Merate Astronomical Observatory, Astronomical observatory in Merate, Italy.

Merate Astronomical Observatory is an astronomical facility in Lombardy that houses a large Zeiss telescope with a 1-meter lens opening positioned in a special mounting. The site occupies a hilltop location that provides the elevation and setting needed for observing the night sky.

The facility was established in the 1920s and was meant to be part of a larger network of observation stations in the region. It resulted from efforts to advance astronomical research in Italy.

The observatory is named after Merate, the town in the province of Lecco where it stands as the operational branch of Milan's Brera Observatory. Since November 2003 the 1-metre Zeiss telescope has been used every night of good seeing for speckle interferometry of close visual double stars, an international programme. In the 1990s it served evening teaching sessions for school groups observing through the eyepiece.

The telescope sits in the Merate branch of the Brera Observatory, in the province of Lecco. The instrument is used every clear night with good seeing for speckle interferometry of close visual double stars, so viewing time is tied to sky conditions rather than to a fixed tour. The focal instruments are mounted only at the Cassegrain focus.

The 1-metre Zeiss arrived at Merate on 21 July 1926 in 38 wooden crates, and assembly began on 26 July under Zeiss chief technician Paul Rudolph. To protect trade secrets, Zeiss barred any Italian with mechanical knowledge from the dome; director Emilio Bianchi slipped in a trusted Brera carpenter whose daily reports preserved the technical details. First light came on the evening of 20 September 1926.