Observatoire cantonal de Neuchâtel

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Observatoire cantonal, old building
Deer Pavilion

The Observatoire cantonal de Neuchâtel (French for cantonal observatory Neuchâtel or cantonal observatory Neuchâtel ) is an astronomical observatory that was founded by the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland in 1858. The building, inaugurated in 1860, was built by Hans Rychner in classically inspired forms, whereby at that time attention was paid to placing the instruments directly on the rock, without any connection to the building.

The first director of the observatory was Adolphe Hirsch , who headed the institute until his death in 1901, and after whom the extension opened in 1912 was named.

Clocks

The original clock system of the Neuchâtel observatory consisted of a precision pendulum clock from Winnerl / Paris (for sidereal time) and for mean time Adolphe Hirsch had a Galvano Magnetic Regulator from Shepherd / London (in addition to electrical devices for transmitting time by electrical means ) install. The Shepherd clock was in operation until around 1900 and sent time impulses to Bern , La Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle every day . Over the years, more precision pendulum clocks from Hipp, Zenith and Leroy were installed and the time was broadcast via the Prangins long-wave transmitter .

In addition to astronomical observations, the observatory in Neuchâtel also works with atomic clocks . Before 1967, the second was determined by the rotation of the earth and thus the observatory calibrated the clocks using observations. Today the telescopes are used by amateur astronomers and the clocks are synchronized by means of atomic clocks.

The Neuchâtel observatory has the IAU code 019.

Web links

Commons : Observatoire cantonal de Neuchâtel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Claire Piguet, Gilles Barbey: Inventory of modern Swiss architecture , 1850–1920 . Neuchâtel. In: Society for Swiss Art History (Ed.): INSA . tape 7 . Orell Füssli, Zurich 2000, ISBN 3-280-02320-3 , p. 247 , col. 1 , doi : 10.5169 / seals-8385 ( e-periodica.ch [accessed on July 21, 2017]).
  2. ^ Jean-Paul Schaer: Hirsch, Adolphe. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . December 18, 2007 , accessed July 21, 2017 .
  3. ↑ BULLETIN SOCIÉTÉ DES SCIENCES NATURELLES DE NEUCHATEL. Tome V.

Coordinates: 47 ° 0 '1.4 "  N , 6 ° 57' 13.9"  E ; CH1903:  563130  /  205597