Astrophysics

Telescope models 

Model (scale 1:50) of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) developed in international collaboration and model (scale 1:10) of the Gregory Cloudé Telescope (GCT) built by the precision mechanics workshop of the University Observatory for the Istituto Ricerche Solari Locarno (IRSOL) solar observatory built in Ticino in 1959 by the University of Göttingen on behalf of the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Göttingen University Observatory / ca. 1970, ca. 1986

Strip chronograph

With a chronograph (svw. "time recorder"), time signals can be recorded electromechanically. A strip of paper runs at a constant speed over a mechanical device. Impulses transmitted electrically by a pendulum clock are set as regular second markings on this. On a second track, electrically transmitted time signals are registered by pressing a key. This made time determinations for astronomical observations much more accurate.

Hermann Ausfeld, Gotha / ca. 1850 

Measuring eyepiece attachments 

Measuring eyepiece approaches can be used to measure star positions within the field of view of a telescope or on photographic images. The older approach (around 1820) probably originates from one of the former meridian circles in the Göttingen Observatory. In the industrially manufactured approach from the first half of the 20th century, the crosshairs in the eyepiece can be electrically illuminated.

Carl Zeiss Jena et al. / ca. 1820 and first half of the 20th century

Mikrophotometer ("Hartmann-Photometer")

Mit Photometern (svw. "Lichtmesser") kann man die Helligkeit einer Lichtquelle messen. In der Astronomie wurden Photometer im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert in Kombination mit einem Mikroskop als Mikrophotometer verwendet, um die Intensität der durch das Licht der Sterne verursachten Schwärzung auf fotografischen Platten zu messen. Das hier gezeigte Mikrophotometer basiert auf einem Entwurf von Johannes Hartmann, der 1909 zum Direktor der Göttinger Sternwarte ernannt wurde.

Otto Toepfer, Potsdam / ca. 1900

Collection of Historical Objects at the Institute of Astrophysics

The collection goes back to one of the oldest institutions at Göttingen University, the observatory founded in 1748. It documents two and a half centuries of scientific history as well as the work of outstanding Göttingen scientists, including Tobias Mayer (1723-1762), Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855) and Karl Schwarzschild (1873-1916). It includes an extensive collection of objects and instruments from the 17th to the 20th century that were used for astronomical and geodetic measurements as well as for other scientific research at the Göttingen University Observatory.

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