are potential threats to Earth

Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...

, such as the .
Salvador Sánchez is director of the OAM.
In 2008, asteroid number 128036, discovered at the OAM in 2003, was named after Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal

Rafael "Rafa" Nadal Parera is a Spanish professional tennis player and a former World No. 1. , he is ranked No. 2 by the Association of Tennis Professionals...

.
As of 2008, the OAM tracks more than 2,000 asteroids.

There is a large planetarium

Planetarium

A planetarium is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation...

 attached to the observatory, which often runs performances open to the public. The Open University

Open University

The Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...

is one of a number of academic institutions which runs summer schools at the observatory.http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/course/sxr208.htm