Remeis-Wiki - User contributions [en]

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2026-03-27T12:45:27Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Saturday, 18.04.2026 at 20:00
| German
| Erzbistum (Utzmann)
| MAYBE 2 guides needed... or they make the group smaller. TBD
| 5 adults, 25 children (aged 8-23)
| Yes
| 07.04.2026

|-
| Saturday, 30.05.2026 at 15:00
| German
| Becherer
| Time-wise flexible
| 12 adults
| No
| 15.05.2026

|-
| Saturday, 13.06.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Kicherer
|
| 14 adults
| Yes
| 29.04.2026
|-
| Wednesday, 24.06.2026 at 20:30
| German
| Grundschule Dombuehl (von Berg)
| In total it's three classes that want to come visit; if we only have one guide it'll be only one class of course. They are also available on June 25th.
| 2 adults, 25 children (aged 9)
| Yes
| 10.06.2026

|}

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2026-03-24T13:31:36Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Saturday, 30.05.2026 at 15:00
| German
| Becherer
| Time-wise flexible
| 12 adults
| No
| 15.05.2026

|-
| Saturday, 13.06.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Kicherer
|
| 14 adults
| Yes
| 29.04.2026
|-
| Wednesday, 24.06.2026 at 20:30
| German
| Grundschule Dombuehl (von Berg)
| In total it's three classes that want to come visit; if we only have one guide it'll be only one class of course. They are also available on June 25th.
| 2 adults, 25 children (aged 9)
| Yes
| 10.06.2026

|}

Phd hat list

2026-03-18T09:40:51Z

Zalot:

{| class="wikitable"
! Name
! submission date
! defense date
! responsible person for the hat
|-
| Max L.
| 2026
|
| Christian K.
|-
| Christian K.
| 2026
|
|
|-
| Jakob
| 2026
|
| Katya
|-
| Philipp T.
| 2026
|
|
|-
| Amy
| 2026
|
|
|-
| Federico
| 2026
|
|
|-
| Aafia
| 2026
|
|
|-
| Steven
| 2026/never/all day
|
| Kasia
|-
| Philipp W.
| 2026
|
|
|-
| Lea
|
|
|
|-
| Alexey
|
|
|
|-
| Katrin
|
|
|
|-
| Roman
|
|
|
|-
| Nico
| 2035
|
|
|-
|-
| Karan
| 3037
|
|
|-
| Mirjam
|
|
|
|-
|}

[[Category:Internal]]

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2026-03-16T11:53:04Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Wednesday, 15.04.2026 at 19:00
| German or English
| FW Erlangen
| 2 guides required but one already found!
| 4 adults, 40 children (aged 16)
| Yes
| 25.03.2026

|-
| Saturday, 30.05.2026 at 15:00
| German
| Becherer
| Time-wise flexible
| 12 adults
| No
| 15.05.2026

|-
| Saturday, 13.06.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Kicherer
|
| 14 adults
| Yes
| 29.04.2026
|-
| Wednesday, 24.06.2026 at 20:30
| German
| Grundschule Dombuehl (von Berg)
| In total it's three classes that want to come visit; if we only have one guide it'll be only one class of course. They are also available on June 25th.
| 2 adults, 25 children (aged 9)
| Yes
| 10.06.2026

|}

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2026-03-12T09:26:25Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Wednesday, 15.04.2026 at 19:00
| German or English
| FW Erlangen
| 2 guides required but one already found!
| 4 adults, 40 children (aged 16)
| Yes
| 25.03.2026

|-
| Saturday, 30.05.2026 at 15:00
| German
| Becherer
| Time-wise flexible
| 12 adults
| No
| 15.05.2026

|-
| Saturday, 13.06.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Kicherer
|
| 14 adults
| Yes
| 29.04.2026

|}

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2026-03-12T07:51:04Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Thursday, 26.03.2026 at 18:30
| German
| Walter
|
| 2 adults, 25 children (aged 10)
| Yes
| 12.03.2026

|-
| Thursday, 26.03.2026 at 19:00
| German or English
| MWS Bamberg (Uttenreuther)
| Tour also possible on March 27, please note the fast-approaching deadline!
| 2 adults, 20 children (aged 16)
| Yes
| 13.03.2026

|-
| Wednesday, 15.04.2026 at 19:00
| German or English
| FW Erlangen
| 2 guides required but one already found!
| 4 adults, 40 children (aged 16)
| Yes
| 25.03.2026

|-
| Saturday, 30.05.2026 at 15:00
| German
| Becherer
| Time-wise flexible
| 12 adults
| No
| 15.05.2026

|-
| Saturday, 13.06.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Kicherer
|
| 14 adults
| Yes
| 29.04.2026

|}

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2026-03-12T07:45:00Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Thursday, 26.03.2026 at 18:30
| German
| Walter
|
| 2 adults, 25 children (aged 10)
| Yes
| 12.03.2026

|-
| Wednesday, 15.04.2026 at 19:00
| German or English
| FW Erlangen
| 2 guides required but one already found!
| 4 adults, 40 children (aged 16)
| Yes
| 25.03.2026

|-
| Saturday, 30.05.2026 at 15:00
| German
| Becherer
| Time-wise flexible
| 12 adults
| No
| 15.05.2026

|-
| Saturday, 13.06.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Kicherer
|
| 14 adults
| Yes
| 29.04.2026

|}

Category:SIXTE

2026-03-09T15:23:53Z

Zalot: Created page with "Category:Software"

[[Category:Software]]

SIXTE

2026-03-09T15:23:37Z

Zalot: Created page with "Category:SIXTE"

[[Category:SIXTE]]

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2026-03-06T17:31:16Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Thursday, 26.03.2026 at 18:30
| German
| Walter
|
| 2 adults, 25 children (aged 10)
| Yes
| 12.03.2026

|-
| Wednesday, 15.04.2026 at 19:00
| German or English
| FW Erlangen
| 2 guides required but one already found!
| 4 adults, 40 children (aged 16)
| Yes
| 25.03.2026

|-
| Saturday, 13.06.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Kicherer
|
| 14 adults
| Yes
| 29.04.2026

|}

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2026-03-06T17:28:21Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Thursday, 26.03.2026 at 18:30
| German
| Walter
|
| 2 adults, 25 children (aged 10)
| Yes
| 12.03.2026

|-
| Wednesday, 15.04.2026 at 19:00
| German or English
| FW Erlangen
| 2 guides required but one already found!
| 4 adults, 40 children (aged 16)
| Yes
| 25.03.2026

|-
| Saturday, 09.05.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Spitznagel
| 2 guides required, but if only one guide found they will come with less people
| 40 adults
| Yes
| 13.03.2026

|-
| Saturday, 13.06.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Kicherer
|
| 14 adults
| Yes
| 29.04.2026

|}

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2026-03-02T19:28:32Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Thursday, 26.03.2026 at 18:30
| German
| Walter
|
| 2 adults, 25 children (aged 10)
| Yes
| 12.03.2026

|-
| Saturday, 09.05.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Spitznagel
| 2 guides required, but if only one guide found they will come with less people
| 40 adults
| Yes
| 13.03.2026

|-
| Saturday, 13.06.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Kicherer
|
| 14 adults
| Yes
| 29.04.2026

|}

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2026-02-23T08:53:43Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Wednesday, 04.03.2026 at 11:30
| German
| Heidemann
| They requested TWO tours on one of the following days: 04.03., 05.03., 06.03., 25.03., 26.03. and 27.03. They requested that the groups be SPLIT, i.e. they require two guides per tour. Please let me know if you would like to give one of the tours and which dates you would be available at, I will coordinate the rest
| 2 adults, 29 children (aged 10)
| No
| 27.02.2026

|-
| Thursday, 26.03.2026 at 18:30
| German
| Walter
|
| 2 adults, 25 children (aged 10)
| Yes
| 12.03.2026

|-
| Saturday, 09.05.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Spitznagel
| 2 guides required, but if only one guide found they will come with less people
| 40 adults
| Yes
| 13.03.2026

|}

Welcome Newbies

2026-02-10T12:32:50Z

Zalot: /* Coffee */

Welcome to Remeis-Observatory! Here are some relevant infos for everyone joining.

=Presence at the observatory and important meeting dates=
In general, in order to ensure that there are sufficient scientific interactions, all observatory members (BSc, MSc, PhD) are expected to be physically present at the observatory for three days per week. You can ask for permission to work from home during the remaining days. Due to insurance reasons this request needs to be made in writing and formally approved by your supervisor. You are also expected to attend the weekly group meetings in person.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| Stellar Astronomy || Prof. Ulrich Heber || Monday || 04:00 pm
|-
| Multiwavelength Astronomy || Prof. Manami Sasaki || Friday || 10:00 am
|-
| X-ray Astronomy || Prof. Joern Wilms || Tuesday || 10:00 am
|}

On Tuesdays at 11:30 am there is also the Astronomy Journal Club, where new papers from astronomy are presented in a friendly environment (https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Litclub).
All observatory members are expected to give at least one presentation per year in the club.

In addition there are weekly meetings for different projects, some of them as telephone conferences with other working groups, which are based inside or outside of Germany.

For work in Erlangen, the observatory has a large and very nice office in the ECAP building available. We recommend getting in touch with the other frequent users and joining the ECAP chat (https://chat.ecap.work/, login with your IDM account). It is also possible to join other groups for lunch (Caro can put you in touch with the neutrino people upon request).

All observatory members (BSc, MSc, PhD, ...) are expected to help with the student labs, typically four weeks each in March/early April and in September/October. This implies that you know you experiment and work on it well before the actual lab course. Student members will be remunerated for their help during the lab. You need to talk to your supervisor well in advance should you think about not being available during this time. In general, such requests for leave will only be accepted under extraordinary, job-related circumstances.

=Illness=

If you are ill - even if it is only a cold - talk to your supervisor and work from home. If you are seriously ill for more than two days, go to a Doctor and get a sick leave notice ("Krankschreibung"). Please inform Edith about this such that she can inform the personnel department that they can trigger the download of the sick leave notice. Do not believe your Dr. if they claim that this will happen automatically. We ''need'' to be informed by you!

=Safety=
Contact person: Ingo

The observatory is in general a very safe place to work. Nevertheless there are a few things you need to keep in mind. Once per year we have a safety instruction (attending is mandatory). Upon joining the institute you should watch the video of the last safety instruction at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/internal-area/internal-area-howto/.

=Webpages & email lists=
Contact person: Jakob, Max, Nico

The observatory's webpage is www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de, where you can also log in with your user name and password to get access to the internal part of the page and edit your user profile. You will also find useful information in our own Remeis-Wiki. A list of the e-mail lists should help to find the right contact person in case of problems. To be added to e-mail lists, you must contact the e-mail list admin (Max Lorenz).

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| ECAP (+ Observatory) || ecapmail@physik.uni-erlangen.de
|-
| Observatory || all@sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de
|-
| Multiwavelength Group || astro-multi@lists.fau.de
|-
| Stellar Group || stellar@sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de
|-
| X-ray Group || xray@sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de
|-
| Admins || admin@sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de
|-
| Telescope users || astro-observing@lists.fau.de
|-
| Social Media Team || astro-outreach@lists.fau.de
|-
| Guided Tour Admins || fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de
|}

In addition, we also have a Slack channel for quick queries and discussions within the group. You can join the same by asking someone in the group for an invite link.

Our observatory is also active on Social Media and has a Twitter (@DrRemeis) as well as an Instagram Account (@drremeis).

=The Remeis Cluster=
Contact person: admin@sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de

For your work at the observatory, you are provided with a desk and a computer, and access to our cluster for complex calculations. There are a few important things to consider: Data that should not be lost under any circumstances (e.g., scripts, theses) should be saved in your /home directory. Note, however, that the space available there is only a few GB. If you exceed your maximum storage limit, you will receive e-mails from the system. Do not ignore them. /home is backed up daily, and old data are kept for up to one year. Contact the admins if you need access to that. A folder under /userdata/data is also available for storage and meant for reproducible simulations/evaluation/data. There is no backup for /userdata, but failure is unlikely (RAID). While the storage there is very large, please use it sparingly nevertheless. If you want to run one or more time-consuming calculations, please use [[slurm]] (more information in the Remeis wiki). Please be aware that your workstation is part of a computing cluster. Switching off the computer or any other hardware modifications are not permitted. Your computer stays on 24/7, please log out when you leave such that others can use it while you are not there. If you have any problems, please contact the admins.

=Telescopes=
Contact person: Philipp W., Steven, Jakob, Martin

The observatory owns 40cm and 50cm reflector telescopes (in the domes). They are used for observations and experiments in the lab course and also during guided tours. If you are interested in using the telescopes in your free time, e.g., for astro photography, you can receive instructions on how to use them. You should also sign up on the email list for telescope users.

