Piwnice radio telescope
The Toruń Center for Astronomy is a 1994 Piwnice ( Piwnitz ), Kujawy , Poland finished radio telescope with an antenna diameter of 32 meters. The weight of the construction designed by Zygmunt Bujakowski is 620 tons.
history
The opening is thanks to the efforts and work of Prof. Władysław Dziewulski and Prof. Wilhelmina Iwanowska, research assistants at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń . In 1947 they received an astrograph from Harvard College Observatory from 1891. It was decided to build an observatory in the village of Piwnice , about 13 km north of Toruń . There are forests between Piwnice and Toruń, which limit the city's influence on the measurements.
Furnishing
The center for astronomy was housed in a historic courtyard building from the 19th century. Construction of the first dome in the surrounding park began in autumn 1947. Subsequent domes with optical telescopes were built in the 50s and 60s of the 19th century.
Listed are among others:
- a Schmidt-Cassegrain with a diameter of 90 cm,
- a Cassegrain with a diameter of 60 cm.
In the years that followed, the scientific profile focused more and more on radio astronomy. Therefore two more important radio telescopes were installed:
- the smaller radio telescope with a diameter of 15 m was put into operation in 1979,
- the larger radio telescope with a diameter of 32 m was put into operation in 1994.
Both radio telescopes work in an international VLBI network.
The observatory can also be visited.
Selected employees
- Professor Władysław Dziewulski ( 1878 - 1962 ) - famous Polish astronomer, Professor
- Professor Wilhelmina Iwanowska ( 1905 - 1999 ) - Polish astronomer and radio astronomer, Professor
From 2003 the observatory took part in the EU project FARADAY (search of the sky on the frequency 30 GHz).
Web links
Coordinates: 53 ° 5 ′ 42.9 ″ N , 18 ° 33 ′ 45.9 ″ E