Observatory News

Von der Sonne beleuchtete Hügelkette des Sinus Iridum

Once again this year, our foundation is taking part in the nationwide ‘Astronomy Day’. We will be opening the observatory at 11:00 am and invite you to visit our facility and, weather permitting, take a look at the sky.

During the day, we’ll be focusing on the Sun, and later on we’ll have Venus and Jupiter, the two brightest planets in the sky. Throughout the night, the Moon will accompany us with a special spectacle in Sinus Iridum. The Sun illuminates the upper rim of the crater, creating the impression that the Moon has a “handle” at this point. This illuminated crater rim is therefore also known as the “Golden Handle”.

We also plan to explore other interesting objects in the sky and will be on hand to answer any questions you may have about astronomy. 

In particular, we offer guided tours of our observatory every hour on the hour and will show you our telescopes. 

The day was literally a washout. Due to heavy cloud cover and occasional rain, we had few visitors and only managed to give a few guided tours of the observatory’s rooms.