=Important information for PhD=
The information listed below is relevant for all new PhDs:
* The first person to discuss your questions with is your PhD advisor. They should all be aware of the formalities and requirements.
* The legal framework is well described in the Promotionsordnung of FAU and of the NatFak, and there is also a handout on the overall formalities that you will have to be aware of. All of these materials can be found at https://www.nat.fau.de/forschung/forschende/promotion/.
This page also contains a list of Frequently Asked Questions (top right part of the page), including many of the general questions that are asked concerning the formalities of the PhD, especially also in relation to cumulative theses.
* The specific framework within the Department of Physics is described in the Ausfuehrungsbestimmungen of the Department. Your advisors have a copy, and you can also access them directly by joining the studon group "Infos fuer Promovierende", https://www.studon.fau.de/studon/goto.php?target=grp_2684505. The group password is Promotion_Physik . The most important thing here is that these regulations explain the requirements for the (literal or paraphrased) inclusion of text from publication in the thesis manuscript as well as the procedure for preparing cumulative theses (i.e., get in contact with the Department more than a year before the planned submission in order to get an informal approval that your publication plan would result in something that is likely to be considered to be acceptable as a thesis).
* Templates for the top pages of theses according to the corporate design are available at https://www.intern.fau.de/kommunikation-und-marke/vorlagen/abschlussarbeiten/
* If you are close to submitting your thesis: Contrary to statements of the forms available on Docdaten and some rumors among people pursuing a PhD, you can start the procedure to initiate the doctoral procedure approximately four weeks BEFORE submitting the thesis. For this you only need your CV, a copy of your ID (yes, you are permitted by German law to give a copy of your ID to somebody else), the signed application form (available on DocDaten), and a complete and current list of your publications. The advantage of starting this process early is that at the time of submission of your thesis the referees have already been decided, which can save a few weeks of time. There is flexibility in when you submit this, if you think you need four weeks and it really takes five weeks until you can submit the thesis, this will not cause any problems.

DocDaten: https://www.docdaten.fau.de/gs/ - register ASAP. More important information can also be found at: https://www.fau.eu/graduate-centre/doctoral-degrees/ .

* For handing in the thesis at Freyeslebenstrasse 1: go to the entrance on the right as viewed from the road (not the one at the round building), second floor, hallway to the northwest. The office of doctoral affairs is behind the second glass door to the right (also counting the glass door to enter the hallway), room 02.4274

=Commuting from Erlangen=
==Carpool==
Contact person: Max, Nico

We coordinate commuting for the carpool via the app "MyCarpoolApp", which is available on Android and iOS. We use a group account with the name "Remeis Reloaded". The access password is Sternwartstr. 7 . By using "change user" in the menu you can create your user account. The fuel costs are shared equally by everybody in the car. In addition to the fuel costs there is a rate of 2.50€ per car per ride, which is also shared equally by everybody. This is used to reduce the driver's additional costs, like maintenance and such.

==Public transport==
On average there are two trains per hour between Bamberg and Erlangen. If you walk all the way from the Station to the observatory it will take you about 30\,minutes, but there is also a bus connection.
Bus line 901, for example, serves both the train station and the two nearest stops to the observatory (``Schranne'' and ``Schulplatz'').

=Lunch=
The observatory kitchen is equipped with an induction stove, a microwave, and tableware. You can store food in the fridge, but it is important everything has your name on it and that you clean out your old things every now and then.
Put dirty dishes in the dish washer, run it if it is full, and empty it out if you come to the kitchen and the cleaning cycle has finished. Some observatory members walk downtown for their lunch (mostly at about 12:30 pm), while the rest of them meet in the kitchen on the first floor at around noon.

=Coffee=
Contact person: Mar

In the kitchen on the first floor you'll find a Jura E60 coffee maker. If you need coffee, simply add your name to the list above the machine. Our coffee maker only makes coffee or espresso. There is also a separate milk frother in that kitchen. If you notice that we are almost out of coffee or milk, please tell the contact person or (even better) get some yourself and get reimbursed by the contact person. Please note that the coffee machine may only be used for making coffee, please use the kettle for making hot water.

=Remeis community=
Contact person: almost everybody

There is a unique community at the observatory, not only within the individual working groups, but also across the board. Special events are, e.g., the Christmas Party, Skiing in January, Canoeing in the summer and the FRANCI-Meeting with the ECAP and the Astronomy Group from Wuerzburg. Now and then, we organize evenings to watch movies, trips to the cinema, restaurants and bars in Bamberg or Erlangen. That does not happen automatically though and everybody (you too) can get involved. In the summertime there is a pool in the observatory's big garden and we regularly do barbecues. If you like cake you can join our Whatsapp group for cake orders. On their birthday most of the Remeis people bring a cake to share with everybody.

=Sponsoring association and guided tours=
Contact person: Ingo, Nico

The sponsoring association of Dr. Karl Remeis Observatory supports our observatory in preserving its historical collections and public relations. A big part of these public relations are guided tours, which are offered monthly and also on demand. If you are interested in spreading your enthusiasm for Astronomy and Astrophysics, you should a) become a member of the sponsoring association and
b) join our guided tours team! You will get paid by the sponsoring association for giving tours.

=Tutoring Astronomy Lab=
Contact person: Ekaterina

Remeis observatory offers an Astronomy lab course for students of FAU. As a member of the observatory you will be involved as a tutor of the Lab. You will be assigned to an experiment and will get information about your tasks from the senior tutors of the experiment. You can find general information about the Lab here: https://www.overleaf.com/read/bgyhynwngcdd#f0d7e0

[[Category:Current Members]][[Category:internal]]

Welcome Newbies

2026-02-10T12:32:11Z

Zalot: /* Webpages & email lists */

Welcome to Remeis-Observatory! Here are some relevant infos for everyone joining.

=Presence at the observatory and important meeting dates=
In general, in order to ensure that there are sufficient scientific interactions, all observatory members (BSc, MSc, PhD) are expected to be physically present at the observatory for three days per week. You can ask for permission to work from home during the remaining days. Due to insurance reasons this request needs to be made in writing and formally approved by your supervisor. You are also expected to attend the weekly group meetings in person.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| Stellar Astronomy || Prof. Ulrich Heber || Monday || 04:00 pm
|-
| Multiwavelength Astronomy || Prof. Manami Sasaki || Friday || 10:00 am
|-
| X-ray Astronomy || Prof. Joern Wilms || Tuesday || 10:00 am
|}

On Tuesdays at 11:30 am there is also the Astronomy Journal Club, where new papers from astronomy are presented in a friendly environment (https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Litclub).
All observatory members are expected to give at least one presentation per year in the club.

In addition there are weekly meetings for different projects, some of them as telephone conferences with other working groups, which are based inside or outside of Germany.

For work in Erlangen, the observatory has a large and very nice office in the ECAP building available. We recommend getting in touch with the other frequent users and joining the ECAP chat (https://chat.ecap.work/, login with your IDM account). It is also possible to join other groups for lunch (Caro can put you in touch with the neutrino people upon request).

All observatory members (BSc, MSc, PhD, ...) are expected to help with the student labs, typically four weeks each in March/early April and in September/October. This implies that you know you experiment and work on it well before the actual lab course. Student members will be remunerated for their help during the lab. You need to talk to your supervisor well in advance should you think about not being available during this time. In general, such requests for leave will only be accepted under extraordinary, job-related circumstances.

=Illness=

If you are ill - even if it is only a cold - talk to your supervisor and work from home. If you are seriously ill for more than two days, go to a Doctor and get a sick leave notice ("Krankschreibung"). Please inform Edith about this such that she can inform the personnel department that they can trigger the download of the sick leave notice. Do not believe your Dr. if they claim that this will happen automatically. We ''need'' to be informed by you!

=Safety=
Contact person: Ingo

The observatory is in general a very safe place to work. Nevertheless there are a few things you need to keep in mind. Once per year we have a safety instruction (attending is mandatory). Upon joining the institute you should watch the video of the last safety instruction at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/internal-area/internal-area-howto/.

=Webpages & email lists=
Contact person: Jakob, Max, Nico

The observatory's webpage is www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de, where you can also log in with your user name and password to get access to the internal part of the page and edit your user profile. You will also find useful information in our own Remeis-Wiki. A list of the e-mail lists should help to find the right contact person in case of problems. To be added to e-mail lists, you must contact the e-mail list admin (Max Lorenz).

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| ECAP (+ Observatory) || ecapmail@physik.uni-erlangen.de
|-
| Observatory || all@sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de
|-
| Multiwavelength Group || astro-multi@lists.fau.de
|-
| Stellar Group || stellar@sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de
|-
| X-ray Group || xray@sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de
|-
| Admins || admin@sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de
|-
| Telescope users || astro-observing@lists.fau.de
|-
| Social Media Team || astro-outreach@lists.fau.de
|-
| Guided Tour Admins || fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de
|}

In addition, we also have a Slack channel for quick queries and discussions within the group. You can join the same by asking someone in the group for an invite link.

Our observatory is also active on Social Media and has a Twitter (@DrRemeis) as well as an Instagram Account (@drremeis).

=The Remeis Cluster=
Contact person: admin@sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de

For your work at the observatory, you are provided with a desk and a computer, and access to our cluster for complex calculations. There are a few important things to consider: Data that should not be lost under any circumstances (e.g., scripts, theses) should be saved in your /home directory. Note, however, that the space available there is only a few GB. If you exceed your maximum storage limit, you will receive e-mails from the system. Do not ignore them. /home is backed up daily, and old data are kept for up to one year. Contact the admins if you need access to that. A folder under /userdata/data is also available for storage and meant for reproducible simulations/evaluation/data. There is no backup for /userdata, but failure is unlikely (RAID). While the storage there is very large, please use it sparingly nevertheless. If you want to run one or more time-consuming calculations, please use [[slurm]] (more information in the Remeis wiki). Please be aware that your workstation is part of a computing cluster. Switching off the computer or any other hardware modifications are not permitted. Your computer stays on 24/7, please log out when you leave such that others can use it while you are not there. If you have any problems, please contact the admins.

=Telescopes=
Contact person: Philipp W., Steven, Jakob, Martin

The observatory owns 40cm and 50cm reflector telescopes (in the domes). They are used for observations and experiments in the lab course and also during guided tours. If you are interested in using the telescopes in your free time, e.g., for astro photography, you can receive instructions on how to use them. You should also sign up on the email list for telescope users.

=Important information for PhD=
The information listed below is relevant for all new PhDs:
* The first person to discuss your questions with is your PhD advisor. They should all be aware of the formalities and requirements.
* The legal framework is well described in the Promotionsordnung of FAU and of the NatFak, and there is also a handout on the overall formalities that you will have to be aware of. All of these materials can be found at https://www.nat.fau.de/forschung/forschende/promotion/.
This page also contains a list of Frequently Asked Questions (top right part of the page), including many of the general questions that are asked concerning the formalities of the PhD, especially also in relation to cumulative theses.
* The specific framework within the Department of Physics is described in the Ausfuehrungsbestimmungen of the Department. Your advisors have a copy, and you can also access them directly by joining the studon group "Infos fuer Promovierende", https://www.studon.fau.de/studon/goto.php?target=grp_2684505. The group password is Promotion_Physik . The most important thing here is that these regulations explain the requirements for the (literal or paraphrased) inclusion of text from publication in the thesis manuscript as well as the procedure for preparing cumulative theses (i.e., get in contact with the Department more than a year before the planned submission in order to get an informal approval that your publication plan would result in something that is likely to be considered to be acceptable as a thesis).
* Templates for the top pages of theses according to the corporate design are available at https://www.intern.fau.de/kommunikation-und-marke/vorlagen/abschlussarbeiten/
* If you are close to submitting your thesis: Contrary to statements of the forms available on Docdaten and some rumors among people pursuing a PhD, you can start the procedure to initiate the doctoral procedure approximately four weeks BEFORE submitting the thesis. For this you only need your CV, a copy of your ID (yes, you are permitted by German law to give a copy of your ID to somebody else), the signed application form (available on DocDaten), and a complete and current list of your publications. The advantage of starting this process early is that at the time of submission of your thesis the referees have already been decided, which can save a few weeks of time. There is flexibility in when you submit this, if you think you need four weeks and it really takes five weeks until you can submit the thesis, this will not cause any problems.

DocDaten: https://www.docdaten.fau.de/gs/ - register ASAP. More important information can also be found at: https://www.fau.eu/graduate-centre/doctoral-degrees/ .

* For handing in the thesis at Freyeslebenstrasse 1: go to the entrance on the right as viewed from the road (not the one at the round building), second floor, hallway to the northwest. The office of doctoral affairs is behind the second glass door to the right (also counting the glass door to enter the hallway), room 02.4274

=Commuting from Erlangen=
==Carpool==
Contact person: Max, Nico

We coordinate commuting for the carpool via the app "MyCarpoolApp", which is available on Android and iOS. We use a group account with the name "Remeis Reloaded". The access password is Sternwartstr. 7 . By using "change user" in the menu you can create your user account. The fuel costs are shared equally by everybody in the car. In addition to the fuel costs there is a rate of 2.50€ per car per ride, which is also shared equally by everybody. This is used to reduce the driver's additional costs, like maintenance and such.

