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The Thüringer Landessternwarte and extrasolar planets
How unique is our solar system in our galaxy, the Milky Way? How do planets actually form? How often do extrasolar planets occur? And what conditions must be present for life to develop on planets?
Astronomers at the Thüringer Landessternwarte have been researching planets around stars other than the sun for more than two decades.
The researchers want to find out how planets are born – also to understand how our solar system with the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune came into being. Important questions are how many planets there are in our galaxy and how many of them orbit at the exact distance from their star, which is known as the ‘habitable’ zone. It is neither too hot nor too cold there. Water could exist there in liquid form. Astronomers explore how our solar system was formed and why life only developed on one planet, namely Earth. What can we learn from other planets about the future development of the Earth?
The Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg (TLS) is a non-university research institution of the Free State of Thuringia. It conducts basic research in astrophysics. The astronomers
- search for and characterise extrasolar planets,
- observe and analyse solar and stellar oscillations,
- research gamma ray bursts,
- investigate the processes involved in star formation,
- investigate the structure and development of the Milky Way and distant galaxies,
- and track down asteroids.
The researchers at the TLS use various telescopes for their observations: the centrepiece is the 2-metre Alfred Jensch telescope for observations in the optical spectral range. A station of the European radio telescope Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) is also located on the grounds of the Thuringian State Observatory north of Jena. The astronomers at the TLS also observe at large international telescopes around the world.
The Alfred Jensch optical telescope is the largest Schmidt camera in the world. Due to its design, the Schmidt mirror has a very large field of view, so that the 2-metre telescope at the Thuringian State Observatory can observe and photograph extensive celestial objects such as galaxies, nebulae, star clusters and the orbits of asteroids. As a universal telescope, it can be converted into a Coudé telescope.
LOFAR is the world’s largest radio telescope for the reception of radio shortwaves and ultrashort waves. The receiver stations are spread across several countries in Europe: 38 stations are located at the headquarters in the Netherlands, six in Germany (one of them in Tautenburg) and others in France, Ireland, Latvia, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Since January 2024, LOFAR has been operated by a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC). The Thuringian State Observatory represents the German participants in the LOFAR ERIC.
In a modern solar laboratory, astronomers are developing instruments and a prototype for a solar observatory to continuously monitor the sun. Strong eruptions occur repeatedly on the sun, which hurl a lot of material into space. This material (plasma) can affect technological facilities in space and on Earth as a solar storm. For example, satellites for communication or navigation could fail or the power supply on Earth could be disrupted. The scientific investigation of solar activity is becoming increasingly urgent. For this reason, research into the interior of the sun and stars and their magnetic activity is being expanded as a field of research at the Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg.