Azerbaijan's world-class observatory, founded in 1966, currently has six large telescopes beneath archetypal silver domes, most now automated. By paying a guide – typically a PhD student studying here – visitors are allowed to look inside a circular, one-room museum which displays an older telescope, six meteorites and a former control console that feels like a vintage 1970s James Bond prop. At night, also guide-led, you can see Jupiter (10pm) or Saturn (2am) on a clear night through the 70cm telescope.
The site is high on moorland hilltops at Pirqulu, some 20km north of central Şamaxı. A minibus leaves Şamaxı (AZN1) at 7.30am, 9am, 11am, 1pm and 5pm returning around an hour later.