School observatory "Johannes Franz"
The school observatory "Johannes Franz" in Bautzen is one of the largest and oldest school observatories in Germany. In many sources it is described as the oldest German school observatory; for one of these it had meanwhile a relatively high scientific importance.
historical overview
- 1872 - On December 20, the school observatory is built in the garden of the municipal high school.
- 1905 - The school observatory moves to the new secondary school (today Schiller-Gymnasium Bautzen ).
- 1956 - By decision of the city administration, the observatory moves to the Sorbian Advanced High School (today the Sorbian Gymnasium Bautzen ).
- 1982 - A new, well-equipped building complex is opened in the Bautzen Nature Park .
- 1993 - The observatory becomes a branch of the Philipp-Melanchthon -Gymnasium (former municipal grammar school).
Areas of responsibility and importance
In the first decades of its existence, the observatory was mainly used for school operations and teacher training. Johannes Franz (1892–1956) led various student work groups after 1922. These provided high-quality scientific input in various research projects, e.g. B. with the sun monitoring of the Federal Observatory in Zurich and light change investigations of the observatory Sonneberg . In 1934 the school observatory became a second-order weather station and worked for the official weather service until 1996 under number 408 .
At the request of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR , the Bautzen observatory participated in the international satellite observation program from 1958 to 1982 as an important station for the optical orbit control of artificial spacecraft - a task similar to the US Moonwatch program. Together with the school observatory and satellite observation station Baja in Hungary, a simultaneous observation program was developed and tested, with the results of which it was possible for the first time to demonstrate light density fluctuations (?) In the uppermost layers of the atmosphere. As a result, the school observatory in Bautzen gained international recognition and importance.
After the school subject of astronomy was introduced in schools in 1959 , the observatory played a key role in the development of teaching materials for teaching. The education and training of astronomy teachers was also of great importance. From 1964 to 1972 the School Astronomy Days took place regularly in Bautzen. After the political change in 1990, the observatory's area of responsibility was restricted.
The Bautzen school observatory is the founding site of the only astronomical didactic magazine in the German-speaking area. It was published from 1964 by the school book publisher Volk und Wissen in Berlin with the title “ Astronomy in School ” and is published today by the magazine publisher in Velber (“Astronomy and Space Travel in Lessons”). From 1964 to 1981 the Bautzen school observatory was the seat of the editorial office.
The Upper Lusatia Regional Association of the Green League has also had its headquarters in the observatory's office building since the early 1990s .
See also
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 9 ′ 43 ″ N , 14 ° 27 ′ 27 ″ E