Würzburg public observatory

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Würzburg public observatory

The Volkssternwarte Würzburg is an observatory supervised by an amateur astronomical association on the grounds of the Johannes Kepler School in the Würzburg district of Keesburg .

history

The plans for the construction of the observatory go back to 1960 and the use of the University Association. The first observations made of the Working Group Observatory in 1961 on the Balthasar-Neumann-pulpit in the Wolfhartsgasse 11. From 1962, after the Ministry had accepted the offer by Mayor Helmuth carpenters representative city of Wuerzburg, in connection with the new school on the Keesburg an observatory for the university, erected the ten-meter-high tower with a dome in the playground of the Johannes Kepler School and after its completion in 1965 and the handover of the observatory building to the rector of the university on May 5, 1966, initially from the University of Würzburg operated. On June 10, 1985, the Volkssternwarte Würzburg Association was founded with the aim of disseminating and maintaining astronomical knowledge among the population. In 1987 the association rented the roof terrace of the school and equipped it as a 140 m² observation platform. After the guided tours of the observatory had already been carried out in 1992, the association took over the operation of the observatory completely after the university withdrew in 2000. The association regularly offers astronomical lectures and public sky observations.

In 2005 the interior and the technology of the observatory were renovated with funds from the association. After a water pipe burst in 2009, the building had to be renovated with funds provided by the city of Würzburg, among other things.

Instruments

A Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope with 35.6 cm aperture and 3.92 m focal length and a refractor from Carl Zeiss with 13 cm aperture and 1.92 m focal length are located on a joint mount in the observation dome. If necessary, various transportable telescopes can be set up on the observation platform. A radio telescope with a diameter of three meters is located on the site , but it is currently (August 2008) not operational.

Web links

Commons : Volkssternwarte Würzburg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Otto Volk : Mathematics, astronomy and physics in the past of the University of Würzburg. In: Peter Baumgart (Ed.): Four hundred years of the University of Würzburg. A commemorative publication. Degener & Co. (Gerhard Gessner), Neustadt an der Aisch 1982 (= sources and contributions to the history of the University of Würzburg. Volume 6), ISBN 3-7686-9062-8 , pp. 751–785; here: p. 778 f.

Coordinates: 49 ° 46 ′ 29.2 "  N , 9 ° 57 ′ 30.2"  E