It is easy to think that the night sky in Oberberg is very dark. And indeed, measurements show that our region is not bad by Central European standards (). However, there can be local exceptions – like in...
A few days ago, the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore released a new image from the James Webb Space Telescope (see here). It shows spiral-shaped rings around the massive binary star Wolf-Rayet 140...
Unlike a private observatory, we operate a public school observatory. And it has to be operated safely for all astronomers and visitors. With the support of a state-approved safety officer who is well-disposed towards...
In our school lab, it is possible to make nocturnal observations of the sky without extensive effort. The telescopes are already completely installed on their mountings under their weather protection cubes and are...
At our observatory, clever young astronomers appear again and again, who have techniques that the old hands do not have on their screen. One of these colleagues has now shown us what he can do with his smartphone...
In old times, telescopes were positioned with so-called circular scales, which mapped the celestial coordinate system. The positioning accuracy was increased like a caliper with an angular vernier to then track the...
The announced electricity price increases seem to be having a positive effect on our evening skies at the moment. Many outdoor lights simply stay off. The darkness of the evening sky, which was already thought to be...
In August, we held a beginners’ course for interested teachers in our school lab. The first goal was the basic operation of the instruments. This included telescope control, taking color images with a digital...
In the middle of July we took our first own astrophotographs in the observatory. Before that, we had received an introduction to the controls of the telescope. After taking several pictures of the sun we were already a...
To test the optical performance of our main instrument, we have now used a large CCD camera in the telescope focus for the first time. This camera is adapted to the telescope focal length, so that the image sampling is...
At the beginning of August, the weather often shows its best side. The nights are already noticeably longer. So it is time again to sacrifice some hours of sleep for the dear hobby and to change it for an experience of...
Trusted journalist Arndt Gaudich caught up on our work progress, reports on the upcoming commissioning of our large telescope, and on our new colleagues.
Article: Das Tor zum Weltall öffnet sich bald
