Archenhold observatory
The Archenhold Observatory is a late 19th century furnished Public Observatory in Treptow Park in Berlin district of Alt-Treptow , address Alt Treptow 1. It houses the Great Refractor , the longest movable telescope in the world, also Sky Cannon called that works closely with its history is linked. In 1946 the facility was named after Friedrich Simon Archenhold , its first director. It is considered the largest public observatory in Germany and one of the oldest. (The oldest is the Urania , which opened in 1889.)
The geographical coordinates of the Volkssternwarte are 52 ° 29 '9 " N , 13 ° 28' 35" E. north latitude, the height 41 m above sea level .
history
An observatory is built for the Berlin trade exhibition of 1896
The Archenhold observatory emerged from a temporary installation for the Berlin trade exhibition in 1896, which took place on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the elevation of Berlin to the status of imperial capital . At the instigation of Wilhelm Foerster and Max Wilhelm Meyer, the facility was intended to convey scientific and astronomical knowledge to the population. The plans for a large research telescope that Friedrich Simon Archenhold had worked out from 1893 onwards were therefore consulted. The size and the technical design of the instrument were highly controversial. At the trade fair, it should serve to finance the production and installation costs as well as the planned relocation of the instrument after the trade fair through entrance fees. The telescope was erected in Treptower Park on a vibration-free pedestal and surrounded by a horseshoe-shaped wooden building that had exhibition rooms and a lecture hall. The wooden structure had historicizing forms and carried a platform closed off by battlements. The trade exhibition that opened on May 1, 1896 showed the giant telescope , but it was not functional until September of the same year. This lens telescope has an aperture of 68 centimeters and a focal length of 21 meters. The total weight was 130 tons and, thanks to its construction, could be moved freely in any direction and height.
Due to the late completion, there was no income to dismantle the instrument as agreed after the exhibition. At the end of 1896 the city council decided upon application that the ensemble installed for the trade exhibition could remain there. Archenhold did not receive any state or municipal grants for his research in Treptower Park, only donations helped him. a. from the union at the time . So he made a virtue out of necessity and operated the institute as a public observatory . In 1896, with the opening of the observatory, the Treptow-Sternwarte e. V. founded. Under the chairmanship of Archenhold, he took over the management of the observatory and the associated exhibitions and organized lectures. The first exhibition consisted of the topics of the history of astronomy , earth and moon , sun and planets , comets and falling stars , stars and star clusters , instrument science and optics . Observations of standard objects, lunar eclipses, comets or the Nova Cygni from 1903 were carried out. In 1897 around 23,000 visitors came and by 1899 the number of visitors had increased to over 60,000. That number stayed roughly the same until the mid-1930s.
Reconstruction and continued operation
In 1908, the wooden building intended only for the trade fair was replaced by a new building designed by the architects Konrad Reimer and Friedrich Körte . The opening of the new building, in the classicism style and also with a horseshoe-shaped floor plan and a visitor terrace, took place on April 4, 1909. On June 2, 1915, Albert Einstein gave his first public lecture on general relativity in the observatory . In 1931 Friedrich Simon Archenhold resigned as director of the observatory, and his son Günter Archenhold took over the management. Because of his Jewish descent, Günter Archenhold had to resign from office at the end of 1936 under pressure from the National Socialists . Eventually the Archenhold family gave up their life's work, the observatory in Treptow, and emigrated . Some relatives were also sent to concentration camps . The administrative management of the observatory was entrusted to an astronomically ignorant officer and the facility was incorporated into the main school administration in Berlin. Richard Sommer took over the scientific management. During these years the German Working Group for Solar Research (DARGESO) and the Berlin Astronomical Association (BAV) came to the observatory, which eventually merged to form the celestial working group. Towards the end of the Second World War , the observatory was hit by a bomb in the southwest wing, with the giant telescope remaining undamaged.
As early as July 1, 1945 , observations were made again for the solar eclipse . Edgar Mädlow (1921–2012) provisionally managed the observatory with the help of Herbert Pfaffe.
In 1946 the observatory was named after its founder
On August 17, 1946, the observatory was named Archenhold Observatory on the basis of a proposal by Otto Winzer , the City Councilor for Public Education . The war damage to the building was repaired by 1948, with some structural simplifications being made. On June 1, 1948, the Berlin magistrate appointed Diedrich Wattenberg , who had already worked with Archenhold, as director as the owner of the observatory . The number of visitors rose annually by around 8,000 from 1946 and reached 25,000 in 1949. In 1958 the large refractor was shut down due to technical defects, but was preserved as a technical monument. From 1959, the observatory was increasingly used for teaching physics and astronomy, for which two more domes for refractors and telescopes were built on the site in the 1960s . A lecture hall with 48 seats, the solar physics cabinet with the possibility of projecting an image of the sun with a diameter of 80 centimeters and a solar spectrum three meters in length was set up in 1966.
