José De Queiroz

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José de Queiroz in his "Encarna" restaurant

José Fernando De Queiroz (born August 9, 1954 in Lisbon ) is a Swiss amateur astronomer and innkeeper from Falera in the Swiss canton of Graubünden .

Life

In 1956 the family moved to Braga in northern Portugal, where José attended school. After attending a technical school, he studied chemistry at the Instituto Superior de Engenharia no Porto.

After the Carnation Revolution , José no longer felt comfortable as a conservative thinker in Portugal, so he left the country in the summer of 1974 and traveled to Switzerland.

Hospitality

In Les Diablerets , thanks to his language skills, he found a job in a holiday home as a carer for children of wealthy parents from all over the world, but then switched to the hospitality industry after a year. After several years as a waiter in various hotels in the canton of Vaud and in the Bernese Oberland , he came to Lenzerheide , where he worked in the Hotel Guardaval Sporz. He also attended the hotel management school for Alpine Hotel Management and graduated as a hotel management assistant. In Lenzerheide he met the Engadin lady Ladina Jezek, whom he married in 1985. Soon after, he was naturalized in Zernez , his wife's hometown.

After completing their training, the couple moved to Falera in the Surselva that same year , where José was assistant manager at the hotel “La Siala” for two years. In 1986 their daughter Marcia was born and a year later the couple took over the «Prau la Selva» restaurant in Flims . In December 1989 De Queiroz leased the “Casa Seeli” restaurant in Falera. In 2005 it was sold and the new owner wanted to run the restaurant himself. Shortly thereafter, José De Queiroz leased the “Encarna” restaurant in Falera, where he still works as a landlord today.

astronomy

the Mirasteilas observatory

In Falera, José De Queiroz began to study astronomy. In autumn 1999 he first observed the night sky with a small telescope from his terrace. He continued his education in self-study, the telescopes got bigger.

In 2000 De Queiroz became a member of the Graubünden Astronomical Society, in which he was heavily involved. In 2002, at his instigation, the first telescope meeting was organized in Falera, which was followed year by year. Well-known speakers such as Bruno Stanek and the astronaut Claude Nicollier conveyed their specialist knowledge. The Astronomy Days in Falera are now one of the most popular meetings for amateur astronomers from all over Switzerland and neighboring countries. From September 18 to 21, 2014 the meeting took place for the thirteenth time.

José de Queiroz in front of the Cassegrain telescope

The construction of the Mirasteilas observatory above Falera was also initiated by De Queiroz. It is equipped with a 90-centimeter Cassegrain telescope , the largest reflecting telescope of all private observatories in Switzerland. This makes Mirasteilas the largest publicly accessible observatory in Switzerland. It was inaugurated in the summer of 2007.

In recognition of his services to Falera, José De Queiroz was granted citizenship of the municipality on June 9, 2009.

In 2003, De Queiroz and Rolf Stauber from the Graubünden Astronomical Society realized the Planet Trail on the way from Falera to Larnags / Murschetg. The 13,000 francs for the construction costs were sponsored by his restaurant's suppliers.

Minor planets

De Queiroz discovered the first minor planets on March 18, 2009; he photographed the last one with the provisional designation 2010 GP75 on the night of April 13-14, 2010.

The discoveries are reported to the Minor Planet Center of the International Astronomical Union, where data on all minor planets, asteroids and comets is collected and verified. José De Queiroz has discovered 62 asteroids so far; three of them have been given a name: In autumn 2009 he discovered three unknown asteroids with the large telescope, which were given the names Falera , Chur and Marcia ; the last is named after De Queiroz 'daughter. Another asteroid, discovered by his Ticino friend Stefano Sposetti from the Ticino Gnosca observatory , was given the name Dequeiroz by him .

Further observations

De Queiroz has been working on star occultations since autumn 2012 . Together with other amateur astronomers, including Stefano Sposetti from Ticino and Gerhard Dangl from Austria, he records the data of the transits, with which the diameter, shape and orbit of the minor planets can be recorded.

On March 15, 2015, de Queiroz managed to capture the crash of a meteor with his all-sky camera at 7.44 p.m., which had crashed with a loud bang in the area of ​​the Oberalp Pass , coming from southern Germany .

literature

  • Weisse Arena AG (Ed.): The mountain calls. We also. Echoes from the peripheral area . Edition Hochparterre , 2012.
  • Ignaz Cathomen in: Graubünden Exclusiv , No. 40, Winter 2009, pp. 48–55.
  • José De Queiroz in "natural people built" Experience and love Graubünden, a picture story in contrasts. Edition Terra Grischuna by Myiam Engler, 2013.

Web links

Commons : José De Queiroz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Astronomy Days "mirasteilas" on sterne-und-weltraum.de
  2. ↑ Graubünden Astronomical Society astronomie-gr.ch
  3. ↑ Ignaz Cathomen in: Graubünden Exclusiv, No. 40, winter 2009
  4. ↑ The Falera Asteroid Hunter Article on nzz.ch (NZZ) from June 15, 2010
  5. ↑ Chur had a great moment Article on suedostschweiz.ch (Southeast Switzerland) from October 27, 2011.
  6. ↑ Mirasteilas observatory discovers asteroids Article on suedostschweiz.ch (Southeast Switzerland) from February 14, 2011.
  7. ↑ Karin Huber: Magical star shine in the sky of Falera ; «Exclusiv» magazine 60 / Winter 2019/20, p. 12
personal data
SURNAME Queiroz, José De
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Queiroz, José Fernando De (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss amateur astronomer and innkeeper
DATE OF BIRTH August 9, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Lisbon