East Midlands Branch

THE INSTITUTE OF MATHEMATICS AND ITS APPLICATIONS

Observatories without Telescopes

The Horizon Observatory and Giant Sundial on the Halde Hoheward, Germany

A talk by Dr Daniel Brown of Nottingham Trent University followed by a tour of the NTU observatory

Wednesday 21st January 2009, 7.30pm - 9.00pm

The Nottingham Trent University

Clifton Site, CELS building, Room 015

(Campus map: http://www.ntu.ac.uk/contacts/maps_travel/)

This meeting will comprise a short talk followed by group tours of the NTU telescope and of previous images from the telescope

Only restricted access numbers is allowed in the Observatory and limited to 30 persons; please email: stephen.hibberd@nottingham.ac.uk to book a place.

Abstract

Ever since mankind gazed upon the skies above he tried to make sense of the motions of the Sun and the stars. Giant monuments such as Stonehenge were used to observe the skies, the horizon, and acquire astronomical knowledge. However, with the increasing urbanisation and industrialisation we lost touch with the skies above. They have become a never darkening blanket over our built up urban horizon. We take basic astronomical knowledge for granted and over-simplify it. One such example is the often quoted rule that the Sun always rises in the East and sets in the West. This is mostly wrong and only correct twice a year.

In this talk I will present a multi-million pound project funded by the EU and masterminded by the 'Initiativkreis Horizontastronomy im Ruhrgebiet' to build an astronomical theme park on a slag heap in one of the industrial centres of Germany. This park will allow the general public to experience the skies above and help them to engage with astronomy. One part of this park is the already completed 9m high giant sundial built following the giant sundial of Augustus in Rome. The centre piece of the park is the nearly completed horizon observatory consisting of two giant 90m diameter arcs representing the celestial equator and meridian as well as providing undisturbed views of the mathematical horizon. More information: see http://www.horizontastronomie.de/index.html

No charge is made; priority will be given to IMA members and their guests

The talk is coordinated by East Midlands Branch Secretary, Dr Stephen Hibberd, School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Nottingham, email: stephen.hibberd@nottingham.ac.uk.

Details of East Midlands Branch activities: http://www.ima.org.uk/EMidBranch/ima.html