In 1961, one of the sculptor was at the entrance to the observatory Theo Balden beaten granite Archenhold - bust erected. A bronze bust created by Jenny Mucchi-Wiegmann , which was placed in the garden of the complex, commemorates Albert Einstein's appearance .
On November 1, 1976, after 28 years, Diedrich Wattenberg resigned as director and, at his suggestion, Dieter B. Herrmann was appointed the new director of the observatory. On March 12, 1982 the observatory received a small planetarium with 90 instead of 60 seats. The giant telescope, which was taken out of service in 1958, could be reconstructed from 1977 and could be used again from 1983. In the 1980s, the annual number of visitors was around 70,000. In 1987 a Zeiss large planetarium , already suggested by Archenhold, was built. For political reasons, however, it did not go to Treptower Park, but to Ernst-Thälmann-Park in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg. Until 2013, it formed a joint facility with the Archenhold observatory.
The facility in reunified Berlin
After the unification of the two German states and the merging of the Berlin administrations in 1990, the observatory became part of the municipal school administration. Substantial repairs were carried out on the Great Refractor in 1989/1990 1995. The instrument has since been functional again and is available for nightly observations (as of January 2019). The entire observatory and its buildings were completely renovated in 1995/1996. The exhibitions have been redesigned.
From mid-2002 to June 2016 the observatory was assigned to the German Museum of Technology in Berlin . The long-time director Dieter B. Herrmann retired in 2005. The head of the astronomy department of the German Museum of Technology, Klaus Staubermann, took over the management for some time . Felix Lühning has been director of the Archenhold observatory since 2009 .
Since July 1, 2016, the Archenhold Observatory has been part of the Planetarium Berlin Foundation , along with the Zeiss Large Planetarium and the Planetarium am Insulaner with the Wilhelm Foerster Observatory . So she belongs to the area of responsibility of the Senate Administration for Education, Youth and Family .
Furnishing
Big refractor
The large refractor was built in 1896 for the Berlin trade fair. With an object aperture of 68 centimeters, a focal length of 21 meters and a movable mass of 130 tons, it is a technical masterpiece. The lenses were manufactured by CA Steinheil & Sons from Munich. The refractor has been a listed building since 1967.
Zeiss small planetarium
The small planetarium is located in an eight meter dome and offers 38 seats. It was opened in 1959 as the GDR's first Zeiss small planetarium. In 1982 it was replaced by the more modern Zeiss small planetarium of the type ZKP-2. In 1994 the planetarium room was redesigned.
Solar physics cabinet
The solar physics cabinet is located on the open-air site of the observatory. It was designed and completed in 1965 by Diedrich Wattenberg and Edwin Rolf . A Jensch coelostat catches the light of the sun and directs it into the building. There four 60 ° prisms split the sunlight into its spectral colors. By means of the H-alpha-filter can also be protuberances observe and active zones of the sun.
More telescopes
The two observation domes with a diameter of five and three meters, opened in 1962 on the outdoor area north of the main building, are equipped with a Cassegrain telescope from Zeiss (500 mm aperture, 7500 mm focal length) and a Coudé refractor (150 mm aperture, 2250 mm focal length). Two more domes on the roof of the main building house an astrograph (120 mm aperture, 600 mm focal length) and the historic Urania refractor from 1888, which was moved from the Berlin Urania . There is also a comet finder (opening 250 mm, focal length 1620 mm) and a Newton telescope (opening 250 mm, focal length 1970 mm) in a roll-top hut on the main building .
literature
- Diedrich Wattenberg: The Archenhold observatory Berlin-Treptow. Berlin 1956.
- Diedrich Wattenberg: 75 years of the Archenhold observatory. Festgabe. Berlin-Treptow 1971 (Archenhold-Sternwarte Berlin-Treptow. Lectures and Writings, 41).
- Dieter B. Herrmann: 100 years of the Archenhold observatory . 2nd edition, paetec Society for Education and Technology, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-89517-314-2 .
- Dieter B. Herrmann: Stars over Treptow - history of the Archenhold observatory. (published by the Council of the Berlin-Treptow District, Culture Department) Heimatgeschichtliches Kabinett, Berlin 1986.
Web links
- Internet presence of the Archenhold observatory
- Entry in the Berlin State Monument List with further information
- Friends of the Archenhold Observatory and the Zeiss Large Planetarium eV
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Institute for Monument Preservation (Ed.): The architectural and art monuments of the GDR. Capital Berlin-II . Henschelverlag, Berlin 1984, p. 368/369 .
- ↑ 1926, photos of the observatory. Retrieved June 5, 2020 .
- ↑ a b Berlin Chronicle of August 17, 1946 on landesarchiv-berlin; accessed on Nov. 23, 2014.
- ↑ Threeme Distribution: Home. Retrieved April 27, 2018 .