Our commonly used observing sites are divided into three groups
Observing at our home sites in Germany (~51°30' N, ~7°15' E):
"Sternwarte Bochum", Astronomical Observatory Dome II
severe light pollution, used for CCD imaging, tests
Equipment:
Lichtenknecker Orion 80 GEM in a 5 m dome, 125 mm f/10 doublet refractor and 80 mm f/8
fluorite refractor
Public Observatory of Herne
severe light pollution, used for CCD imaging, tests
Equipment:
self made GEM in a 3 m dome, 125 mm f/13 doublet refractor and f=1100 mm f/10.5
Maksutov lens
Observing sites in the surroundings of our home site (commonly used for newmoon weekend stays):
open field observing sites at the southern rim of the "Ruhr" area and "Sauerland"
midlands (~51°03' N, ~8°33' E)
medium to minor light pollution, temporary used for visual comet and meteor observations
in former times used for deep sky photography
Equipment:
movable Losmandy G-11 GEM with different instrument configurations
Observing sites for excursions (lasting from a few days up to several weeks):
Jungfraujoch Observatory, Swiss Alps, elevation 3580 m (46°33' N, 7°59' E)
nearly no light pollution, used for photography of deep sky objects in different emissionline bands,
zodiacal light pyramid and conterglow phenomena in winter 1984/85
Equipment:
heavy GEM (Alt 5 AD), Polaris 2000 GEM´s, f=500 mm f/2.8 "Heliotar" catadioptric lens (120 mm
format), f=17 mm to f=300 mm SLR lenses
no light pollution, used for photographical studies of comet P/Halley, southern deep sky objects,
zodiacal light pyramid and conterglow phenomena in March & April 1986
Equipment:
heavy GEM (Alt 5 AD) and light Polaris 2000 GEM & f=500 mm f/2.8 "Heliotar"
catadioptric lens (120 mm format), f=17 mm to f=1100 mm SLR lenses
Special:
actual and historic
ambient conditions at La Silla (provided by ESO)
Sierra Nevada, Spain (Mulhacen and Pico Veleta), elevation 3150 - 3350 m (37°07'
N, 3°20' W)
nearly no light pollution, mainly used for photography of deep sky objects
in b/w and color during five summer stays from 1984 - 1995
Equipment:
different GEM´s (Alt 5 AD, Alt 6 AD-N, Polaris 2000) & different SLR lenses, MPT-200
(192/202/400 mm) Schmidtcamera
Farm Hohenheim, Namibia, elevation 1500 m (23°18' S, 16°23' E)
no light pollution, used for color photography of southern deep sky objects in summer 1995
Equipment:
Polaris DX GEM & different medium format lenses (30 mm - 300 mm focal length)
Gornergrat
, Swiss Alps, elevation 3250 m (45°57' N, 7°42' E)
nearly no light pollution, used for photography of comet Hale-Bopp in April 1997
Equipment:
Losmandy G-11 GEM with different medium format lenses (f=30 mm - f=400 mm focal length), Schmidtcamera
140/200/250 mm
Curacao
, Antilles, elevation about sea level (12°23' N, 69°09' W)
medium to well detectable light pollution depending on concrete location, used for solar eclipse
photography in February 1998.
Equipment:
several tripods, Polaris 2000 GEM with 1100 mm catadioptric lens (f/10.5)
Farm Hakos,
Namibia, elevation 1850 m (23°13' S, 16°21' E)
no light pollution, used for color photography of southern deep sky objects in May 2000
Equipment:
heavy GEM (Alt 6AD-N) with different medium format lenses
(f=35 mm - f=400 mm focal length)
Project: 12" Deltagraph - In June 2002 we installed a 12" Astrograph (f=990 mm,
f/3.3) on this site
last updated: 10. March 2001
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