Zimmerwald Observatory
The Zimmerwald Observatory is an observatory and satellite station in the Zimmerwald district of the Swiss municipality of Wald ( Canton of Bern ). It is located on a hill around 10 kilometers south of Bern .
investment
The Zimmerwald Observatory ( IAU code 026 ) is affiliated with the Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern and began operations in 1956. From 1956 to 1958, the first astronomical observations could be made with the mirror telescope - a Schmidt camera with 25 cm aperture and 104 cm focal length . A Cassegrain telescope (60 cm aperture, 13 meter focal length) and another Schmidt camera (40 cm aperture, 104 cm focal length) have been available since 1959 . The majority of the scientific observation work was carried out with the Schmidt camera, which, with an observation angle of six degrees, was particularly suitable for sky surveillance .
Since 1965, on the initiative of Max Schürer, the Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern (AIUB) has been involved in the globally coordinated optical observation of active and passive geodetic satellites. In particular, the satellites GEOS , the Explorer program , PAGEOS and Echo were observed with the Schmidt camera, and Zimmerwald was included in the worldwide network of satellite observation stations. The accuracy of the station coordinates was then about five meters.
In the mid-1970s, the very labor-intensive evaluation of photographic observations was postponed in favor of new observation methods. In 1971/72 the scientific staff gained their first experience with a laser for the astronomical telescope built by the Institute for Applied Physics at the University of Bern (IAP) . The dome for the new satellite station was built from 1974 to 1976 in collaboration with the IAP.
In the fiftieth year of foundation (2005), a new building for the IAP was inaugurated, which primarily houses experiments to research the atmosphere - the AIUB installed a robotic telescope for optical satellite observations on the roof of this building wing.
Tasks and observations
On March 2, 1957, Max Schürer discovered a 14th magnitude supernova in the galaxy NGC 2841 , followed by over 50 additional first observations of novae and supernovae as well as numerous comets and minor planets . Exactly seven months later, Paul Wild observed the comet for the first time in 1957f and in 1978 the short-period comet named after him, Wild 2 . On January 2, 2004, flew NASA -Raumsonde Stardust through the tail of this comet and brought back in 2006 to study particle samples to Earth on January 15.
Until 1979, test measurements on satellites with an accuracy of about 80 cm were carried out with the ruby laser and another laser was installed in 1981–1984 and optics, electronics and software were sustainably improved. Distances to geodetic satellites could now be measured with an accuracy of about eight centimeters. The satellite observation station has been operational since 1984, with participation in international projects, in particular MERIT (1983/1984) for determining the earth's rotation, Wegener Medlas for researching the geotectonics of the Mediterranean, NASA's Crustal Dynamics Project (CDP) for global and regional geodynamics and IERS for Measurement and calculation of the earth's rotation parameters and a reference system for astronomical and geographical position data.
Since the purchase of the first CCD camera in 1989, astrometric observations have been carried out again in Zimmerwald . In 1992, the cooperation with the Federal Office of Topography (Swisstopo) was intensified, and Swisstopo also takes part in the laser observations in Zimmerwald. The Geodesy and Geodynamics Laboratory (GGL) at ETH Zurich has been operating a gravimeter station in Zimmerwald since 1995 . In 1997 the inauguration of ZIMLAT, a one-meter telescope for astrometric and laser observations, followed. Since the International Laser Ranging Service ( ILRS ) was founded in 1998, Zimmerwald has been one of around 200 observation stations worldwide.
In addition to the satellite station of the Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern, the Zimmerwald Satellite Laser Ranging Geostation has also been set up for national surveying since the introduction of the regional height network (LHN95) .
The asteroid (1775) Zimmerwald , discovered on May 13, 1969 by the Swiss astronomer Paul Wild , was named after its observation location and the place where Wild first observed some of the objects he discovered in the asteroid belt .
Center for Orbit Determination in Europe
When the Bernese GPS software became established worldwide, the Center for Orbit Determination in Europe CODE was set up at the Astronomical Institute , which serves as a GNSS analysis center u. a. compares different GPS evaluation programs and makes a significant contribution to the GNSS rail service of the IGS .
Fundamental point of Switzerland
The Zimmerwald geostation has served as the fundamental point of Swiss national surveying for the LHN95 orthometric network since 1995 .
See also
- List of asteroids
- List of radio telescopes and research stations
- Virtual observatory
- Berner GPS software
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Zimmerwald Supernovae
- ↑ Zimmerwald Novae
- ↑ Zimmerwald Comet
- ↑ Zimmerwald minor planets
- ↑ Swissinfo (January 14, 2006): NASA fetches stardust from Bern's comet , accessed on January 8, 2009
- ^ Crustal Dynamics Project on the Goddard Space Flight Center website
- ↑ Geodesy and Geodynamics Laboratory at ETH Zurich
- ↑ ZIMLAT Telescope ( Memento of the original from January 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ AGNES Zimmerwald station on swisstopo.ch (GNSS)
- ↑ Geostation Zimmerwald on the website of the Federal Office for Topography
- ↑ CODE - Center for Orbit Determination in Europe ( Memento of the original from November 15, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , University of Bern
- ↑ LHN95. swisstopo
Coordinates: 46 ° 52 '38.2 " N , 7 ° 27' 54" E ; CH1903: six hundred and two thousand and eleven / 191794