A distinguished visitor from Barcelona! Nauel (7 years) had already heard about our school observatory and wanted to have a look at the instruments. Under a cloudy sky this was unfortunately only possible by observing...
Our large dome is now more than thirty years old and a renovation was needed. While turning the dome made quite a noise. The polyurethane rollers were brittle, the electrical control was outdated and the motors for the...
Last year we received an email from Leon Advena asking for an internship at the observatory. Unfortunately we do not offer internships, but transfer immediately chief positions. Since then Leon has been our...
Seven years ago, the STScI, in collaboration with professional astronomers, carried out a long-term observation campaign at the Teide Observatory in Tenerife (three STScI members were observing on site). Several school...
We could now also observe the comet with the telescopes of the school lab. At each of the three stations we made series of images and then “stacked” them to an image of high contrast with a software. All...
After its discovery by the space telescope WISE on March 7, 2020, comet C/2020 F3 “NEOWISE” turned out to be THE comet event of 2020. At the beginning of July it became visible to the naked eye and could be...
“Pillars of Creation” is the name of a formation in the Eagle Nebula in the constellation Hydra. In April 1995 the star forming regions about 7000 light years away were photographed with the Hubble Space...
With the “small” telescopes in our school lab, remarkable images are possible. One example is the “Elephant’s Trunk”, an emission nebula in the open star cluster IC 1396 about 2.400...
Our roof is now covered with solar cells, which is designed to provide us with free energy throughout the year. This is an important step towards the sustainable operation of the observatory.
On April 21, our member Dr. Norbert Reinecke pointed his private telescope at the galaxy Messier 61, which is about 66 million light years away from us, and took a picture in only five minutes. His telescope corresponds...
The present “corona shutdown” prevents work and observations at the STScI, so the backyard telescopes of our members have been and are increasingly being used. Many nights with particularly clear skies, in...
Work in the tower is progressing at a rapid pace. Jonathan is working on the drives and controls of our dome (above). It will soon be electronically operated. Meanwhile Leon takes care of our main telescope (right)...