==Public transport==
On average there are two trains per hour between Bamberg and Erlangen. If you walk all the way from the Station to the observatory it will take you about 30\,minutes, but there is also a bus connection.
Bus line 901, for example, serves both the train station and the two nearest stops to the observatory (``Schranne'' and ``Schulplatz'').

=Lunch=
The observatory kitchen is equipped with an induction stove, a microwave, and tableware. You can store food in the fridge, but it is important everything has your name on it and that you clean out your old things every now and then.
Put dirty dishes in the dish washer, run it if it is full, and empty it out if you come to the kitchen and the cleaning cycle has finished. Some observatory members walk downtown for their lunch (mostly at about 12:30 pm), while the rest of them meet in the kitchen on the first floor at around noon.

=Coffee=
Contact person: Steven

In the kitchen on the first floor you'll find a Jura E60 coffee maker. If you need coffee, simply add your name to the list above the machine. Our coffee maker only makes coffee or espresso. There is also a separate milk frother in that kitchen. If you notice that we are almost out of coffee or milk, please tell the contact person or (even better) get some yourself and get reimbursed by the contact person. Please note that the coffee machine may only be used for making coffee, please use the kettle for making hot water.

=Remeis community=
Contact person: almost everybody

There is a unique community at the observatory, not only within the individual working groups, but also across the board. Special events are, e.g., the Christmas Party, Skiing in January, Canoeing in the summer and the FRANCI-Meeting with the ECAP and the Astronomy Group from Wuerzburg. Now and then, we organize evenings to watch movies, trips to the cinema, restaurants and bars in Bamberg or Erlangen. That does not happen automatically though and everybody (you too) can get involved. In the summertime there is a pool in the observatory's big garden and we regularly do barbecues. If you like cake you can join our Whatsapp group for cake orders. On their birthday most of the Remeis people bring a cake to share with everybody.

=Sponsoring association and guided tours=
Contact person: Ingo, Nico

The sponsoring association of Dr. Karl Remeis Observatory supports our observatory in preserving its historical collections and public relations. A big part of these public relations are guided tours, which are offered monthly and also on demand. If you are interested in spreading your enthusiasm for Astronomy and Astrophysics, you should a) become a member of the sponsoring association and
b) join our guided tours team! You will get paid by the sponsoring association for giving tours.

=Tutoring Astronomy Lab=
Contact person: Ekaterina

Remeis observatory offers an Astronomy lab course for students of FAU. As a member of the observatory you will be involved as a tutor of the Lab. You will be assigned to an experiment and will get information about your tasks from the senior tutors of the experiment. You can find general information about the Lab here: https://www.overleaf.com/read/bgyhynwngcdd#f0d7e0

[[Category:Current Members]][[Category:internal]]

Welcome Newbies

2026-02-10T12:30:25Z

Zalot: /* Presence at the observatory and important meeting dates */

Welcome to Remeis-Observatory! Here are some relevant infos for everyone joining.

=Presence at the observatory and important meeting dates=
In general, in order to ensure that there are sufficient scientific interactions, all observatory members (BSc, MSc, PhD) are expected to be physically present at the observatory for three days per week. You can ask for permission to work from home during the remaining days. Due to insurance reasons this request needs to be made in writing and formally approved by your supervisor. You are also expected to attend the weekly group meetings in person.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| Stellar Astronomy || Prof. Ulrich Heber || Monday || 04:00 pm
|-
| Multiwavelength Astronomy || Prof. Manami Sasaki || Friday || 10:00 am
|-
| X-ray Astronomy || Prof. Joern Wilms || Tuesday || 10:00 am
|}

On Tuesdays at 11:30 am there is also the Astronomy Journal Club, where new papers from astronomy are presented in a friendly environment (https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Litclub).
All observatory members are expected to give at least one presentation per year in the club.

In addition there are weekly meetings for different projects, some of them as telephone conferences with other working groups, which are based inside or outside of Germany.

For work in Erlangen, the observatory has a large and very nice office in the ECAP building available. We recommend getting in touch with the other frequent users and joining the ECAP chat (https://chat.ecap.work/, login with your IDM account). It is also possible to join other groups for lunch (Caro can put you in touch with the neutrino people upon request).

All observatory members (BSc, MSc, PhD, ...) are expected to help with the student labs, typically four weeks each in March/early April and in September/October. This implies that you know you experiment and work on it well before the actual lab course. Student members will be remunerated for their help during the lab. You need to talk to your supervisor well in advance should you think about not being available during this time. In general, such requests for leave will only be accepted under extraordinary, job-related circumstances.

=Illness=

If you are ill - even if it is only a cold - talk to your supervisor and work from home. If you are seriously ill for more than two days, go to a Doctor and get a sick leave notice ("Krankschreibung"). Please inform Edith about this such that she can inform the personnel department that they can trigger the download of the sick leave notice. Do not believe your Dr. if they claim that this will happen automatically. We ''need'' to be informed by you!

=Safety=
Contact person: Ingo

The observatory is in general a very safe place to work. Nevertheless there are a few things you need to keep in mind. Once per year we have a safety instruction (attending is mandatory). Upon joining the institute you should watch the video of the last safety instruction at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/internal-area/internal-area-howto/.

=Webpages & email lists=
Contact person: Jakob, Max, Nico

The observatory's webpage is www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de, where you can also log in with your user name and password to get access to the internal part of the page and edit your user profile. You will also find useful information in our own Remeis-Wiki. A list of the e-mail lists should help to find the right contact person in case of problems. To be added to e-mail lists, you must contact the e-mail list admin (Max Lorenz).

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| ECAP (+ Observatory) || ecapmail@physik.uni-erlangen.de
|-
| Observatory || all@sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de
|-
| Multiwavelength Group || astro-multi@lists.fau.de
|-
| Stellar Group || stellar@sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de
|-
| X-ray Group || xray@sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de
|-
| Admins || admin@sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de
|-
| Telescope users || astro-observing@lists.fau.de
|-
| Social Media Team || astro-outreach@lists.fau.de
|}

In addition, we also have a Slack channel for quick queries and discussions within the group. You can join the same by asking someone in the group for an invite link.

Our observatory is also active on Social Media and has a Twitter (@DrRemeis) as well as an Instagram Account (@drremeis).

=The Remeis Cluster=
Contact person: admin@sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de

For your work at the observatory, you are provided with a desk and a computer, and access to our cluster for complex calculations. There are a few important things to consider: Data that should not be lost under any circumstances (e.g., scripts, theses) should be saved in your /home directory. Note, however, that the space available there is only a few GB. If you exceed your maximum storage limit, you will receive e-mails from the system. Do not ignore them. /home is backed up daily, and old data are kept for up to one year. Contact the admins if you need access to that. A folder under /userdata/data is also available for storage and meant for reproducible simulations/evaluation/data. There is no backup for /userdata, but failure is unlikely (RAID). While the storage there is very large, please use it sparingly nevertheless. If you want to run one or more time-consuming calculations, please use [[slurm]] (more information in the Remeis wiki). Please be aware that your workstation is part of a computing cluster. Switching off the computer or any other hardware modifications are not permitted. Your computer stays on 24/7, please log out when you leave such that others can use it while you are not there. If you have any problems, please contact the admins.

=Telescopes=
Contact person: Philipp W., Steven, Jakob, Martin

The observatory owns 40cm and 50cm reflector telescopes (in the domes). They are used for observations and experiments in the lab course and also during guided tours. If you are interested in using the telescopes in your free time, e.g., for astro photography, you can receive instructions on how to use them. You should also sign up on the email list for telescope users.

=Important information for PhD=
The information listed below is relevant for all new PhDs:
* The first person to discuss your questions with is your PhD advisor. They should all be aware of the formalities and requirements.
* The legal framework is well described in the Promotionsordnung of FAU and of the NatFak, and there is also a handout on the overall formalities that you will have to be aware of. All of these materials can be found at https://www.nat.fau.de/forschung/forschende/promotion/.
This page also contains a list of Frequently Asked Questions (top right part of the page), including many of the general questions that are asked concerning the formalities of the PhD, especially also in relation to cumulative theses.
* The specific framework within the Department of Physics is described in the Ausfuehrungsbestimmungen of the Department. Your advisors have a copy, and you can also access them directly by joining the studon group "Infos fuer Promovierende", https://www.studon.fau.de/studon/goto.php?target=grp_2684505. The group password is Promotion_Physik . The most important thing here is that these regulations explain the requirements for the (literal or paraphrased) inclusion of text from publication in the thesis manuscript as well as the procedure for preparing cumulative theses (i.e., get in contact with the Department more than a year before the planned submission in order to get an informal approval that your publication plan would result in something that is likely to be considered to be acceptable as a thesis).
* Templates for the top pages of theses according to the corporate design are available at https://www.intern.fau.de/kommunikation-und-marke/vorlagen/abschlussarbeiten/
* If you are close to submitting your thesis: Contrary to statements of the forms available on Docdaten and some rumors among people pursuing a PhD, you can start the procedure to initiate the doctoral procedure approximately four weeks BEFORE submitting the thesis. For this you only need your CV, a copy of your ID (yes, you are permitted by German law to give a copy of your ID to somebody else), the signed application form (available on DocDaten), and a complete and current list of your publications. The advantage of starting this process early is that at the time of submission of your thesis the referees have already been decided, which can save a few weeks of time. There is flexibility in when you submit this, if you think you need four weeks and it really takes five weeks until you can submit the thesis, this will not cause any problems.

DocDaten: https://www.docdaten.fau.de/gs/ - register ASAP. More important information can also be found at: https://www.fau.eu/graduate-centre/doctoral-degrees/ .

* For handing in the thesis at Freyeslebenstrasse 1: go to the entrance on the right as viewed from the road (not the one at the round building), second floor, hallway to the northwest. The office of doctoral affairs is behind the second glass door to the right (also counting the glass door to enter the hallway), room 02.4274

=Commuting from Erlangen=
==Carpool==
Contact person: Max, Nico

We coordinate commuting for the carpool via the app "MyCarpoolApp", which is available on Android and iOS. We use a group account with the name "Remeis Reloaded". The access password is Sternwartstr. 7 . By using "change user" in the menu you can create your user account. The fuel costs are shared equally by everybody in the car. In addition to the fuel costs there is a rate of 2.50€ per car per ride, which is also shared equally by everybody. This is used to reduce the driver's additional costs, like maintenance and such.

==Public transport==
On average there are two trains per hour between Bamberg and Erlangen. If you walk all the way from the Station to the observatory it will take you about 30\,minutes, but there is also a bus connection.
Bus line 901, for example, serves both the train station and the two nearest stops to the observatory (``Schranne'' and ``Schulplatz'').

=Lunch=
The observatory kitchen is equipped with an induction stove, a microwave, and tableware. You can store food in the fridge, but it is important everything has your name on it and that you clean out your old things every now and then.
Put dirty dishes in the dish washer, run it if it is full, and empty it out if you come to the kitchen and the cleaning cycle has finished. Some observatory members walk downtown for their lunch (mostly at about 12:30 pm), while the rest of them meet in the kitchen on the first floor at around noon.

=Coffee=
Contact person: Steven

In the kitchen on the first floor you'll find a Jura E60 coffee maker. If you need coffee, simply add your name to the list above the machine. Our coffee maker only makes coffee or espresso. There is also a separate milk frother in that kitchen. If you notice that we are almost out of coffee or milk, please tell the contact person or (even better) get some yourself and get reimbursed by the contact person. Please note that the coffee machine may only be used for making coffee, please use the kettle for making hot water.

=Remeis community=
Contact person: almost everybody

There is a unique community at the observatory, not only within the individual working groups, but also across the board. Special events are, e.g., the Christmas Party, Skiing in January, Canoeing in the summer and the FRANCI-Meeting with the ECAP and the Astronomy Group from Wuerzburg. Now and then, we organize evenings to watch movies, trips to the cinema, restaurants and bars in Bamberg or Erlangen. That does not happen automatically though and everybody (you too) can get involved. In the summertime there is a pool in the observatory's big garden and we regularly do barbecues. If you like cake you can join our Whatsapp group for cake orders. On their birthday most of the Remeis people bring a cake to share with everybody.

=Sponsoring association and guided tours=
Contact person: Ingo, Nico

The sponsoring association of Dr. Karl Remeis Observatory supports our observatory in preserving its historical collections and public relations. A big part of these public relations are guided tours, which are offered monthly and also on demand. If you are interested in spreading your enthusiasm for Astronomy and Astrophysics, you should a) become a member of the sponsoring association and
b) join our guided tours team! You will get paid by the sponsoring association for giving tours.

