Visit of the youth group of the Bodenseesternwarte with RAMOTS

May 22, 2023

The four-person youth group from the Lake Constance Observatory arrived at the observatory shortly after 3 pm. After welcoming them with a brief chat, they immediately started setting up, which was completed in no time. However, it took some time before the first observations could be made, until the weather gods had mercy and sent larger gaps in the clouds.

Among other things, we were able to follow some aircraft in flight directly on the screens and control the telescope independently with the help of a joystick. The joystick control requires a certain amount of familiarization and is not easy to implement at first.

Due to the lightning sent by Zeus, combined with, figuratively speaking, 100% humidity, the RAMOTS had to be stowed away weatherproof in the meantime.

In the presentation, the young people showed the development from the idea to the implementation and planned extensions of the project.

After a refreshment in the local restaurant, the clouds had almost cleared and the telescope was put back into operation. The actual goal of observing and photographing the overflight of the International Space Station at 22:45 could be tackled. The pictures taken of the ISS were very impressive and will be posted here.

Finally, at around midnight, our visitors were given a guided tour of our observatory.

The high level of motivation, coupled with the curiosity and hard work of the group members and a group leader who is very experienced in organization and technology, shows what results are possible with our own efforts. In any case, we were very enthusiastic and inspired by the construction of the system.

Many thanks to the gentlemen

Markus Kohler
Paul Knecht
Eric Jacob
Jakob Iben

to the youth group of the Lake Constance Observatory for their visit, the very impressive demonstration and for answering all our questions.