The Calar Alto Observatory is the largest astronomical observatory on the European continent. It is located in Calar Alto, a 2168 m high plateau in the Sierra de Filabres (Almería, Spain). Since 2019, its official name is the Hispanic Astronomical Center in Andalusia (CAHA). Until 2018, it was the Centro Astronómico Hispano-Alemán or Deutsch-Spanisches Astronomisches Zentrum. It was founded in 1973 after an agreement between the German and Spanish governments. Until 2005, the observatory belonged exclusively to the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie and only 10% of the observation time was available to Spanish astronomers. However, in 2005 an agreement was signed whereby the observatory was jointly operated by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía - CSIC in Granada and the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie in Heidelberg in a proportion of 50% each. Since 2019, with the departure of the German partner and the entry of the Junta de Andalucía into the Agrupación de Interés Económico CAHA, AIE, the observatory has become 100% Spanish (50% CSIC, 50% Junta de Andalucía).
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