=Tutoring Astronomy Lab=
Contact person: Ekaterina

Remeis observatory offers an Astronomy lab course for students of FAU. As a member of the observatory you will be involved as a tutor of the Lab. You will be assigned to an experiment and will get information about your tasks from the senior tutors of the experiment. You can find general information about the Lab here: https://www.overleaf.com/read/bgyhynwngcdd#f0d7e0

[[Category:Current Members]][[Category:internal]]

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2026-01-28T07:49:46Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Wednesday, 04.03.2026 at 11:30
| German
| Heidemann
| They requested TWO tours on one of the following days: 04.03., 05.03., 06.03., 25.03., 26.03. and 27.03. They requested that the groups be SPLIT, i.e. they require two guides per tour. Please let me know if you would like to give one of the tours and which dates you would be available at, I will coordinate the rest
| 2 adults, 29 children (aged 10)
| No
| 27.02.2026

|-
| Saturday, 09.05.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Spitznagel
| 2 guides required, but if only one guide found they will come with less people
| 40 adults
| Yes
| 13.03.2026

|}

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2026-01-12T09:45:35Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Saturday, 09.05.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Spitznagel
| 2 guides required, but if only one guide found they will come with less people
| 40 adults
| Yes
| 13.03.2026

|}

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2026-01-08T17:38:32Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Thursday, 05.02.2026 at 18:00
| English
| Dettmer (Uni Bamberg)
|
| 15 adults
| Yes
| 12.01.2026

|-
| Saturday, 09.05.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Spitznagel
| 2 guides required, but if only one guide found they will come with less people
| 40 adults
| Yes
| 13.03.2026

|}

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2025-12-19T15:55:43Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Monday, 19.01.2026 at 17:30
| German
| FOSBOS Bamberg
| Tour also possible on Jan 20 or Jan 21
| 20 adults
| Yes
| 07.01.2026

|-
| Thursday, 05.02.2026 at 18:00
| English
| Dettmer (Uni Bamberg)
|
| 15 adults
| Yes
| 12.01.2026

|-
| Saturday, 09.05.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Spitznagel
| 2 guides required, but if only one guide found they will come with less people
| 40 adults
| Yes
| 13.03.2026

|}

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2025-12-18T11:08:23Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Monday, 19.01.2026 at 17:30
| German
| FOSBOS Bamberg
| Tour also possible on Jan 20 or Jan 21
| 20 adults
| Yes
| 07.01.2026

|-
| Friday, 30.01.2026 at 17:30
| German
| Erzbistum Bamberg (Brunner)
| Tour also possible one week later on Feb 6 2026
| 5 adults, 20 children (aged 14)
| Yes
| 19.12.2025

|-
| Thursday, 05.02.2026 at 18:00
| English
| Dettmer (Uni Bamberg)
|
| 15 adults
| Yes
| 12.01.2026

|-
| Saturday, 09.05.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Spitznagel
| 2 guides required, but if only one guide found they will come with less people
| 40 adults
| Yes
| 13.03.2026

|}

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2025-12-16T11:53:54Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Monday, 19.01.2026 at 17:30
| German
| FOSBOS Bamberg
| Tour also possible on Jan 20 or Jan 21
| 20 adults
| Yes
| 07.01.2026

|-
| Friday, 30.01.2026 at 17:30
| German
| Erzbistum Bamberg (Brunner)
| Tour also possible one week later on Feb 6 2026
| 5 adults, 20 children (aged 14)
| Yes
| 19.12.2025

|-
| Thursday, 05.02.2026 at 18:00
| English
| Dettmer (Uni Bamberg)
| Tour also possible on Feb 12
| 15 adults
| Yes
| 12.01.2026

|-
| Saturday, 09.05.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Spitznagel
| 2 guides required, but if only one guide found they will come with less people
| 40 adults
| Yes
| 13.03.2026

|}

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2025-12-16T07:05:59Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Monday, 19.01.2026 at 17:30
| German
| FOSBOS Bamberg
| Tour also possible on Jan 20 or Jan 21
| 20 adults
| Yes
| 07.01.2026

|-
| Friday, 30.01.2026 at 17:30
| German
| Erzbistum Bamberg (Brunner)
| Tour also possible one week later on Feb 6 2026
| 5 adults, 20 children (aged 14)
| Yes
| 19.12.2025

|-
| Thursday, 05.02.2026 at 18:00
| English
| Dettmer (Uni Bamberg)
| Tour also possible on Feb 12
| 15 adults
| Yes
| 12.01.2026

|-
| Friday, 14.02.2025 at 18:00
| German or English
| Gsaenger
| Tour also possible on Feb 21
| 20 adults
| Yes
| 19.12.2025

|-
| Saturday, 09.05.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Spitznagel
| 2 guides required, but if only one guide found they will come with less people
| 40 adults
| Yes
| 13.03.2026

|}

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2025-12-12T13:55:50Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Monday, 19.01.2026 at 17:30
| German
| FOSBOS Bamberg
| Tour also possible on Jan 20 or Jan 21
| 20 adults
| Yes
| 07.01.2026

|-
| Friday, 30.01.2026 at 17:30
| German
| Erzbistum Bamberg (Brunner)
| Tour also possible one week later on Feb 6 2026
| 5 adults, 20 children (aged 14)
| Yes
| 19.12.2025

|-
| Friday, 14.02.2025 at 18:00
| German or English
| Gsaenger
| Tour also possible on Feb 21
| 20 adults
| Yes
| 19.12.2025

|-
| Saturday, 09.05.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Spitznagel
| 2 guides required, but if only one guide found they will come with less people
| 40 adults
| Yes
| 13.03.2026

|}

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2025-12-09T09:39:41Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Wednesday, 17.12.2025 at 09:30
| German
| Beckert (AWO)
| School kids
| 3 adults, 23 children (aged 10)
| No
| 12.12.2025

|-
| Monday, 19.01.2026 at 17:30
| German
| FOSBOS Bamberg
| Tour also possible on Jan 20 or Jan 21
| 20 adults
| Yes
| 07.01.2026

|-
| Friday, 30.01.2026 at 17:30
| German
| Erzbistum Bamberg (Brunner)
| Tour also possible one week later on Feb 6 2026
| 5 adults, 20 children (aged 14)
| Yes
| 19.12.2025

|-
| Friday, 14.02.2025 at 18:00
| German or English
| Gsaenger
| Tour also possible on Feb 21
| 20 adults
| Yes
| 19.12.2025

|-
| Saturday, 09.05.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Spitznagel
| 2 guides required, but if only one guide found they will come with less people
| 40 adults
| Yes
| 13.03.2026

|}

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2025-12-05T07:32:50Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Wednesday, 17.12.2025 at 09:30
| German
| Beckert (AWO)
| School kids
| 3 adults, 23 children (aged 10)
| No
| 12.12.2025

|-
| Monday, 19.01.2026 at 17:30
| German
| FOSBOS Bamberg
| Tour also possible on Jan 20 or Jan 21
| 20 adults
| Yes
| 07.01.2026

|-
| Friday, 30.01.2026 at 17:30
| German
| Erzbistum Bamberg (Brunner)
| Tour also possible one week later on Feb 6 2026
| 5 adults, 20 children (aged 14)
| Yes
| 19.12.2025

|-
| Saturday, 09.05.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Spitznagel
| 2 guides required, but if only one guide found they will come with less people
| 40 adults
| Yes
| 13.03.2026

|}

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2025-11-28T11:37:54Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Monday, 19.01.2026 at 17:30
| German
| FOSBOS Bamberg
| Tour also possible on Jan 20 or Jan 21
| 20 adults
| Yes
| 07.01.2026

|-
| Friday, 30.01.2026 at 17:30
| German
| Erzbistum Bamberg (Brunner)
| Tour also possible one week later on Feb 6 2026
| 5 adults, 20 children (aged 14)
| Yes
| 19.12.2025

|-
| Saturday, 09.05.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Spitznagel
| 2 guides required, but if only one guide found they will come with less people
| 40 adults
| Yes
| 13.03.2026

|}

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2025-11-27T11:35:40Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Monday, 19.01.2026 at 17:30
| German
| FOSBOS Bamberg
| Tour also possible on Jan 20 or Jan 21
| 20 adults
| Yes
| 07.01.2026

|-
| Friday, 30.01.2026 at 17:30
| German
| Erzbistum Bamberg (Brunner)
| Tour also possible one week later on Feb 6 2026
| 5 adults, 20 children (aged 14)
| Yes
| 19.12.2025

|-
| Saturday, 31.01.2026 at 14:00
| German
| Soeldner
| Tour also possible on Feb 7 or Feb 14, later times in afternoon also possible
| 4 adults, 2 children (aged 7-8)
| No
| 19.12.2025

|-
| Saturday, 09.05.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Spitznagel
| 2 guides required, but if only one guide found they will come with less people
| 40 adults
| Yes
| 13.03.2026

|}

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2025-11-27T11:35:33Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Monday, 19.01.2026 at 17:30
| German
| FOSBOS Bamberg
| Tour also possible on Jan 20 or Jan 21
| 20 adults
| Yes
| 07.01.2026

|-
| Friday, 30.01.2026 at 17:30
| German
| Erzbistum Bamberg (Brunner)
| Tour also possible one week later on Feb 6 2026
| 5 adults, 20 children (aged 14)
| Yes
| 19.12.2025

|-
| Saturday, 31.01.2026 at 14:00
| German
| Soeldner
| Tour also possible on Feb 7 or Feb 14, later times in afternoon also possible
| 4 adults, 2 children (aged 7-8)
| No
| 19.12.2025

|-
| Saturday, 09.05.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Spitznagel
| 2 guides required, but if only one guide found they will come with less people
| 40 adults
| Yes
| 13.03.2026

|}

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2025-11-26T07:05:44Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Monday, 19.01.2026 at 17:30
| German
| FOSBOS Bamberg
| Tour also possible on Jan 20 or Jan 21
| 20 adults
| Yes
| 07.01.2026

|-
| Friday, 30.01.2026 at 17:30
| German
| Erzbistum Bamberg (Brunner)
| Tour also possible one week later on Feb 6 2026
| 5 adults, 20 children (aged 14)
| Yes
| 19.12.2025

|-
| Saturday, 09.05.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Spitznagel
| 2 guides required, but if only one guide found they will come with less people
| 40 adults
| Yes
| 13.03.2026

|}

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2025-11-13T11:22:54Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Monday, 20.10.2025 at 08:15
| German
| Fischer
| Tour for school class, tour possible on most Mondays between 8:15-10:15AM, suggested dates: 20.10., 29.10., 10.11., 12.11., 17.11, 24.11. or 26.11
| 2 adults, 25 children (aged 10-11)
| No
| 20.10.2025

|-
| Monday, 19.01.2026 at 17:30
| German
| FOSBOS Bamberg
| Tour also possible on Jan 20 or Jan 21
| 20 adults
| Yes
| 07.01.2026

|-
| Friday, 30.01.2026 at 17:30
| German
| Erzbistum Bamberg (Brunner)
| Tour also possible one week later on Feb 6 2026
| 5 adults, 20 children (aged 14)
| Yes
| 19.12.2025

|-
| Saturday, 09.05.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Spitznagel
| 2 guides required, but if only one guide found they will come with less people
| 40 adults
| Yes
| 13.03.2026

|}

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2025-11-05T12:39:27Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Monday, 20.10.2025 at 08:15
| German
| Fischer
| Tour for school class, tour possible on most Mondays between 8:15-10:15AM, suggested dates: 20.10., 29.10., 10.11., 12.11., 17.11, 24.11. or 26.11
| 2 adults, 25 children (aged 10-11)
| No
| 20.10.2025

|-
| Monday, 19.01.2026 at 17:30
| German
| FOSBOS Bamberg
| Tour also possible on Jan 20 or Jan 21
| 20 adults
| Yes
| 07.01.2026

|-
| Saturday, 09.05.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Spitznagel
| 2 guides required, but if only one guide found they will come with less people
| 40 adults
| Yes
| 13.03.2026

|}

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2025-11-05T12:07:36Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Monday, 20.10.2025 at 08:15
| German
| Fischer
| Tour for school class, tour possible on most Mondays between 8:15-10:15AM, suggested dates: 20.10., 29.10., 10.11., 12.11., 17.11, 24.11. or 26.11
| 2 adults, 25 children (aged 10-11)
| No
| 20.10.2025

|-
| Saturday, 22.11.2025 at 19:00
| English
| Grooten
| Tour also possible on 23.11., 06.12., 07.12., 20.12., 21.12. or even January
| 2 adults
| Yes
| 14.11.2025

|-
| Monday, 19.01.2026 at 17:30
| German
| FOSBOS Bamberg
| Tour also possible on Jan 20 or Jan 21
| 20 adults
| Yes
| 07.01.2026

|-
| Saturday, 09.05.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Spitznagel
| 2 guides required, but if only one guide found they will come with less people
| 40 adults
| Yes
| 13.03.2026

|}

Remeis English Checklist

2025-11-04T09:38:19Z

Zalot: updated link to A&A tex guide as well

====== The Remeis English Checklist ======

(by J. Wilms and K. Pottschmidt)

'''''First of all and most importantly:'''''

* did you read the instructions to authors of the journal? If you are working on a thesis, did you read [https://www.aanda.org/images/stories/author/AA_English-Guide.pdf those of Astronomy and Astrophysics] and the [https://www.aanda.org/for-authors/latex-issues/latex-examples TeX instructions], which is part of the Astronomy and Astrophysics package?
* did you read appendix A of the [https://journals.aps.org/files/rmpguide.pdf instructions to authors] of Rev Mod Phys?

