Astronomical Calculation Institute (University of Heidelberg)

The Astronomical Calculation Institute (german: Astronomisches Rechen-Institut; ARI) is a research institute in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

, Germany, dating from the 1700s. Beginning in 2005, the ARI became part of the Center for Astronomy at

Heidelberg University } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, B ...

(', ). Previously, the institute directly belonged to the state of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

Description

The ARI has a rich history. It was founded in 1700 in Berlin-Dahlem by Gottfried Kirch. It had its origin in a patent application by

Frederick I of Prussia Frederick I (german: Friedrich I.; 11 July 1657 – 25 February 1713), of the Hohenzollern dynasty, was (as Frederick III) Elector of Brandenburg (1688–1713) and Duke of Prussia in personal union (Brandenburg-Prussia). The latter function h ...

, who introduced a monopoly on publishing star catalogs in Prussia. In 1945 the Institute was moved by the Americans nearer to the United States Army Garrison Heidelberg. On January 1, 2005 the combined Center for Astronomy institute formed by combining ARI, with the

Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics The Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics (Norwegian: ''Institutt for teoretisk astrofysikk'', abbreviated ''ITA'') is a research and teaching institute dedicated to astronomy, astrophysics and solar physics located at Blindern in Oslo, Nor ...

(', ITA) and the Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl ("Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory", LSW). The ARI has been responsible among other things for the Gliese catalog of nearby stars, the fundamental catalogs FK5 and FK6, and the annually-published "Apparent Places of Fundamental Stars" (APFS),Apparent Places of Fundamental Stars
/ref> stellar ephemerides that provide high-precision mean and apparent positions of over three thousand stars for each day. During 1938–1945, whilst based in Berlin, ARI published the academic journal '' Astronomical Notes'' (german: Astronomische Nachrichten). , ARI was not limited to only publishing star catalogs, but has a wider research scope, including gravitational lensing, galaxy evolution, stellar dynamics, and

cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in Latin by German philosopher ...

. ARI is also involved in space astronomy missions including the

Gaia mission ''Gaia'' is a space observatory of the European Space Agency (ESA), launched in 2013 and expected to operate until 2025. The spacecraft is designed for astrometry: measuring the positions, distances and motions of stars with unprecedented preci ...

. In 2007 professors Eva K. Grebel and

Joachim Wambsganß Joachim (; ''Yəhōyāqīm'', "he whom Yahweh has set up"; ; ) was, according to Christian tradition, the husband of Saint Anne and the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The story of Joachim and Anne first appears in the Biblical apocryphal ...

( de) became co-directors of the institute. Other researchers involved with the institute include Hartmut Jahreiß author of the updated ''

Gliese Catalogue of Nearby Stars The ''Gliese Catalogue of Nearby Stars'' (, English ) is a star catalogue listing stars located within 25 parsecs (81.54 ly) of the Sun. First edition and supplements In 1957 German astronomer Wilhelm Gliese published his first star catalogue ...

'';

Eugene Rabe Eugene Karl Rabe (May 8, 1911 – July 1974) was a German-American astronomer. He was born in Berlin, Germany, the son of Hermann and Luise. From 1937–1948 he was a member of the staff at the Heidelberg, Germany branch of the Astronomisches R ...

; Lutz D. Schmadel, author of the ''Dictionary of Minor Planet Names''; Hans Scholl; and

Rainer Spurzem Rainer Spurzem is a German astronomer at the Astronomisches Rechen-Institut in Heidelberg, Germany. His speciality is the N-body simulation of galaxies and star clusters. With Sverre Aarseth, he was the first to simulate core collapse of a star c ...

working with N-body simulations.

Directors

Between 1700 and 2007 there was a single director of the institute at a time. From 2007 onwards there were joint co-directors of the institute:

Notes

External links

Homepage of the Astronomisches Rechen-Institut

MODEST
dynamics of star clusters, galaxies and galactic nuclei

project led by

to use reconfigurable hardware for astrophysical particle simulations {{Authority control 1700 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire Heidelberg University Heidelberg Astronomy institutes and departments Research institutes in Germany Astrophysics institutes Scientific organizations established in 1700

Description

Directors

Notes

See also

External links