The territory of Saint-Véran in the Hautes-Alpes department hosts an astronomical observatory located on the Pic de Château Renard at an altitude of 9,612 ft (2,930 m). Built in 1974 as an extension of the Paris Observatory, it has been managed by the Astroqueyras Association since 1990 and made accessible to amateur astronomers and the public. It is credited with the discovery of about forty asteroids between 2001 and 2005, the first of which - asteroid 48159 discovered on April 16, 2001 - took the name of Saint-Véran.