Remplin observatory
The tower of the Remplin observatory , the remains of what was originally a larger building, is the oldest surviving observatory in Mecklenburg today and is located in the Remplin castle park . The observatory was built by Friedrich II von Hahn in 1793 and used as an observatory until 1805. The telescopes were among the largest in Europe at the time . The building, which has since been badly damaged, has now been restored.
history
Consisting of Neuhaus in Holstein born Friedrich II. Graf von Hahn had in Kiel mathematics and astronomy studies. At the age of thirty, as a result of deaths, he received almost 60 properties, 44 of which were in Mecklenburg.
Hahn moved his residence to Remplin, which had been owned by the family since 1405, and in 1793 set up an observatory in the garden house of the Remplin Castle there . In 1801 a massive 14 m high tower with a rotating dome was built - popularly known as the "ox tower ". The observatory was well equipped and had telescopes with eyepieces and other micrometers , a few sextants and precise pendulum clocks . Hahn's observations were published in the Astronomical Yearbooks of Johann Elert Bode , director of the Berlin observatory, from 1794 onwards . In 1800 Hahn von Remplin discovered the faint central star in the planetary nebula M57, the famous ring nebula in the constellation Lyra .
After Hahn's death in 1805, the observatory was no longer used for observation purposes. Some of the instruments went to Königsberg i. Pr. And Basedow . In 1842 the rotating dome was replaced by a fixed one for unknown reasons. The main building, still used for Thanksgiving, was demolished in 1857. On April 30, 1945, a few days before the end of the Second World War , the tower was badly damaged by artillery fire. In the following years, the tower was further damaged by vandalism , so that only a ruin in danger of collapsing remained.
In 1980 members of the “History of Astronomy” working group at the Berlin Archenhold Observatory began renovating the building. Now the members of the working group have come together to form the Friends of the Remplin Observatory.
Remplin observatory
Former castle park
Furnishing
The Remplin observatory had more than 50 instruments.
For the determination of Sternörtern a was Meridian telescope (the "Cary-circle") with 2 inch (5 cm) aperture, and 33 inches (83 cm) focal length and a "lunch telescope" of Dollond used with 1.3 m focal length. There was also an “ equatorial telescope ” with a 33 cm focal length and a short focal length telescope (“ comet seeker ”).
Some of the instruments went to the newly built observatory in Königsberg after Hahn's death and formed the first equipment. The “Cary Circle” is exhibited today in the Deutsches Museum .
Hahn also owned three mirror telescopes , the mirrors of which were ground by Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel himself. Two large telescopes had a focal length of 20 feet (6.6 m) and an aperture of 18 and 12 inches (45 and 30 cm), respectively. A smaller telescope had a focal length of 2.3 m and 20 cm aperture.
The whereabouts of the reflector telescopes is unclear.
literature
- Records from the Remplin observatory from 1799–1800. dig
See also
Web links
- Website on the history of the observatory
- Website about Friedrich Hahn and the observatory with pictures
- Website of the Friends of the Remplin Observatory
Coordinates: 53 ° 45 ′ 7.3 " N , 12 ° 42 ′ 11.2" E