When Austria-Hungary broke apart the border moved, and Ógyalla became Stará Ďala in Czechoslovakia — a mostly Hungarian-speaking village in a new state. Much of the observatory's equipment was taken away to Budapest, and for a while it looked as though the science would go with it. It did not: from 1919 the site was run as a state astrophysical observatory under Prague, and Czech astronomers came to work here. The buildings, the park and above all the unbroken run of weather measurements survived the change of country.Po rozpade Rakúsko-Uhorska sa posunula hranica a z Ógyally sa stala Stará Ďala v Československu — prevažne maďarsky hovoriaca dedina v novom štáte. Väčšinu prístrojov z hvezdárne odviezli do Budapešti a chvíľu to vyzeralo, že s nimi odíde aj veda. Neodišla: od roku 1919 tu fungovalo štátne astrofyzikálne observatórium pod Prahou a pracovať sem prišli českí astronómovia. Budovy, park a predovšetkým neprerušený rad meteorologických meraní zmenu štátu prežili.
