Large refractor (Potsdam)

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Big refractor
Refractor building

In Potsdam, the large double telescope erected in 1899 and the surrounding domed building on the Potsdam Telegrafenberg are referred to as the large refractor (lens telescope) .

The first observatory specially built for astrophysics is located in today's Albert Einstein Science Park and belongs to the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam . The telescope and all buildings on the site are under monument protection . A support association takes care of the maintenance of the large refractor.

history

The great refractor around 1900

The instrument was put into operation on August 26, 1899 in the presence of Kaiser Wilhelm II as the main telescope of the Astrophysical Observatory Potsdam. The large refractor tower for the astrophysical observatory was built by building officer Fritz Laske .

A scientific highlight was the discovery of the diffuse interstellar medium by Johannes Franz Hartmann in 1904 . He was able to detect it through stationary spectral lines of calcium on spectroscopic binary stars .

In 1945 the mechanical part of the instrument and the building were damaged by an air raid . The refractor was repaired and modernized between 1950 and 1953 by the Carl Zeiss company in Jena . Observations were then carried out on the refractor until 1968, after which operations were stopped.

The "Förderverein Großer Refraktor Potsdam e. V. ”and many donations, the telescope was first restored in 1999 and then completely between 2003 and 2006 in accordance with the heritage. Fully functional again, it was re-inaugurated in June 2006.

technology

The telescope is designed as a double refractor with two telescopes that are permanently connected to one another, and supported by a common equatorial mount , it is the fourth largest lens telescope in the world. It is protected as a monument to the precision mechanical and optical industry and the beginnings of astrophysical research at the end of the 19th century.

The photographic telescope ( astrograph ) has a lens of 80 cm and a focal length of 12.14 m. The optical telescope has an aperture of 50 cm and a focal length of 12.59 m. It is designed for visual observations, but can also serve as a precise guide telescope for sky recordings with long exposure times .

The rotating dome weighs 200 tons and measures 21 meters in diameter.

useful information

The nocturnal view of the Great Refractor serves as an introductory and closing sequence in the science program Lesch's Kosmos .

literature

  • Hall: The domed building for the large refractor of the astrophysical observatory on the Telegrafenberg near Potsdam . In: Zeitschrift für Bauwesen , Volume 51 (1901), Col. 359–380, Plate 40–42. Digitized
  • The Great Refractor on the Telegrafenberg in Potsdam . In: Lectures on its 100th anniversary.
  • Lore Oetken and Gerhard Scholz: A Hundred Years of Interstellar Matter . In: Stars and Space Issue 11, 2004, p. 40.
  • E.-A. Gußmann: The great refractor of the Astrophysical Observatory Potsdam . In: Jena Yearbook on Technology and Industrial History , Vol. 9, 2006, p. 79.
  • Peter Ruhlig: The restoration of the great Potsdam refractor . In: Jena Yearbook on Technology and Industrial History , Vol. 9, 2006, p. 97.
  • E.-A. Gußmann and Gebhard Kühn: The resurrected Great Refractor . In: Stars and Space , April 2008, p. 52.
  • Christiane Rossner: Potsdams Sternengucker - The Great Refractor on the Telegrafenberg . In: Monuments Online , October 2008.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ List of monuments of the state of Brandenburg / Potsdam, p. 52. As of August 2010; PDF document
  2. ↑ a b Astrophys. Inst. Potsdam - highlight
  3. ^ Felix Genzmer : Fritz Laske †. In: Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung . published by the Ministry of Public Works. Volume 38, No. 46/1918, Verlag Wilhelm Ernst & Sohn, Berlin 1918, p. 225 f. ( online )

Web links

Coordinates: 52 ° 22 '46.7 "  N , 13 ° 3' 51.4"  E