Saint-Véran, higher observatory in France, has the head in the stars

Far from the main axes and light pollution, perched in the Queyras natural parkthe observatory overlooking Saint-Véran offers a breathtaking view of stars. The clouds that the summits next to catch up before they arrive to the site, also do not disturb Colette Gravier, 12 years old and his father Thibault Gravier, 41, who came from Marseille for the night of the Perseids.

“A poetic moment” In the Hautes-Alpes

This rain of shooting stars returns every year in August. An event is observed in the best conditions. Huddled in a astronomical dome Perched on the isolated mountain, the teenager looks amazed stars, galaxies et planets through a telescope pointed at one of the the purest skies in Europe.

The Pic de Château-Renard observatory, the highest in France, peaks at 2,930 m above sea level. It welcomes so much Astronomy lovers what hikers.

Located on the peak above from the Hautes-Alpes village of 165 souls “Where the rooster pecks the stars” According to a consecrated formula, this intimate refuge and its twhite downto kings offer a “Parenthesis in time”philosopher The father of the teenager Thibault Gravier.

And “Poetic moment” deserved: Thibault and Colette have been trying for three years to obtain the rare entry tickets and first had to climb 900 m elevation to see “Much closer” the ciel And its many objects. For the girl, the game is worth the candle, since the show is “Magnificent”.

It also benefits from a atmospheric turbulence particular, while remaining accessible: these rare and ideal conditions for observing the sky have pushed to the construction of theobservatory In 1974.

Finally abandoned by French research, the site passes in the hands of an association of amateurs for 25 years, then was renovated in 2015 to open its doors to the general public.

Keep the Saint-Véran observatory: a demanding life at altitude

The observatory has seen its attendance double in two years: 2,200 visitors are expected in 2025against 1,600 in 2024 and 1,100 in 2023. In summer, it displays complete.

With a limited capacity of 16 people out of nighttickets, € 120 per personflow in a few minutes.

But there is no question of transforming this privileged site into “factory”underlines Sébastien Brouillard, Observatory manager Since 2021. We are already “At the limits of the exercise”he judges.

At 46, he assures the only year the Site suppliesaccessible by stony track, but also the management of visits and the reception of around twenty animators who support him in turn.

And what passionate about astronomy can swallow the almost daily drop kilometer in 4×4 in summer, the climb is done in ski touring winter.

This isolated framework is precisely what some visitors come to seek, such as Muriel Fabre and René Dubois, more mountain fans than astronomywithout imagining “See stars like that, planets”.

A site to make astronomy accessible

In the middle of the night, they discover wrapped up, with the eye of a powerful telescope, nebulae, galaxies, lunar craters et stars With the passionate explanations of the animators.

Admire these objects from the sky “that we are not used to seeing” with professional equipment, “It’s impressive”blows their son Tanguy, 17 years old.

If the mountain was immersed in the clouds, the animators, mainly students in summer, watched over the thinning. “We want to make astronomy accessible” And transmitting the “passion”, underlines Kristen Ray, a 21-year-old student in physics-chemistry.

At the first light of dawn, he points to the telescope to the planets discovering the clearly cut ring of Saturnthe brilliant Venus and the orange strives of Jupiter.

Then this astronomy bitten takes the group to observe the Do you live Soleilbefore animating a last observation of the star, at the peak of its activity this year.

He is already languishing next summer, where he will be in Spain this time to admire the total solar eclipse, scheduled for August 12, 2026.