The observatory, located at Serrat de la Gessera, was built by Sallarès in 1979 to pursue his hobby. Until now, the facility served as a meeting point where the professor himself held dark sky observation sessions for residents and visitors, especially during the summer.
“"From the Town Council, we have taken on the commitment to maintain the facility and make it operational."
The Mayor of Senterada, Antoni Toló, welcomed the donation and announced that the council intends to open the observatory to the public as a tourist attraction. Due to the small size of the dome, which only fits two or three people, the plan is to project the telescope observations onto a large screen outside the building and acquire two additional telescopes for direct observations.
Currently, the Town Council is drafting the adaptation project with technical advice from the Centre d'Observació de l'Univers (COU) in Àger. Execution depends on securing funding, which will be sought from institutions such as the Institut d'Estudis Ilerdencs (IEI), the Departament de Cultura, or Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat (FGC), with the project expected to be drafted by early 2026.
In parallel, the council is working to request the declaration of the municipality as an E1 light pollution zone, the category of maximum protection. This measure seeks to reduce artificial light throughout the municipality to make astronomical observation “more optimal and more effective,” consolidating Senterada as a reference point for night sky lovers in the Pallars.