==== Punctuation ====

* did you remove all commas before "that"?
* did you end your footnotes and captions with a full stop (".")?
* did you make sure that your use of "data" is correct and uses plural verbs?
* did you make sure that you do not have a ":" anywhere before an equation, but that your equations are seen as part of your sentences?
* did you make sure that you have commas surrounding "i.e." and "e.g."?

==== Spelling and Word usage ====

* do you consistently use either British or American spelling?
* did you run a spell checker over your manuscript? For TeX, use "ispell" or the built in spell checker in emacs.
* did you make sure not to use country prefixes in addresses in the author list?
* did you avoid passive voice as much as possible?
* did you make sure that you are //not// using "The found results are..." and similar German constructs in your text?
* did you make sure that everything in your text that is not your original result is accompanied by proper citations?
* did you make sure that you distinguish between "estimate" and "estimation" by replacing all "estimation" with "estimate"?
* did you replace all uses of "exemplary" by "example"?
* did you replace all uses of "dependency" by "dependence"?
* did you use "short" for length intervals and "brief" for time intervals? (but note that "short of duration" is correct)
* did you replace all uses of "the actual value" by "the real value"? (if you are German, "actual" does not mean "aktuell"!)
* did you remove all uses of "hence" and "thereby"?
* did you make sure that you use "however" as sparingly as possible?
* did you make sure that you did not use "the equation reads..", but rather used "the equation is..." or "the equation is given by..."?
* did you avoid split infinitives? ("to boldly go..." is wrong; yes, in many cases split infinitives are ok in current English, but they tend to be so often used wrongly by non-native speakers that it is best to avoid them)
* did you make sure that you distinguish properly between "this" and "these"?
* did you make use of the "Oxford comma", i.e., do you have a comma before "and" in lists?
* did you use "i.e." and "e.g." correctly, i.e., using "i.e." for a specific clarification or definition and "e.g." where you would otherwise use "for example"?
* did you use the IAU recommended year - month - day sequences (2016 March 15)?
* did you make sure that you did not use contractions such as "didn't" or "you're"?
* did you replace "cf." with "see" everywhere since you know that "cf." means "compare"?
* did you ensure that you use "opportunity" where in German you would be using "Chance" or "Gelegenheit" (and did not use "chance"...)?
* did you make sure that the reader will understand what thing you refer to when using "it" rather than naming it?
* did you make sure that all uses of "this" are followed by the object you are referring to?
* did you use "led" rather than "lead" when using the past tense of the verb "to lead"?
* did you reread the manuscript for internal consistency after you added comments from your coauthors?
* did you make sure that your sentences are short (rule of thumb: if a sentence goes over more than three lines it is probably too long)?
* did you check that you did not combine two sentences that could be separate sentences with "and"?
* did you avoid abbreviations as much as possible and only used them when they are really, really common (HST, AGN, XMM,...)?
* did you check that you defined all abbreviations that you used at their first usage? ("...Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN)..." //not// "...AGN (Active Galactic Nucleus)..." )

==== Citations ====

* did you add the journal to all publications where you list the arXiv-reference and not just blindly copy the erroneous ADS bibtex entry?
* did you make sure that you distinguished between arXiv references where a paper is submitted and references where a paper is already accepted by checking the paper author's comment on the arXiv-page for that article?
* did you remove the page number for all ATEL-references downloaded from ADS and changed the journal name to "Astron. Tel." or "ATEL"? (and similar for IAU telegrams)
* did you add editors and the title of the conference publication to all conference publications?
* did you add the publisher and place information (city only) to all books, conference publications, and other book-like publications that you are citing?
* did you check that your references are correct in that you are using ''\citet{biblabel}'' for references in the text and ''\citep{biblabel}'' for references in parentheses?
* did you make sure that none of your ''\citet{..}'' commands refer to more than one biblabel?
* [added by O. Koenig: did you make sure all SPIE references have an address? (you may want to follow this procedure: go to NASA ADS to get bibtex entry (<code>@inproceedings</code>!), put the entry of "booktitle" into "series", put <code>booktitle = procspie</code> (there should be a <code>@STRING{procspie = "Proc. SPIE."}</code> in <code>mnemonic.bib</code>, go to the SPIE webpage of the paper, get the address, and insert it by hand. A MWE could be <code>@INPROCEEDINGS{Doehring2015a, author = {{D{\"o}hring}, T. and {...}, title = "{The challenge of developing thin mirror shells for future x-ray telescopes}", series = {Optical Systems Design 2015: Optical Fabrication, Testing, and Metrology V}, year = 2015, editor = {{Duparr}, A. and {Geyl}, R.}, booktitle = procspie, volume = {9628}, address = {Jena, Germany}, pages = {962809}}</code>)]

==== Typesetting (mainly in TeX) ====

* did you check for missing spaces between values and units?
* did you make sure that all scientific units are typeset in <code>\mathrm</code>?
* did you make sure not to use constructs such as <code>$\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{s}$</code> by using <code>$\mathrm{m}\,\mathrm{s}^{-1}$</code> instead?
* did you make sure that almost all of your error bars are rounded up to only one significant digit rather than following the DIN-norm (which is not applied in astronomical journals)?
* did you make sure that you are not using any positioning commands for the table or figure environment such as <code>\begin{table}[htpb]</code>?
* did you make sure that your tables have captions above the table, and figures have captions below the figure or next to it (where allowed by the style)?
* did you make sure that you use empty lines to denote the start of a new paragraph rather than the ''\\''-command? (use <code>\parindent{0pt}</code> if you do not want to indent paragraphs)
* did you make sure that there are no paragraph endings above or below <code>\begin{equation}...\end{equation}</code> by ensuring that there is no empty line above or below the ''equation''-environment?
* did you make sure that you are not using <code>$\frac{a}{b}$</code> in normal text, but use <code>$a/b$</code> instead?
* did you make sure that you are not using the <code>displaymath</code>-environment and that all equations are numbered?
* did you make sure that all of your sections, subsections, paragraphs and so on are numbered?
* did you avoid any and all uses of <code>\bf</code>, <code>\it</code>, <code>\sl</code>, or <code>\em</code> and use the proper commands <code>\textbf</code>, <code>\textit</code>, <code>\textsl</code>, and <code>\emph</code> instead?
* did you use the en-dash of TeX for ranges, even if they occur in math, by using <code>--</code> in text mode rather than a minus sign? (that is, did you typeset a range in an equation as <code>$3x$--$5x$</code> or <code>$3x\mbox{--}5x$</code> rather than, erroneously, <code>$3x-5x$</code>?
* did you correctly use the minus-sign and dashes in astronomical source names, where the name contains coordinates and the <q>dash</q> really is a southern declination or Galactic latitude, that is, did you typeset <code>Her X-1</code>, <code>LMC X-3</code>, but <code>GX\,339$-$4</code> or <code>IGR J16318$-$4848</code> (and as a really difficult one: <code>MCG$-$6-30-15</code>)?
** as a side note: When the first part of the source name is a constellation name (e.g., Her X-1) it should be followed by a full space (<code>~</code>), while if the first part of the source name is a catalog (GX, 4U, 2RXS), it should be followed by a half-space (<code>\,</code>).
* did you make sure to typeset hydrogen equivalent columns as <code>$N_\mathrm{H}$</code> rather than $n_H$ or $n_\mathrm{H}$? (note: in astronomy, $n$ denotes a particle density, so it has units of particles per cubic centimeter, while N is a column with units of particles per square centimeter; a certain analysis program uses nH for this parameter, but this does not mean that n should be used in papers).

[[Category:Current Members]]

Remeis English Checklist

2025-11-04T09:36:22Z

Zalot: updated link for english guide

====== The Remeis English Checklist ======

(by J. Wilms and K. Pottschmidt)

'''''First of all and most importantly:'''''

* did you read the instructions to authors of the journal? If you are working on a thesis, did you read those of Astronomy and Astrophysics on [https://www.aanda.org/images/stories/author/AA_English-Guide.pdf] and the TeX instructions in file aadoc.pdf, which is part of the Astronomy and Astrophysics package?
* did you read appendix A of the [https://journals.aps.org/files/rmpguide.pdf instructions to authors] of Rev Mod Phys?

==== Punctuation ====

* did you remove all commas before "that"?
* did you end your footnotes and captions with a full stop (".")?
* did you make sure that your use of "data" is correct and uses plural verbs?
* did you make sure that you do not have a ":" anywhere before an equation, but that your equations are seen as part of your sentences?
* did you make sure that you have commas surrounding "i.e." and "e.g."?

==== Spelling and Word usage ====

* do you consistently use either British or American spelling?
* did you run a spell checker over your manuscript? For TeX, use "ispell" or the built in spell checker in emacs.
* did you make sure not to use country prefixes in addresses in the author list?
* did you avoid passive voice as much as possible?
* did you make sure that you are //not// using "The found results are..." and similar German constructs in your text?
* did you make sure that everything in your text that is not your original result is accompanied by proper citations?
* did you make sure that you distinguish between "estimate" and "estimation" by replacing all "estimation" with "estimate"?
* did you replace all uses of "exemplary" by "example"?
* did you replace all uses of "dependency" by "dependence"?
* did you use "short" for length intervals and "brief" for time intervals? (but note that "short of duration" is correct)
* did you replace all uses of "the actual value" by "the real value"? (if you are German, "actual" does not mean "aktuell"!)
* did you remove all uses of "hence" and "thereby"?
* did you make sure that you use "however" as sparingly as possible?
* did you make sure that you did not use "the equation reads..", but rather used "the equation is..." or "the equation is given by..."?
* did you avoid split infinitives? ("to boldly go..." is wrong; yes, in many cases split infinitives are ok in current English, but they tend to be so often used wrongly by non-native speakers that it is best to avoid them)
* did you make sure that you distinguish properly between "this" and "these"?
* did you make use of the "Oxford comma", i.e., do you have a comma before "and" in lists?
* did you use "i.e." and "e.g." correctly, i.e., using "i.e." for a specific clarification or definition and "e.g." where you would otherwise use "for example"?
* did you use the IAU recommended year - month - day sequences (2016 March 15)?
* did you make sure that you did not use contractions such as "didn't" or "you're"?
* did you replace "cf." with "see" everywhere since you know that "cf." means "compare"?
* did you ensure that you use "opportunity" where in German you would be using "Chance" or "Gelegenheit" (and did not use "chance"...)?
* did you make sure that the reader will understand what thing you refer to when using "it" rather than naming it?
* did you make sure that all uses of "this" are followed by the object you are referring to?
* did you use "led" rather than "lead" when using the past tense of the verb "to lead"?
* did you reread the manuscript for internal consistency after you added comments from your coauthors?
* did you make sure that your sentences are short (rule of thumb: if a sentence goes over more than three lines it is probably too long)?
* did you check that you did not combine two sentences that could be separate sentences with "and"?
* did you avoid abbreviations as much as possible and only used them when they are really, really common (HST, AGN, XMM,...)?
* did you check that you defined all abbreviations that you used at their first usage? ("...Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN)..." //not// "...AGN (Active Galactic Nucleus)..." )

==== Citations ====

* did you add the journal to all publications where you list the arXiv-reference and not just blindly copy the erroneous ADS bibtex entry?
* did you make sure that you distinguished between arXiv references where a paper is submitted and references where a paper is already accepted by checking the paper author's comment on the arXiv-page for that article?
* did you remove the page number for all ATEL-references downloaded from ADS and changed the journal name to "Astron. Tel." or "ATEL"? (and similar for IAU telegrams)
* did you add editors and the title of the conference publication to all conference publications?
* did you add the publisher and place information (city only) to all books, conference publications, and other book-like publications that you are citing?
* did you check that your references are correct in that you are using ''\citet{biblabel}'' for references in the text and ''\citep{biblabel}'' for references in parentheses?
* did you make sure that none of your ''\citet{..}'' commands refer to more than one biblabel?
* [added by O. Koenig: did you make sure all SPIE references have an address? (you may want to follow this procedure: go to NASA ADS to get bibtex entry (<code>@inproceedings</code>!), put the entry of "booktitle" into "series", put <code>booktitle = procspie</code> (there should be a <code>@STRING{procspie = "Proc. SPIE."}</code> in <code>mnemonic.bib</code>, go to the SPIE webpage of the paper, get the address, and insert it by hand. A MWE could be <code>@INPROCEEDINGS{Doehring2015a, author = {{D{\"o}hring}, T. and {...}, title = "{The challenge of developing thin mirror shells for future x-ray telescopes}", series = {Optical Systems Design 2015: Optical Fabrication, Testing, and Metrology V}, year = 2015, editor = {{Duparr}, A. and {Geyl}, R.}, booktitle = procspie, volume = {9628}, address = {Jena, Germany}, pages = {962809}}</code>)]

