Bochum observatory
The Bochum observatory , also referred to as "Kap Kaminski" by the Bochumers in allusion to the US American space center Cape Caneveral and the founder of the Bochum observatory, Heinz Kaminski , is a facility in Bochum that was created through a private initiative . The focus is on radio astronomy and environmental research .
History and tasks
In 1946, Heinz Kaminski founded the Bochum observatory as a public observatory for the adult education center in the Sundern district . From this, in 1957, with the launch of the first artificial earth satellite - Sputnik 1 , whose signals were received in Bochum - the Institute for Space Research / Observatory Bochum developed . It was renamed the Institute for Environmental and Future Research (IUZ) in 1982 . One of the new tasks is to deal with socio-political and global ecological issues. It is a recognized and sponsored further education institution of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. His educational work is funded by the State Center for Political Education at the Ministry of Economics and Labor of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.
In 1999, Heinz Kaminski appointed Thilo Elsner as his successor. Thilo Elsner has been at the Bochum observatory since February 1995 and has made a decisive contribution to maintaining and rebuilding the associated radome at the institute's location in the Sundern district of Bochum . The aerial dome, carried by compressed air, collapsed in October 1999 after a large hole was made through a crack in the polyester skin. Heinz Kaminski died in 2002. In 2007 the Bochum observatory celebrated its 60th anniversary.
In March 2009 radio amateurs at the Bochum observatory received signals from Venus ( earth-Venus-earth connection) with their 20 m parabolic antenna . Thus it was possible for the first time to receive the echo of another planet in Germany. The US space agency NASA has now asked for help and will send data to Sundern in the future.
Furnishing
Today the institute has several antenna systems for receiving data from geostationary and earth- orbiting satellites and interplanetary spacecraft. The development of astronomical and environmental and thus society-related priorities is promoted and brought closer to the citizen. This is done by a "mobile observatory" which, among other things, consists of a high-resolution satellite receiving system. Recognized as non-profit, the institute has been working since 1990 as an institution for political further education in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia for the people of the district.
The largest building in the IUZ is the radome . It is a 40 meter high air dome that protects a 20 meter parabolic antenna from the weather. The antenna has a total weight of more than 220 tons and has both the ability to receive and send data. Since the system was completely improved, it has a positioning accuracy of around 1/1000 degrees and is therefore prepared for the planned AMSAT P5A Mars mission , which is partly controlled by the IUZ Bochum. In addition, the property is home to 1000 square meters of designed exhibition space and a lecture room for 160 people.
Permanent exhibition
Cosmos, communism, cold war - Sputnik 50: The history of space travel in two political systems is the exhibition in the radome of the Bochum observatory, funded by the Federal Foundation for the coming to terms with the SED dictatorship . It documents the events of the race between the systems in space from the first reception of the Sputnik signals in 1957 until today: “The Volkssternwarte Bochum, one of the few facilities that was the first to receive this signal, advanced to become a space news center in West Germany. A special exhibition has been created at this historic space travel location, which documents the instrumentalisation of space travel with numerous exhibits, brought together from all over Germany. "
miscellaneous
The Freiburg band Personable Excavator named a song after the observatory.
In 2015, the site and the radome of the observatory served as the original Bochum filming motif for the episode “ Star Trip ” of the successful early-evening crime series Heldt , produced by Sony Pictures , in which the chief inspector Nikolas Heldt investigating in Bochum had to solve an attack as part of a space fair. The first broadcast of the episode (4th season, episode 4) took place with 3.70 million viewers on October 12, 2016 on ZDF , while the ZDFmediathek has been making the episode available online free of charge since September 14, 2016.
Web links
- Observatory website
- Sputnik 50: The history of space travel in two political systems : permanent exhibition in the Bochum observatory
- RuhrNachrichten (RN) of March 27, 2009: "Bochum observatory receives signals from Venus" - Bochum back on the international stage of space observation reported back on March 28, 2009
Individual evidence
- ↑ RuhrNachrichten (RN) of March 27, 2009: "Bochum observatory receives signals from Venus"
- ↑ Background to the permanent exhibition “Cosmos, Communism, Cold War” ( Memento of the original from February 8, 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.
- ↑ Personable Excavator - Bochum Observatory (feat. Hydrop & Lazy Liz) on Last.fm
- ↑ quotenmeter.de: Heldt - Season 4, Episode 4: Star travel quotenmeter.de, accessed on October 24, 2016
- ↑ facebook.com/heldt: Heldt: Nice impressions from the Heldt shoot ... facebook.com/heldt from June 18, 2015, accessed on September 20, 2016
- ^ ZDF: Heldt zdf.de, accessed on September 20, 2016
Coordinates: 51 ° 25 ′ 40 ″ N , 7 ° 11 ′ 39 ″ E