Observator
As an observator (from Latin observator "observer") that experienced astronomer was previously referred to in the observatories , who made the most important observations and classified and supervised the observing activities of the subordinate colleagues (if any).
The official title is also occasionally used in meteorology and at the DGFI in Munich and Potsdam.
Service position
While the observator at smaller observatories often also acted as the night on duty and as a supervisor for adjuncts and measurement assistants, this was less common at larger institutes. Some had several permanent observers, who were then assigned a main observer . In the work on the telescope , the observer was assisted by an assistant, the Amanuensis .
In terms of service law, the observator had a position just below the observatory director or professor of the institute. Occasionally he was also the deputy director (such as Johann Palisa in Vienna or Richard Prager in Berlin) or was promoted to extraordinary professor after his habilitation .
At the Munich Dept. I of the DGFI , “Observator” was still in use as an official title until around 1990. Although the geodesists only pursue astrometric observations in special projects, the name is likely to go back to the long-term vertical deviation measurements for the German astrogeoid , which were carried out by the DGFI and the IfAG Frankfurt between around 1960 and 1985 in most of the FRG.
Two passionate observers
Towards the end of the 19th century, when many observatories decided to purchase giant telescopes and new instruments for astrophysics , it was a particularly interesting era for dedicated observers. Some of them became better known through their research than their institute director, but even then the rise to a top astronomical position was not a matter of course. Two examples are:
Johann Palisa (Vienna)
1875 at the new Vienna University Observatory of the Great 27- inch - Refractor commissioned. With a lens diameter of 70 cm, it was the most powerful telescope in the world at the time. The new dome for the 11 meter long instrument was 14 meters in diameter. The pillar , which ran through 4 floors and was founded in the rock of the observatory hill, measured almost 10 meters at its base. In addition, a new drive technology was used. At that time, Johann Palisa (1848–1925), the young director of the Austrian naval observatory Pola (now Pula) near Trieste, was appointed observer .
Palisa decided to move to Vienna and to be relegated under civil service law, although as an observer he initially only received the salary of an adjunct (comparable to today's night shift assistant). He had already discovered 28 asteroids (minor planets) in Pola since 1874 on a six-inch model and had long been recognized in specialist circles, but in addition to the larger telescope he wanted to further develop some ideas on how the many new discoveries of these years could be permanently secured through better orbit determination .
In Vienna, 1880–1925, Palisa found a further 94 minor planets through systematic surveys of the sky, which made him with a total of 123 asteroids one of the most successful visual discoverers of bodies in the solar system to date . But he soon developed a competitor in Max Wolf , who began to replace the eye with photographic measuring methods in Heidelberg . After several setbacks, Wolf exceeded Palisa's success rate while he was still alive - but this did not prevent him from publishing the Palisa Wolf Star Atlas , which was soon to be used worldwide, with his younger competitor . With 210 large-scale leaves it covered the entire starry sky visible in Europe.
The professional recognition was granted to Palisa early, the financial recognition, however, rather late - in 1908 when he was appointed Vice Director of the Vienna Institute. His modesty was probably one of the reasons for this. This characteristic is shown, among other things, in reports about his enthusiasm and social streak. In order to operate the 14-meter observatory dome and the telescope, which weighs many tons, the observator was usually assigned two assistants . He is said to have sent her home almost always at midnight and often went on working alone until dawn .
Edward S. Holden (Lick Observatory)
In 1888, 12 years after the Vienna “Great Refractor”, an even larger telescope with a 91 cm aperture , the so-called Lick refractor, was put into operation at the Lick Observatory in the USA . The observatory building was the first to be erected on a mountain - climatically, Mount Hamilton (1,327 m) stood out among all the easily accessible peaks in California with an average of 330 star- clear nights and little air turbulence .
The main observer and soon-to-be observatory director Edward S. Holden had previously acquired his experience with giant telescopes at the Great Refractor in Washington . Nevertheless he wrote in 1888:
“ I am gradually becoming familiar with the handling of the large telescope and learning how to best observe with it. It requires special treatment, but when all external circumstances are favorable, it does an excellent job ... not inexperienced in observation with large instruments, since I worked for many years at the large refractor in Washington; but I have to admit that I was not yet familiar with the handling of the largest of all instruments - under the best of external circumstances. "
“ I've seen the brightest planets, nebulae, the Milky Way… as beautifully as no astronomer before me. Jupiter's moons , which appear as disks in other telescopes, appear here as full round masses like the planets… The famous nebula in Hercules (note: Messier 13 , in which Messier did not recognize any single stars) appears as a mass of isolated, independent points. “Holden goes on to say that he was particularly drawn to finding familiar objects when he compared them to drawings by Lord Rosse in his 6-foot giant reflector and enjoyed the sharp images of the lick refractor.
The fact that the latter was superior to a metal mirror twice the size contributed to the decision in 1891 to build an even larger telescope with the Yerkes refractor . Its 102 cm objective size, however, marked the end of this development path, since the glass and telescope bending already exceeded the permissible level. All large telescopes were henceforth as reflecting telescopes constructed and soon not visually, but for astrophotography designed the profession of so Observators had adapted to the new observation techniques.
See also
supporting documents
- ↑ cit. from cosmos astronomy history