==== Typesetting (mainly in TeX) ====

* did you check for missing spaces between values and units?
* did you make sure that all scientific units are typeset in <code>\mathrm</code>?
* did you make sure not to use constructs such as <code>$\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{s}$</code> by using <code>$\mathrm{m}\,\mathrm{s}^{-1}$</code> instead?
* did you make sure that almost all of your error bars are rounded up to only one significant digit rather than following the DIN-norm (which is not applied in astronomical journals)?
* did you make sure that you are not using any positioning commands for the table or figure environment such as <code>\begin{table}[htpb]</code>?
* did you make sure that your tables have captions above the table, and figures have captions below the figure or next to it (where allowed by the style)?
* did you make sure that you use empty lines to denote the start of a new paragraph rather than the ''\\''-command? (use <code>\parindent{0pt}</code> if you do not want to indent paragraphs)
* did you make sure that there are no paragraph endings above or below <code>\begin{equation}...\end{equation}</code> by ensuring that there is no empty line above or below the ''equation''-environment?
* did you make sure that you are not using <code>$\frac{a}{b}$</code> in normal text, but use <code>$a/b$</code> instead?
* did you make sure that you are not using the <code>displaymath</code>-environment and that all equations are numbered?
* did you make sure that all of your sections, subsections, paragraphs and so on are numbered?
* did you avoid any and all uses of <code>\bf</code>, <code>\it</code>, <code>\sl</code>, or <code>\em</code> and use the proper commands <code>\textbf</code>, <code>\textit</code>, <code>\textsl</code>, and <code>\emph</code> instead?
* did you use the en-dash of TeX for ranges, even if they occur in math, by using <code>--</code> in text mode rather than a minus sign? (that is, did you typeset a range in an equation as <code>$3x$--$5x$</code> or <code>$3x\mbox{--}5x$</code> rather than, erroneously, <code>$3x-5x$</code>?
* did you correctly use the minus-sign and dashes in astronomical source names, where the name contains coordinates and the <q>dash</q> really is a southern declination or Galactic latitude, that is, did you typeset <code>Her X-1</code>, <code>LMC X-3</code>, but <code>GX\,339$-$4</code> or <code>IGR J16318$-$4848</code> (and as a really difficult one: <code>MCG$-$6-30-15</code>)?
** as a side note: When the first part of the source name is a constellation name (e.g., Her X-1) it should be followed by a full space (<code>~</code>), while if the first part of the source name is a catalog (GX, 4U, 2RXS), it should be followed by a half-space (<code>\,</code>).
* did you make sure to typeset hydrogen equivalent columns as <code>$N_\mathrm{H}$</code> rather than $n_H$ or $n_\mathrm{H}$? (note: in astronomy, $n$ denotes a particle density, so it has units of particles per cubic centimeter, while N is a column with units of particles per square centimeter; a certain analysis program uses nH for this parameter, but this does not mean that n should be used in papers).

[[Category:Current Members]]

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2025-10-30T11:27:35Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Monday, 20.10.2025 at 08:15
| German
| Fischer
| Tour for school class, tour possible on most Mondays between 8:15-10:15AM, suggested dates: 20.10., 29.10., 10.11., 12.11., 17.11, 24.11. or 26.11
| 2 adults, 25 children (aged 10-11)
| No
| 20.10.2025

|-
| Monday, 19.01.2026 at 17:30
| German
| FOSBOS Bamberg
| Tour also possible on Jan 20 or Jan 21
| 20 adults
| Yes
| 07.01.2026

|-
| Saturday, 09.05.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Spitznagel
| 2 guides required, but if only one guide found they will come with less people
| 40 adults
| Yes
| 13.03.2026

|}

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2025-10-28T09:15:19Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Monday, 20.10.2025 at 08:15
| German
| Fischer
| Tour for school class, tour possible on most Mondays between 8:15-10:15AM, suggested dates: 20.10., 29.10., 10.11., 12.11., 17.11, 24.11. or 26.11
| 2 adults, 25 children (aged 10-11)
| No
| 20.10.2025

|-
| Friday, 28.11.2025 at 16:00
| German
| Dombauhütte Bamberg (Först)
| Tour ALSO possible on 05.12., 12.12. or 19.12.; they want 2 SPLIT tours at 4PM and them 5:30PM, possible to do for the same guide (i.e. double pay for you) or two different guides. They are also flexible time-wise, shifting to earlier or later is possible. Group is highly motivated.
| 40 adults
| Yes
| 31.10.2025

|-
| Monday, 19.01.2026 at 17:30
| German
| FOSBOS Bamberg
| Tour also possible on Jan 20 or Jan 21
| 20 adults
| Yes
| 07.01.2026

|-
| Saturday, 09.05.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Spitznagel
| 2 guides required, but if only one guide found they will come with less people
| 40 adults
| Yes
| 13.03.2026

|}

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2025-10-27T09:13:46Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Monday, 20.10.2025 at 08:15
| German
| Fischer
| Tour for school class, tour possible on most Mondays between 8:15-10:15AM, suggested dates: 20.10., 29.10., 10.11., 12.11., 17.11, 24.11. or 26.11
| 2 adults, 25 children (aged 10-11)
| No
| 20.10.2025

|-
| Friday, 28.11.2025 at 16:00
| German
| Dombauhütte Bamberg (Först)
| Tour ALSO possible on 05.12., 12.12. or 19.12.; they want 2 SPLIT tours at 4PM and them 5:30PM, possible to do for the same guide (i.e. double pay for you) or two different guides. They are also flexible time-wise, shifting to earlier or later is possible. Group is highly motivated.
| 40 adults
| Yes
| 31.10.2025

|-
| Saturday, 09.05.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Spitznagel
| 2 guides required, but if only one guide found they will come with less people
| 40 adults
| Yes
| 13.03.2026

|}

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2025-10-20T11:29:58Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Monday, 20.10.2025 at 08:15
| German
| Fischer
| Tour for school class, tour possible on most Mondays between 8:15-10:15AM, suggested dates: 20.10., 29.10., 10.11., 12.11., 17.11, 24.11. or 26.11
| 2 adults, 25 children (aged 10-11)
| No
| 20.10.2025

|-
| Saturday, 09.05.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Spitznagel
| 2 guides required, but if only one guide found they will come with less people
| 40 adults
| Yes
| 13.03.2026

|}

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2025-10-20T11:29:15Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Monday, 20.10.2025 at 08:15
| German
| Fischer
| Tour for school class, tour possible on most Mondays between 8:15-10:15AM, suggested dates: 20.10., 29.10., 10.11., 12.11., 17.11, 24.11. or 26.11
| 2 adults, 25 children (aged 10-11)
| No
| 20.10.2025

|-
| Tuesday, 09.06.2026 at 21:00
| German
| Spitznagel
| 2 guides required, but if only one guide found they will come with less people
| 40 adults
| Yes
| 13.03.2026

|}

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2025-10-20T09:02:07Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Monday, 20.10.2025 at 08:15
| German
| Fischer
| Tour for school class, tour possible on most Mondays between 8:15-10:15AM, suggested dates: 20.10., 29.10., 10.11., 12.11., 17.11, 24.11. or 26.11
| 2 adults, 25 children (aged 10-11)
| No
| 20.10.2025

|}

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2025-10-20T08:34:12Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Monday, 20.10.2025 at 08:15
| German
| Fischer
| Tour for school class, tour possible on most Mondays between 8:15-10:15AM, suggested dates: 20.10., 29.10., 10.11., 12.11., 17.11, 24.11. or 26.11
| 2 adults, 25 children (aged 10-11)
| No
| 20.10.2025

|-
| Friday, 05.12.2025 at 16:00
| German
| Labisch
|
| 25 adults
| Yes
| 31.10.2025
|}

PhD Hat Caro

2025-10-16T10:18:11Z

Zalot: /* Hat table! */

[[Category:internal]]
=Ideas for Caro's PhD hat go here! =

- obviously something with steam locomotives, maybe get a small paper version for the hat?

- Slurm queue printout?

- something about tea, teapots (e.g. a metric of a teapot?)
(can be merged with her pottery hobby, maybe a coffee mug?)

- a open fire with a turnable Nico figure above the flame

- rotating fish and brainrot memes

- DPREAO president including laws, Kim Jung Un meme, battle and war with anti-dpreao coalition

- a hammock maybe as a tassel?

- a little banana pizza?

- wanted signs for slurm offenders with a nerf stuck on it (USE 4GB RAM MACHINES)

- french press / fancy coffee

- maybe we can add all this ideas as a DPREAO city with a locomotive train as a transport, with a embassy(with Caro's Kim Jung meme representing our great dictator?), tea/coffee shops and with tassels (like slurm printouts, hammock, pizza etc.)?

- A papier-mâché cup and a cat in it (harkening to her pottery hobby)

= First Meeting! =

- Defense will be on Oct 28, 12:00

- train tracks on the hat and on its side out of wire and ice cream sticks

- Next meeting: October 6 3PM Remeis conference roon

- Nico has to build HAT

Train stops:
- locomotive paper model, supernova-colored smoke, compartment, barbecue, rotating fish and Nico on grill LEA and KATRIN
- DPREAO embassy (picture of Caro Jong Un, plastic plant, DPREAO rules, social credit system) NICO
- Hammock (tassel, can be attached to the other corner, magnets) AAFIA
- Rolled-up Slurm queue (tassel, NERF gun and Slurm "rules", draco and leo), favorite nodes (fornax,bootes,telescopium, ...), only person who used antlia PHILIPP
- Behringersmühle train station (https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dampfbahn.net%2FVeranstaltung%2F&psig=AOvVaw1hCmF7TTlCoHuQK-D5yN72&ust=1758633854871000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBUQjRxqFwoTCJDVkuO77I8DFQAAAAAdAAAAABAV) CHRISTIAN
- Observatory train station (outline of observatory, popup, french press with image of James Hoffmann/St. James image, hole in hat or image of balcony hole on underside) NICO
- Small letterbox with letters to LMU stuffed in it (overflowing) JAKOB
- Image of Caro with weird smile STEVEN
- ECAP coin resembling ECAP coffee break PHILIPP L.
- Käseecke Erlangen, vom Fass MAX
- find all the circles children's book (Dora The Explorer?) MAR
- miniature litchi, 2 papayas and banana in fruit basket AAFIA
- spherical (banana?) pizza/planck FEDERICO
- sailboat course? small paper boat EDWIN
- miniature rubiks cube (different faces: James, Minkowski, Caro Face, Nico Face, Caro Jong Un, Ria) PHILIPP T.
- Rails (wire, toothpicks/skewers) ALL during assembly
- Papier-mâché cat and cup SHRUTI
- Burnt cover page of thesis (Katya)

- LMU people never responded to her emails

- photos on cylinder? --> FAUbox (Nico will setup), hammock image!

- James Hoffmann tribute

- Apple Juice tribute? (Small juice box?)

- ECAP Plörre?

= 2nd meeting! =

Defense date confirmed: Tuesday, Oct 28 at 12:00

Image of Caro with burning thesis?

DO NOT BURN sign inside of hat (https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.shutterstock.com%2Fsearch%2Fno-open-burning&psig=AOvVaw1U-L03fmA6XPsETLaYomzR&ust=1759842874605000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBUQjRxqFwoTCIj_5dzTj5ADFQAAAAAdAAAAABAS)

Banner with Evil Face: Steven ordered it, will arrive end of this week. 80€, please let Steven know if you want to chip in.

Figure out how many rails are required the week before.

= Hat table! =

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
!Item
!People
!Notes

|-
| locomotive paper model
| Lea and Katrin
| supernova-colored smoke, compartment, barbecue, rotating fish and Nico on grill

|-
| DPREAO embassy
| Martin, Hetali & Nico
| picture of Caro Jong Un, plastic plant, DPREAO rules, social credit system

|-
| Hammock
| Aafia
| tassel, can be attached to the other corner, magnets

|-
| Behringsmuehle Train Station Sign
| Christian
| [https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dampfbahn.net%2FVeranstaltung%2F&psig=AOvVaw1hCmF7TTlCoHuQK-D5yN72&ust=1758633854871000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBUQjRxqFwoTCJDVkuO77I8DFQAAAAAdAAAAABAV Image]

|-
| Observatory
| Karan, Shruti and Nico
| Outline of observatory, popup, french press with image of James Hoffmann/St. James image, hole in hat or image of balcony hole on underside

|-
| Small letterbox with letters to LMU stuffed in it (overflowing
| Jakob
|

|-
| Image of Caro with weird smile
| Steven
|

|-
| Käseecke Erlangen / Vom Fass
| Max
|

|-
| Children's book
| Mar
| Find all the circles children's book

|-
| Miniature litchi,
| Aafia
| 2 papayas and banana in fruit basket

|-
| Spherical Pizza
| Federico
| Banana pizza?

|-
| Paper boat
| Edwin
| In reference to sailboat course

|-
| Miniature Rubik's cube
| Philipp T.
| Different faces: James, Minkowski, Caro Face, Nico Face, Caro Jong Un, Ria)

|-
| Rails
| all
| during assembly, wires, toothpicks, skewers

|-
| Paper-mâché cat and cup
| Shruti
|

|-
| Burnt thesis cover page
| Katya
|
|}

Hat assembly: Monday, Oct 27 at 6PM

= For party =
- Make the recipes in the thesis?

