Part of the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, it is currently used for laser based studies of the orbits of satellites.

The Minor Planet Center (MPC) credits Simeiz Observatory as the location where a total of 150 minor planets were discovered by astronomers Grigory Neujmin, Sergey Belyavsky, Vladimir Albitsky, Grigory Shajn, Nikolaj Ivanov, Pelageya Shajn, Praskov'ja Parchomenko, Alexander Deutsch and Evgenij Skvorcov.

In 1912, the first astrophysical department of Pulkovo Observatory was officially opened at the south of Russia.

The following projects currently run: Minor planets, whose discovery is directly credited to the observatory (rather than a particular astronomer).

[1] In the 1950s the observatory issued several lists[2] of galactic emission nebulas, published by G. A. Shajn and V. F. Gaze (also transliterated Hase) in the Ukrainian "Bulletin of the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory" (Izvestiya Krymskoi Astrofizicheskoi Observatorii) and known collectively as the Simeis catalogue.