Gotha Observatory
{{Infobox Observatory
|name = Gotha Observatory
|image = Seeberg Sternwarte.jpg
|caption = Seeberg Observatory
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|established = After 1787
|closed = 1934
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Gotha Observatory (Seeberg Observatory, Sternwarte Gotha or Seeberg-Sternwarte) was a German astronomical observatory located on Seeberg hill near Gotha, Thuringia, Germany.{{cite journal |last=Howse |first=D. |date=November 1986 |title=The Greenwich List of Observatories - a World List of Astronomical Observatories Instruments and Clocks - 1670-1850 |pages=i-89 |journal=Journal for the History of Astronomy |volume=17 |issue=51 |doi=10.1177/002182868601700401 |bibcode=1986JHA....17A...1H |s2cid=118045782 }} – see page A29. Initially the observatory was dedicated to astrometry, geodetic and meteorological observation and tracking the time.
The minor planet 1346 Gotha was named after the city of Gotha in recognition of the observatory.{{cite book |first=Lutz D. |last=Schmadel |date=2003 |title=Dictionary of minor planet names |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryminorp00schm |url-access=limited |page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryminorp00schm/page/n122 109] |edition=5th |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-540-00238-3}}
History
Planning for the observatory began in 1787 by the court astronomer Baron Franz Xaver von Zach, with the financing of Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. It was based upon the Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford, England. The building was divided into five parts, with the central section holding a revolving dome. There were two wings to provide quarters for the staff.{{cite journal |last=Armitage |first=A. |date=1949| title=Baron von Zach and his astronomical correspondence |journal=Popular Astronomy | volume=57 |pages=326–332 |bibcode=1949PA.....57..326A }}
During Peter Andreas Hansen's term, the observatory was dismantled and moved to a less exposed location in Gotha. The observatory was closed in 1934.
Instruments
File:Meridiankreis-Instrument.JPG
Around 1800, the observatory became an international center for astronomy, being the most modern astronomical institute primarily for its instruments.{{Cite journal|url=http://www.astro.uni-bonn.de/~pbrosche/aa/acta/vol03/acta03_089.html|title=Gotha - the instruments of the observatory|journal=Acta Historica Astronomiae|volume=3|pages=89|last=Wolfschmidt|first=Gudrun|date=2005|accessdate=2009-05-16|bibcode=1998AcHA....3...89W}} The instruments came from London, England, the standard place to acquire them in the 18th century.{{cite book|last=Barton|first=William|title=Memoirs of the Life of David Rittenhouse|url=https://archive.org/details/memoirslifedavi00bartgoog|publisher=E. Parker|date=1813|pages=[https://archive.org/details/memoirslifedavi00bartgoog/page/n135 130]|isbn=978-1-146-88042-8}} These included an eighteen-inch quadrant, a two-foot transit instrument, three Hadley sextants, an achromatic heliometer, a two-foot achromatic refractor, a Gregorian reflector and many clocks.
By the start of the nineteenth century improved instrumentation was acquired from Munich, the standard place to acquire them in the 19th century:{{cite journal|last=Wolfschmidt |first=Gudrun
|title=Gotha - the instruments of the observatory |journal=Acta Historica Astronomiae |volume=3 | pages=89–90 |bibcode=1998AcHA....3...89W|date=1998 }} consisting of a theodolite (Reichenbach, Utzschneider & Liebherr), a different heliometer (Fraunhofer), new mounting, and three-foot meridian circle (Ertel, Utzschneider & Fraunhofer). No spectroscopy or photography was performed at the observatory and the only astrophysical equipment of the observatory was a Zöllner photometer.
Directors
The observatory directors were as follows:{{cite book |author=Taylor, Marie Hansen |author2=Kiliani, Lilian Bayard Taylor | title=On two continents: memories of half a century |publisher=Doubleday, Page & company |date=1905 |page=[https://archive.org/details/ontwocontinents01kiligoog/page/n24 4] |url=https://archive.org/details/ontwocontinents01kiligoog |accessdate=2009-05-12 |isbn=978-0-548-98711-7}}
- Franz Xaver von Zach, 1787–1802
- Bernhard von Lindenau, 1802 - ?
- Johann Franz Encke, 1822–1825{{cite journal|date=1921|journal=Nature|title=Calendar of Scientific Pioneers |pages=124|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pLMCAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22Gotha+Observatory%22&pg=PA124|accessdate=April 15, 2009 | doi=10.1038/107124a0|last1=S.|first1=E. C.|volume=107|issue=2682 |bibcode = 1921Natur.107..124E |doi-access=free}}
- Peter Andreas Hansen 1825 - 1876
- Karl Nikolaus Adalbert Krueger 1876 for four years{{cite book|author=Royal Astronomical Society|title=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society|publisher=Blackwell Scientific Publications|date=1897|pages=224|title-link=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society}}
- Hugo von Seeliger, 1881{{cite book|last=Macpherson|first=Hector|title=Astronomers of to-day and their work|url=https://archive.org/details/astronomerstoda00macpgoog|publisher=Gall & Inglis|date=1905|pages=[https://archive.org/details/astronomerstoda00macpgoog/page/n230 180]}}
{{Commons category|Seeberg-Sternwarte Gotha}}
See also
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
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