PhD Hat Caro

2025-10-16T10:17:46Z

Zalot: /* Hat table! */

[[Category:internal]]
=Ideas for Caro's PhD hat go here! =

- obviously something with steam locomotives, maybe get a small paper version for the hat?

- Slurm queue printout?

- something about tea, teapots (e.g. a metric of a teapot?)
(can be merged with her pottery hobby, maybe a coffee mug?)

- a open fire with a turnable Nico figure above the flame

- rotating fish and brainrot memes

- DPREAO president including laws, Kim Jung Un meme, battle and war with anti-dpreao coalition

- a hammock maybe as a tassel?

- a little banana pizza?

- wanted signs for slurm offenders with a nerf stuck on it (USE 4GB RAM MACHINES)

- french press / fancy coffee

- maybe we can add all this ideas as a DPREAO city with a locomotive train as a transport, with a embassy(with Caro's Kim Jung meme representing our great dictator?), tea/coffee shops and with tassels (like slurm printouts, hammock, pizza etc.)?

- A papier-mâché cup and a cat in it (harkening to her pottery hobby)

= First Meeting! =

- Defense will be on Oct 28, 12:00

- train tracks on the hat and on its side out of wire and ice cream sticks

- Next meeting: October 6 3PM Remeis conference roon

- Nico has to build HAT

Train stops:
- locomotive paper model, supernova-colored smoke, compartment, barbecue, rotating fish and Nico on grill LEA and KATRIN
- DPREAO embassy (picture of Caro Jong Un, plastic plant, DPREAO rules, social credit system) NICO
- Hammock (tassel, can be attached to the other corner, magnets) AAFIA
- Rolled-up Slurm queue (tassel, NERF gun and Slurm "rules", draco and leo), favorite nodes (fornax,bootes,telescopium, ...), only person who used antlia PHILIPP
- Behringersmühle train station (https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dampfbahn.net%2FVeranstaltung%2F&psig=AOvVaw1hCmF7TTlCoHuQK-D5yN72&ust=1758633854871000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBUQjRxqFwoTCJDVkuO77I8DFQAAAAAdAAAAABAV) CHRISTIAN
- Observatory train station (outline of observatory, popup, french press with image of James Hoffmann/St. James image, hole in hat or image of balcony hole on underside) NICO
- Small letterbox with letters to LMU stuffed in it (overflowing) JAKOB
- Image of Caro with weird smile STEVEN
- ECAP coin resembling ECAP coffee break PHILIPP L.
- Käseecke Erlangen, vom Fass MAX
- find all the circles children's book (Dora The Explorer?) MAR
- miniature litchi, 2 papayas and banana in fruit basket AAFIA
- spherical (banana?) pizza/planck FEDERICO
- sailboat course? small paper boat EDWIN
- miniature rubiks cube (different faces: James, Minkowski, Caro Face, Nico Face, Caro Jong Un, Ria) PHILIPP T.
- Rails (wire, toothpicks/skewers) ALL during assembly
- Papier-mâché cat and cup SHRUTI
- Burnt cover page of thesis (Katya)

- LMU people never responded to her emails

- photos on cylinder? --> FAUbox (Nico will setup), hammock image!

- James Hoffmann tribute

- Apple Juice tribute? (Small juice box?)

- ECAP Plörre?

= 2nd meeting! =

Defense date confirmed: Tuesday, Oct 28 at 12:00

Image of Caro with burning thesis?

DO NOT BURN sign inside of hat (https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.shutterstock.com%2Fsearch%2Fno-open-burning&psig=AOvVaw1U-L03fmA6XPsETLaYomzR&ust=1759842874605000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBUQjRxqFwoTCIj_5dzTj5ADFQAAAAAdAAAAABAS)

Banner with Evil Face: Steven ordered it, will arrive end of this week. 80€, please let Steven know if you want to chip in.

Figure out how many rails are required the week before.

= Hat table! =

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
!Item
!People
!Notes

|-
| locomotive paper model
| Lea and Katrin
| supernova-colored smoke, compartment, barbecue, rotating fish and Nico on grill

|-
| DPREAO embassy
| Martin & Nico
| picture of Caro Jong Un, plastic plant, DPREAO rules, social credit system

|-
| Hammock
| Aafia
| tassel, can be attached to the other corner, magnets

|-
| Behringsmuehle Train Station Sign
| Christian
| [https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dampfbahn.net%2FVeranstaltung%2F&psig=AOvVaw1hCmF7TTlCoHuQK-D5yN72&ust=1758633854871000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBUQjRxqFwoTCJDVkuO77I8DFQAAAAAdAAAAABAV Image]

|-
| Observatory
| Karan, Shruti and Nico
| Outline of observatory, popup, french press with image of James Hoffmann/St. James image, hole in hat or image of balcony hole on underside

|-
| Small letterbox with letters to LMU stuffed in it (overflowing
| Jakob
|

|-
| Image of Caro with weird smile
| Steven
|

|-
| Käseecke Erlangen / Vom Fass
| Max
|

|-
| Children's book
| Mar
| Find all the circles children's book

|-
| Miniature litchi,
| Aafia
| 2 papayas and banana in fruit basket

|-
| Spherical Pizza
| Federico
| Banana pizza?

|-
| Paper boat
| Edwin
| In reference to sailboat course

|-
| Miniature Rubik's cube
| Philipp T.
| Different faces: James, Minkowski, Caro Face, Nico Face, Caro Jong Un, Ria)

|-
| Rails
| all
| during assembly, wires, toothpicks, skewers

|-
| Paper-mâché cat and cup
| Shruti
|

|-
| Burnt thesis cover page
| Katya
|
|}

Hat assembly: Monday, Oct 27 at 6PM

= For party =
- Make the recipes in the thesis?

PhD Hat Caro

2025-10-14T13:17:23Z

Zalot: /* Hat table! */

[[Category:internal]]
=Ideas for Caro's PhD hat go here! =

- obviously something with steam locomotives, maybe get a small paper version for the hat?

- Slurm queue printout?

- something about tea, teapots (e.g. a metric of a teapot?)
(can be merged with her pottery hobby, maybe a coffee mug?)

- a open fire with a turnable Nico figure above the flame

- rotating fish and brainrot memes

- DPREAO president including laws, Kim Jung Un meme, battle and war with anti-dpreao coalition

- a hammock maybe as a tassel?

- a little banana pizza?

- wanted signs for slurm offenders with a nerf stuck on it (USE 4GB RAM MACHINES)

- french press / fancy coffee

- maybe we can add all this ideas as a DPREAO city with a locomotive train as a transport, with a embassy(with Caro's Kim Jung meme representing our great dictator?), tea/coffee shops and with tassels (like slurm printouts, hammock, pizza etc.)?

- A papier-mâché cup and a cat in it (harkening to her pottery hobby)

= First Meeting! =

- Defense will be on Oct 28, 12:00

- train tracks on the hat and on its side out of wire and ice cream sticks

- Next meeting: October 6 3PM Remeis conference roon

- Nico has to build HAT

Train stops:
- locomotive paper model, supernova-colored smoke, compartment, barbecue, rotating fish and Nico on grill LEA and KATRIN
- DPREAO embassy (picture of Caro Jong Un, plastic plant, DPREAO rules, social credit system) NICO
- Hammock (tassel, can be attached to the other corner, magnets) AAFIA
- Rolled-up Slurm queue (tassel, NERF gun and Slurm "rules", draco and leo), favorite nodes (fornax,bootes,telescopium, ...), only person who used antlia PHILIPP
- Behringersmühle train station (https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dampfbahn.net%2FVeranstaltung%2F&psig=AOvVaw1hCmF7TTlCoHuQK-D5yN72&ust=1758633854871000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBUQjRxqFwoTCJDVkuO77I8DFQAAAAAdAAAAABAV) CHRISTIAN
- Observatory train station (outline of observatory, popup, french press with image of James Hoffmann/St. James image, hole in hat or image of balcony hole on underside) NICO
- Small letterbox with letters to LMU stuffed in it (overflowing) JAKOB
- Image of Caro with weird smile STEVEN
- ECAP coin resembling ECAP coffee break PHILIPP L.
- Käseecke Erlangen, vom Fass MAX
- find all the circles children's book (Dora The Explorer?) MAR
- miniature litchi, 2 papayas and banana in fruit basket AAFIA
- spherical (banana?) pizza/planck FEDERICO
- sailboat course? small paper boat EDWIN
- miniature rubiks cube (different faces: James, Minkowski, Caro Face, Nico Face, Caro Jong Un, Ria) PHILIPP T.
- Rails (wire, toothpicks/skewers) ALL during assembly
- Papier-mâché cat and cup SHRUTI
- Burnt cover page of thesis (Katya)

- LMU people never responded to her emails

- photos on cylinder? --> FAUbox (Nico will setup), hammock image!

- James Hoffmann tribute

- Apple Juice tribute? (Small juice box?)

- ECAP Plörre?

= 2nd meeting! =

Defense date confirmed: Tuesday, Oct 28 at 12:00

Image of Caro with burning thesis?

DO NOT BURN sign inside of hat (https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.shutterstock.com%2Fsearch%2Fno-open-burning&psig=AOvVaw1U-L03fmA6XPsETLaYomzR&ust=1759842874605000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBUQjRxqFwoTCIj_5dzTj5ADFQAAAAAdAAAAABAS)

Banner with Evil Face: Steven ordered it, will arrive end of this week. 80€, please let Steven know if you want to chip in.

Figure out how many rails are required the week before.

= Hat table! =

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
!Item
!People
!Notes

|-
| locomotive paper model
| Lea and Katrin
| supernova-colored smoke, compartment, barbecue, rotating fish and Nico on grill

|-
| DPREAO embassy
| Martin & Nico
| picture of Caro Jong Un, plastic plant, DPREAO rules, social credit system

|-
| Hammock
| Aafia
| tassel, can be attached to the other corner, magnets

|-
| Behringsmuehle Train Station Sign
| Christian
| [https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dampfbahn.net%2FVeranstaltung%2F&psig=AOvVaw1hCmF7TTlCoHuQK-D5yN72&ust=1758633854871000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBUQjRxqFwoTCJDVkuO77I8DFQAAAAAdAAAAABAV Image]

|-
| Observatory
| Karan, Shruti and Nico
| Outline of observatory, popup, french press with image of James Hoffmann/St. James image, hole in hat or image of balcony hole on underside

|-
| Small letterbox with letters to LMU stuffed in it (overflowing
| Jakob
|

|-
| Image of Caro with weird smile
| Steven

|}

-
-
-
-
-
-
- Käseecke Erlangen, vom Fass MAX
- find all the circles children's book (Dora The Explorer?) MAR
- miniature litchi, 2 papayas and banana in fruit basket AAFIA
- spherical (banana?) pizza/planck FEDERICO
- sailboat course? small paper boat EDWIN
- miniature rubiks cube (different faces: James, Minkowski, Caro Face, Nico Face, Caro Jong Un, Ria) PHILIPP T.
- Rails (wire, toothpicks/skewers) ALL during assembly
- Papier-mâché cat and cup SHRUTI
- Burnt cover page of thesis (Katya)

Hat assembly: Monday, Oct 27 at 6PM

= For party =
- Make the recipes in the thesis?

PhD Hat Caro

2025-10-14T13:13:10Z

Zalot:

[[Category:internal]]
=Ideas for Caro's PhD hat go here! =

- obviously something with steam locomotives, maybe get a small paper version for the hat?

- Slurm queue printout?

- something about tea, teapots (e.g. a metric of a teapot?)
(can be merged with her pottery hobby, maybe a coffee mug?)

- a open fire with a turnable Nico figure above the flame

- rotating fish and brainrot memes

- DPREAO president including laws, Kim Jung Un meme, battle and war with anti-dpreao coalition

- a hammock maybe as a tassel?

- a little banana pizza?

