The Karl Schwarzschild Observatory (german: Karl-Schwarzschild-Observatorium) is a German astronomical

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...

Tautenburg Tautenburg is a municipality in the district Saale-Holzland, in Thuringia, Germany. It is home to the Karl Schwarzschild Observatory The Karl Schwarzschild Observatory (german: Karl-Schwarzschild-Observatorium) is a German astronomical observato ...

near Jena, Thuringia. It was founded in 1960 as an affiliated institute of the former German Academy of Sciences at Berlin and named in honour of the astronomer and physicist Karl Schwarzschild (1873–1916). In 1992, the institute was re-established as Thuringian State Observatory (''Thüringer Landessternwarte'', TLS). Alfred-Jensch-Teleskop-1

The observatory has the largest telescope located in Germany, which is also the largest Schmidt camera in the world. Made by VEB Zeiss Jena (the branch of Carl Zeiss located in Jena in what was then East Germany), this instrument is known as (2m) Alfred Jensch Telescope: though its mirror is 2 metres in diameter, the telescope's aperture is 1.34 m. The observatory has observed several

exoplanet An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...

s and brown dwarfs, as around the stars

HD 8673 HD 8673 is a binary star in the northern constellation of Andromeda. It has an apparent magnitude and absolute magnitude of 6.34 and 3.56 respectively. Based upon an annual parallax shift of , the system is located around 124.5 lig ...

30 Arietis 30 Arietis (abbreviated 30 Ari) is a 6th- apparent-magnitude multiple star system in the constellation of Aries. ''30 Arietis'' is the Flamsteed designation. 30 Arietis A and B are separated by or about at a distance of 130 light yea ...

4 Ursae Majoris 4 Ursae Majoris (sometimes abbreviated 4 Uma) is the Flamsteed designation of a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Major. It also bears the Bayer designation of Pi2 Ursae Majoris (Pi2 UMa, π2 Ursae Majoris, ...

, and around HD 13189 on 5 April 2005. The observatory also hosts an International station for the

interferometric Interferometry is a technique which uses the ''interference'' of superimposed waves to extract information. Interferometry typically uses electromagnetic waves and is an important investigative technique in the fields of astronomy, fiber op ...

radio telescope A radio telescope is a specialized antenna and radio receiver used to detect radio waves from astronomical radio sources in the sky. Radio telescopes are the main observing instrument used in radio astronomy, which studies the radio frequency ...

LOFAR.

References

External links

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Interview with director on ESA's plans for finding Earth-like planets
{{Authority control Astronomical observatories in Germany Buildings and structures in Saale-Holzland-Kreis Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) 1960 establishments in East Germany Science and technology in East Germany

See also

References

External links