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Due to the later onset of twilight, the observatory will only open one hour later on Friday evening at 8 pm, assuming a cloudless night sky. This year's changeover to summer time will take place on the last weekend of...
Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is a periodic comet with an orbital period of 71 years around the sun. In the presumed sightings in 1385 and 1457, it was already recognized as a comet...
February 2024 is a leap year with 29 days instead of the usual 28. The leap year was introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 BC, as the seasons had shifted at the time.
On 03.01. at 02 o'clock the earth is at a distance of 147.101 million kilometers in perihelion (close to the sun) on its orbit around the sun. The question may now arise as to why there is...
This article explains the specification of distances, angles and magnitudes in an astrometric context. Distances The unit kilometer, which is commonly used in everyday life, is generally only used for short distances, e.g. for planetary diameters or...
On December 22 at 4:27 a.m., the sun is at the lowest point in its apparent orbit around our home planet for the northern hemisphere. This is also known as the winter solstice. Around midday, the sun reaches...
The decreasing length of the day allows us to open the observatory from 7 p.m. on Fridays, weather permitting, from November until the end of February. Special events this month include the occultation of Venus...
After the equinox on 23.09., the length of the nights predominates again. The observatory opens at 8 p.m., weather permitting. As every year, on the last Sunday of the month, this October the...
The nights are now long enough. From now on, the observatory will again be offering public observation evenings on Friday evenings from 9 pm, provided the night sky is cloudless. A ticker on the main page will provide information about the night sky from Friday noon at the latest.
To mark Science Year 2023 and the special occasion of the maximum of the Perseids, the evening started punctually at 8 p.m. with a one-hour lecture by Dr. Rolf-Dieter Schadt on the topic of "Our solar system"....