Astronomical Association of Carinthia
The Astronomical Association of Carinthia (AVK) is the second largest astronomical association in Austria in terms of membership. The AVK operates two observatories and a planetarium . One observatory is located on the Kreuzbergl in Klagenfurt , the other on the Gerlitze near Villach . The planetarium is located on the outskirts of Klagenfurt.
Club history
The Klagenfurt mathematics professor Helmut Lenhof organized a solar eclipse excursion to Italy in 1961 , which took place on February 15. Lenhof's appeal did not go unheard and several people who were to form the core of the later AVK answered.
In the same year, on June 17th, the "Association of Star Friends" was founded. One of their goals was the establishment of a public observatory.
At the request of the still young association, the city of Klagenfurt made the Kreuzbergl observation tower available for conversion into a public observatory. As a result, it came to light that a group of star friends at the Realgymnasium in Klagenfurt was thinking of building a school observatory. Both groups formed an association.
The "Association for the Establishment of a People's Observatory on Kreuzbergl" was founded on June 28, 1963 to set up and raise funds. After the inauguration of the observatory in September 1965, it was handed over to the Sternfreunde Association and the establishment association dissolved.
The association received a refractor with a 134 mm aperture and 2000 mm focal length as a loan from the University of Graz . This was replaced in 1974 by a Coudè refractor from Wachter.
Only eight years after the completion of the Kreuzbergl observatory could also be observed from the Gerlitzen. In 1997 a 62 cm RC telescope with Lomo optics was installed there. This is computer-controlled and has GoTo . Astrophotography is also carried out from the Gerlitze with CCD and video cameras.
The planetarium
After the construction of the observatory on Kreuzbergl, the association initially wanted to build a planetarium directly on Kreuzbergl. However, the city of Klagenfurt provided its own property close to the city, on which a planetarium could be built with additional sponsorship funds and opened in 1977 under Mayor Leopold Guggenberger. The project cost around 900,000 euros. The planetarium offers around 2,000 performances per year, with up to 40,000 visitors.