House of Astronomy

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House of Astronomy on the Königstuhl near Heidelberg.

The Haus der Astronomie (HdA) is a center for public relations and didactics of astronomy on the campus of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg . The HdA building has the shape of a spiral galaxy and was built by the Klaus Tschira Foundation . The HdA is the result of a partnership between private and public institutions; The operator is the Max Planck Society . The aim of the Haus der Astronomie is to bring the fascination of astronomy to the general public and to schools and to promote interdisciplinary, scientific exchange.

organization

The house is the result of a partnership between private and public institutions with the Max Planck Society and the Klaus Tschira Foundation as founders, the University of Heidelberg and the City of Heidelberg as further partners, supported by the Baden-Württemberg ministries for science, research and Art as well as culture, youth and sport.

activities

The aim of the Haus der Astronomie is to bring the fascination of astronomy to the general public and to schools and to promote interdisciplinary, scientific exchange. This is implemented, for example, through events for the general public, workshops for students and advanced training for teachers. In addition, the visualization of astronomical phenomena and the support of the media in reporting on astronomical content is an important focus of work.

The HdA organizes a monthly series of lectures that take place on the second Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. and in which astronomers present their work in a generally understandable manner. The HdA is also the German node of the ESO Science Outreach Network , which supports the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in its public relations work, as well as the EU-UNAWE and EU-SPACE-AWE networks, which bring children and young people closer to the fascination of the cosmos and its exploration .

The house is a partner in the search program of the International Astronomical Search Collaboration and the Pan-STARRS Observatory, in which school classes can search for asteroids in astronomical observation data and also discover new asteroids.

In addition, school internships are offered as part of BoGy lessons (professional orientation for high schools).

Buildings and equipment

The HdA building was built by the Klaus Tschira Foundation and given to the Max Planck Institute as a gift shortly before the opening in December 2011. It has the shape of a spiral galaxy: the center is the Klaus Tschira Auditorium, which can also be used as a planetarium. Around the center there is a foyer, seminar rooms, offices, internship and classrooms.

The HdA has a digital full dome projection system from Carl Zeiss . Five VELVET projectors create five partial images, which are put together in such a way that a complete image of 360 degrees by 180 degrees without visible transitions or image edges is created in the 12 meter diameter dome. The projection achieves an image contrast of 2.5 million to one. Up to 100 spectators can follow the projection in the dome.

The building is also the headquarters of the editorial staff of the popular science magazine Stars and Space .

The building is accessible to the public as part of guided tours (by prior arrangement) and public events, and for school classes and kindergarten groups also as part of workshops.

Web links

Commons : House of Astronomy  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b T. John: "Room for astrologers: The new house of astronomy near Heidelberg" in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung from February 10, 2012.
  2. ^ A. Krödel: "The stars shine like in a 3D cinema" in Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung of March 12, 2012, p. 8. Website for the lectures: Lecture series "Fascination Astronomy"
  3. ↑ ESO website ESO Science Outreach Network , last accessed on September 13, 2012
  4. ↑ UNAWE websites: Germany EU-UNAWE Consortium , last accessed on September 13, 2012
  5. ↑ SPACE-AWE websites: EU Space Awareness Consortium , last accessed on June 7, 2016
  6. ↑ W. Popanda: "Killer Asteroid 'school Neckargemünd?" in Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung 11./12. February 2012, p. 4.
  7. ↑ Information House of Astronomy , accessed on February 18, 2016
  8. ↑ VELVET projectors from Carl Zeiss for Heidelberg, Carl Zeiss AG, press release - PresseBox. In: PresseBox (c) 2002–2019. September 6, 2010, accessed on August 16, 2019 (German).
  9. ↑ a b T. Althaus: "House of Astronomy inaugurated" in Stars and Space 2/2012, p. 15.

Coordinates: 49 ° 23 ′ 46 ″  N , 8 ° 43 ′ 27 ″  E