Public observatory Paderborn
The Volkssternwarte Paderborn is a public observatory in the city of Paderborn in East Westphalia-Lippe . It is located on the roof of the Schloss Neuhaus grammar school in the castle grounds of the Schloss Neuhaus district . The observatory is located 119 m above sea level. NN at 51 ° 44 '50 "north latitude and 8 ° 42' 39" east longitude . The observatory offers regular opening times for interested visitors.
history
The Volkssternwarte Paderborn was founded in 1971 by the secondary school teacher Reinhard Wiechoczek as a private astronomy company. In 1976 it was registered as the Astronomische Arbeitsgemeinschaft Paderborn e. V. in the register of associations . In the same year - also by Reinhard Wiechoczek - the sun observation program INTER-SOL was founded , which since then has dedicated itself to the logging of solar activity by daily counting of sunspot activity and today has more than 50 participants on all continents with the exception of Antarctica . In 1977, through a donation, the association received a refractor with a 102 mm aperture, which was imported from the USA , as the first telescope of its own . In 1981 a solar laboratory with a solar telescope was set up .
In 1982 the association was established in Volkssternwarte Paderborn e. V. - Renamed Astronomical Working Group and moved into the rooms still used today on the top floor of the Neuhaus Castle high school. The former main instrument of the observatory, a reflector telescope with a 300 mm aperture, was donated to the association in the same year. In 1983 construction began on the observatory, a sheet steel clad laminated timber construction with a diameter of 4.50 meters on the roof of the grammar school, which was officially opened in 1984. In 1985 the observatory started the initiative A Planetarium for Paderborn . In the following year a receiving station for weather satellites was put into operation. In 1989 a 3-meter parabolic antenna was taken over by the University of Paderborn . In 1990 the observatory organized the Paderborn Astrology Tribunal in response to the doctorate of an astrologer at Bielefeld University . In the same year three young members of the observatory took part in the Jugend forscht competition. With their topic of hypersensitization of films and their use in astronomy , they achieved first place at regional level and second place at state level. In 1994 the observatory hosted and organized the 6th Congress of the Society for the Scientific Investigation of Parasciences . In 1995, a computer control system for the telescopes, developed by club members, was put into operation. In the following year, the association not only celebrated the double anniversary of 25 years of the observatory / 20 years of INTER-SOL , but also had more than 100 members for the first time in its history.
From January 2014 the building of the high school Schloss Neuhaus , on which the premises used by the public observatory are located, was completely renovated. After the work was completed, the public observatory was reopened on May 1, 2016 with an open day.
Instruments
The main instrument of the observatory since October 2009 has been a 350 mm reflector telescope with a focal length of 1600 mm, which is primarily used to observe faint celestial objects. A refractor with a 102 mm aperture and 1500 mm focal length is used for sun projection. In addition, the observatory dome houses a Kutter-Schiefspiegler with 125 mm aperture and 3500 mm focal length as well as a Schaer refractor with 150 mm aperture and 3000 mm focal length, on which the chromosphere with an H-alpha filter and the photosphere with a Herschel wedge the sun can be observed. Since May 2016, an 80 mm refractor with a focal length of 500 mm has also been used for solar observation with a calcium K filter. In the summer of 2011 a second observation dome with a diameter of two meters was built, which houses a 254 mm Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope , which is only available to club members. The observatory also has several mobile telescopes.
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 44 ′ 48.4 " N , 8 ° 42 ′ 33.5" E