Meridian Hall

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The Meridian Hall is a section of an observatory in which astronomical instruments are set up that only allow observations in the direction of the meridian. You therefore do not need a rotating dome, but only an opening option from the south point over the zenith to the north point.

Typical instruments here are the passage instrument , the meridian circle and the zenith telescope . These devices are or were in astrometry in connection with astronomical clocks the basic instruments of astronomy .

Franz Xaver von Zach planned and built such a meridian hall for the observatory on the Seeberg near Gotha in 1787 . He departed from the previous use of building observatories on tall buildings, but switched to a massive one-story building. Here he was able to fix the instrument pillars firmly in the rock and keep the observations free from the effects of vibrations. The building got large windows and cracks in the wall were inserted at the instrument stands, which could be closed with wooden shutters. The roof structures were then similar. Before the planned observations, these shops were opened in order to create a temperature equalization for inside and outside. At that time, this construction method was considered a prototype for Europe.