Solingen observatory
£ The Solingen observatory was one of the oldest public observatories in Germany. It was located in the Wald district of Solingen and was closed in April 2018.
history
In 1918, the Solingen teacher Walter Horn held astronomy courses for the first time at the newly founded adult education center . Due to the great response, an astronomical association was formed in 1921 from the students around the student council, which planned to set up an observatory. In 1924, in the middle of the global economic crisis , a corresponding piece of land was bought from the then city of Ohligs at a symbolic price. The inflation-related astronomically high property tax of 1.18 trillion marks at the time was waived by the association because it was insignificant. The construction costs were financed by membership fees and donations in the form of cigars , the only stable currency at the time. The observatory was officially opened on October 5, 1924.
Due to the great demand, however, the observatory soon became too small. In addition, the growing districts of Ohlig and Wald and the associated light pollution made the sky less and less favorable for observation. In the early 1960s, for example, there were plans to build a new observatory on the outskirts of Solingen. However, after Walter Horn's death in 1967, this project was not pursued any further.
In 1992 an asteroid was named in memory of Walter Horn . (2749) Walterhorn had already been discovered by Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth in Heidelberg in 1937 , but until then had remained without an official name.
1988 - the association had meanwhile become “Walter-Horn Gesellschaft e. V. ”, a new building was started again. For cost reasons and because of the favorable transport connections, it was decided to build a new building on the existing property. However, a building permit was only granted in 1991 after lengthy negotiations . The new observatory was built in two years of self-work by the association members without public funds. The opening took place on December 9, 1993. Since then the observatory u. a. A library (2001) and a workshop with telescope storage (2005) expanded.
In addition to public observations of the sky, there was mainly a (weather-independent) multimedia program, similar to a planetarium . In addition, astronomical lectures, courses and workshops took place.
In the winter of 2010/2011, a Europe-wide architectural competition for the construction of a new observatory and a planetarium was held, which was won by the Cologne- based architecture firm mvmarchitekt + starkearchitektur . At the beginning of 2012 the general planning contract was signed with the office. In the following years, project planning and financing were pushed forward, the building permit was granted at the end of 2015 and construction began in August 2016. In April 2018, the Solingen observatory was closed. On July 5, 2019, the Galileum Solingen was opened in a former spherical gas container in the Solingen-Ohligs district , probably the world's first planetarium in a former gas container and one of the most modern in Europe. A new observatory was built in a new building next to the planetarium.
Instruments
The main instrument of the observatory until 2014 was a Kutter-Schiefspiegler with a 30 cm main mirror and a focal length of 6 m. It was a device designed by Anton Kutter in the 1950s , which he manufactured together with an industrialist from Solingen. A Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope Celestron C14 EHD, which has an aperture of 356 mm and a focal length of 3910 mm, has been installed as the main instrument since August 2014 . The telescope was initially together with a Celestron C8 as a guide scope on a heavy SIDERES mount. In December 2016 this was replaced by a GM3000 HPS mount from 10micron. a. also allows remote control of the telescopes. Next to the C14 there is currently a Takahashi refractor with a focal length of 820 mm and an opening of 102 mm on the mount. In addition, a 25 cm Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and numerous smaller telescopes are used.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Uwe Vetter: Discover the starry sky in a blue sphere: Galileum in Solingen shortly before the opening - what there is to see. In: rp-online.de. July 4, 2019, accessed July 5, 2019 .
Coordinates: 51 ° 10 ′ 28 ″ N , 7 ° 1 ′ 16 ″ E