- wanted signs for slurm offenders with a nerf stuck on it (USE 4GB RAM MACHINES)

- french press / fancy coffee

- maybe we can add all this ideas as a DPREAO city with a locomotive train as a transport, with a embassy(with Caro's Kim Jung meme representing our great dictator?), tea/coffee shops and with tassels (like slurm printouts, hammock, pizza etc.)?

- A papier-mâché cup and a cat in it (harkening to her pottery hobby)

= First Meeting! =

- Defense will be on Oct 28, 12:00

- train tracks on the hat and on its side out of wire and ice cream sticks

- Next meeting: October 6 3PM Remeis conference roon

- Nico has to build HAT

Train stops:
- locomotive paper model, supernova-colored smoke, compartment, barbecue, rotating fish and Nico on grill LEA and KATRIN
- DPREAO embassy (picture of Caro Jong Un, plastic plant, DPREAO rules, social credit system) NICO
- Hammock (tassel, can be attached to the other corner, magnets) AAFIA
- Rolled-up Slurm queue (tassel, NERF gun and Slurm "rules", draco and leo), favorite nodes (fornax,bootes,telescopium, ...), only person who used antlia PHILIPP
- Behringersmühle train station (https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dampfbahn.net%2FVeranstaltung%2F&psig=AOvVaw1hCmF7TTlCoHuQK-D5yN72&ust=1758633854871000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBUQjRxqFwoTCJDVkuO77I8DFQAAAAAdAAAAABAV) CHRISTIAN
- Observatory train station (outline of observatory, popup, french press with image of James Hoffmann/St. James image, hole in hat or image of balcony hole on underside) NICO
- Small letterbox with letters to LMU stuffed in it (overflowing) JAKOB
- Image of Caro with weird smile STEVEN
- ECAP coin resembling ECAP coffee break PHILIPP L.
- Käseecke Erlangen, vom Fass MAX
- find all the circles children's book (Dora The Explorer?) MAR
- miniature litchi, 2 papayas and banana in fruit basket AAFIA
- spherical (banana?) pizza/planck FEDERICO
- sailboat course? small paper boat EDWIN
- miniature rubiks cube (different faces: James, Minkowski, Caro Face, Nico Face, Caro Jong Un, Ria) PHILIPP T.
- Rails (wire, toothpicks/skewers) ALL during assembly
- Papier-mâché cat and cup SHRUTI
- Burnt cover page of thesis (Katya)

- LMU people never responded to her emails

- photos on cylinder? --> FAUbox (Nico will setup), hammock image!

- James Hoffmann tribute

- Apple Juice tribute? (Small juice box?)

- ECAP Plörre?

= 2nd meeting! =

Defense date confirmed: Tuesday, Oct 28 at 12:00

Image of Caro with burning thesis?

DO NOT BURN sign inside of hat (https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.shutterstock.com%2Fsearch%2Fno-open-burning&psig=AOvVaw1U-L03fmA6XPsETLaYomzR&ust=1759842874605000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBUQjRxqFwoTCIj_5dzTj5ADFQAAAAAdAAAAABAS)

Banner with Evil Face: Steven ordered it, will arrive end of this week. 80€, please let Steven know if you want to chip in.

Figure out how many rails are required the week before.

= Hat table! =

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
!Item
!People
!Notes

|-
| locomotive paper model
| Lea and Katrin
| supernova-colored smoke, compartment, barbecue, rotating fish and Nico on grill

|-
| DPREAO embassy
| Martin & Nico
| picture of Caro Jong Un, plastic plant, DPREAO rules, social credit system

|-
| Hammock
| Aafia
| tassel, can be attached to the other corner, magnets

|-
| Behringsmuehle Train Station Sign
| Christian
| [https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dampfbahn.net%2FVeranstaltung%2F&psig=AOvVaw1hCmF7TTlCoHuQK-D5yN72&ust=1758633854871000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBUQjRxqFwoTCJDVkuO77I8DFQAAAAAdAAAAABAV Image]

|-
| Observatory
| Karan, Shruti and Nico
| Outline of observatory, popup, french press with image of James Hoffmann/St. James image, hole in hat or image of balcony hole on underside

|-
| Small letterbox with letters to LMU stuffed in it (overflowing
| Jakob
|

|-
| Image of Caro with weird smile
| Steven
|

|}

-
-
-
-
-
-
- Käseecke Erlangen, vom Fass MAX
- find all the circles children's book (Dora The Explorer?) MAR
- miniature litchi, 2 papayas and banana in fruit basket AAFIA
- spherical (banana?) pizza/planck FEDERICO
- sailboat course? small paper boat EDWIN
- miniature rubiks cube (different faces: James, Minkowski, Caro Face, Nico Face, Caro Jong Un, Ria) PHILIPP T.
- Rails (wire, toothpicks/skewers) ALL during assembly
- Papier-mâché cat and cup SHRUTI
- Burnt cover page of thesis (Katya)

Hat assembly: Monday, Oct 27 at 6PM

= For party =
- Make the recipes in the thesis?

PhD Hat Caro

2025-10-14T13:07:43Z

Zalot:

[[Category:internal]]
=Ideas for Caro's PhD hat go here! =

- obviously something with steam locomotives, maybe get a small paper version for the hat?

- Slurm queue printout?

- something about tea, teapots (e.g. a metric of a teapot?)
(can be merged with her pottery hobby, maybe a coffee mug?)

- a open fire with a turnable Nico figure above the flame

- rotating fish and brainrot memes

- DPREAO president including laws, Kim Jung Un meme, battle and war with anti-dpreao coalition

- a hammock maybe as a tassel?

- a little banana pizza?

- wanted signs for slurm offenders with a nerf stuck on it (USE 4GB RAM MACHINES)

- french press / fancy coffee

- maybe we can add all this ideas as a DPREAO city with a locomotive train as a transport, with a embassy(with Caro's Kim Jung meme representing our great dictator?), tea/coffee shops and with tassels (like slurm printouts, hammock, pizza etc.)?

- A papier-mâché cup and a cat in it (harkening to her pottery hobby)

= First Meeting! =

- Defense will be on Oct 28, 12:00

- train tracks on the hat and on its side out of wire and ice cream sticks

- Next meeting: October 6 3PM Remeis conference roon

- Nico has to build HAT

Train stops:
- locomotive paper model, supernova-colored smoke, compartment, barbecue, rotating fish and Nico on grill LEA and KATRIN
- DPREAO embassy (picture of Caro Jong Un, plastic plant, DPREAO rules, social credit system) NICO
- Hammock (tassel, can be attached to the other corner, magnets) AAFIA
- Rolled-up Slurm queue (tassel, NERF gun and Slurm "rules", draco and leo), favorite nodes (fornax,bootes,telescopium, ...), only person who used antlia PHILIPP
- Behringersmühle train station (https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dampfbahn.net%2FVeranstaltung%2F&psig=AOvVaw1hCmF7TTlCoHuQK-D5yN72&ust=1758633854871000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBUQjRxqFwoTCJDVkuO77I8DFQAAAAAdAAAAABAV) CHRISTIAN
- Observatory train station (outline of observatory, popup, french press with image of James Hoffmann/St. James image, hole in hat or image of balcony hole on underside) NICO
- Small letterbox with letters to LMU stuffed in it (overflowing) JAKOB
- Image of Caro with weird smile STEVEN
- ECAP coin resembling ECAP coffee break PHILIPP L.
- Käseecke Erlangen, vom Fass MAX
- find all the circles children's book (Dora The Explorer?) MAR
- miniature litchi, 2 papayas and banana in fruit basket AAFIA
- spherical (banana?) pizza/planck FEDERICO
- sailboat course? small paper boat EDWIN
- miniature rubiks cube (different faces: James, Minkowski, Caro Face, Nico Face, Caro Jong Un, Ria) PHILIPP T.
- Rails (wire, toothpicks/skewers) ALL during assembly
- Papier-mâché cat and cup SHRUTI
- Burnt cover page of thesis (Katya)

- LMU people never responded to her emails

- photos on cylinder? --> FAUbox (Nico will setup), hammock image!

- James Hoffmann tribute

- Apple Juice tribute? (Small juice box?)

- ECAP Plörre?

= 2nd meeting! =

Defense date confirmed: Tuesday, Oct 28 at 12:00

Image of Caro with burning thesis?

DO NOT BURN sign inside of hat (https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.shutterstock.com%2Fsearch%2Fno-open-burning&psig=AOvVaw1U-L03fmA6XPsETLaYomzR&ust=1759842874605000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBUQjRxqFwoTCIj_5dzTj5ADFQAAAAAdAAAAABAS)

Banner with Evil Face: Steven ordered it, will arrive end of this week. 80€, please let Steven know if you want to chip in.

Figure out how many rails are required the week before.

= Hat table! =

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
!Item
!People
!Notes

|-
| locomotive paper model
| Lea and Katrin
| supernova-colored smoke, compartment, barbecue, rotating fish and Nico on grill

|-
| DPREAO embassy
| Martin & Nico
| picture of Caro Jong Un, plastic plant, DPREAO rules, social credit system

|}

- Hammock (tassel, can be attached to the other corner, magnets) AAFIA
- Rolled-up Slurm queue (tassel, NERF gun and Slurm "rules", draco and leo), favorite nodes (fornax,bootes,telescopium, ...), only person who used antlia PHILIPP
- Behringersmühle train station (https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dampfbahn.net%2FVeranstaltung%2F&psig=AOvVaw1hCmF7TTlCoHuQK-D5yN72&ust=1758633854871000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBUQjRxqFwoTCJDVkuO77I8DFQAAAAAdAAAAABAV) CHRISTIAN
- Observatory train station (outline of observatory, popup, french press with image of James Hoffmann/St. James image, hole in hat or image of balcony hole on underside) NICO
- Small letterbox with letters to LMU stuffed in it (overflowing) JAKOB
- Image of Caro with weird smile STEVEN
- ECAP coin resembling ECAP coffee break PHILIPP L.
- Käseecke Erlangen, vom Fass MAX
- find all the circles children's book (Dora The Explorer?) MAR
- miniature litchi, 2 papayas and banana in fruit basket AAFIA
- spherical (banana?) pizza/planck FEDERICO
- sailboat course? small paper boat EDWIN
- miniature rubiks cube (different faces: James, Minkowski, Caro Face, Nico Face, Caro Jong Un, Ria) PHILIPP T.
- Rails (wire, toothpicks/skewers) ALL during assembly
- Papier-mâché cat and cup SHRUTI
- Burnt cover page of thesis (Katya)

Hat assembly: Monday, Oct 27 at 6PM

= For party =
- Make the recipes in the thesis?

Guided Tours and Public Outreach

2025-10-08T07:09:05Z

Zalot: /* Tours looking for a guide */

[[Category:internal]]
On this pages you can find all information needed to guide a tour through our observatory for public people.

= General =

Tours are officially '''organized''' by the [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de Foerderverein of the observatory], but '''operated''' by the observatory staff to be insured through the university!

The main platform for the general public is [http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen http://foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de/fuehrungen].

Here, tours can be ordered in two different ways:
* single persons and smaller groups can directly book public and regular guided tours via our webform at https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/guided-tours/
* larger groups may directly ask for a tour at a separate date either by email to [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de] or by phone. All guided tour administrators have access to that email inbox.

The source code of the webform for booking a public tour can be found in the GIT repository at 
[https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/gitlab/webmaster/guided-tours]. 
All pushes to the master branch are automatically deployed at the official URL above!

== Mailing List / Current "staff" ==

All people interested in giving guided tours are member of the '''internal''' mailing list
[mailto:astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de astro-fuehrungen@lists.fau.de], '''please do not share this address with externals.
If you're not on the list but interested in giving tours, just ask Max to add you :-)

New tours are announced via this list. See [[Mailing lists]] for the list administrator.

In charge of organization:
* Nico
* Katrin (Backup and mentor :-)
* Lea (Backup)

Currently, the following people give tours on a regular basis:
* Steven
* Christian
* Aafia
* Amy
* Philipp T.
* Alexey
* Martin
* Nico

= Tip policy =

Starting in 2025, there are fixed "prices" for guided tours called "Unkostenbeitrag" (expense contribution). As a guide you get at least 35 euros and in case of tours on weekends or with observing even more.
The group is informed beforehand their expected expense contribution and asked to transfer the money to the Foerderverein. After the tour, you will get reimbursed by Ingo via bank transfer.

For public tours please collect donations at the beginning of the tour. Participants are notified via email of an expected donation of 5 euros.
After giving a public tour please execute the file <code>/home/zalot/publictip.py</code> and follow the instructions :-)

= Offering Tours =

At some point you're perhaps asked to give a tour or if it is possible to have one on a specific date. The latter might occur if Edith is out of her office and her telephone is redirected. In those cases you should know ''and'' check following things:
* '''Who is asking''' for a tour? If you're on the phone ask for a name and write down the phone number where the person can be called!
* The '''number of people should be between 15 and 25'''. Of course, the boundary conditions depend on the person guiding the tour. In a case of doubt, ask the guide or, if none is found yet, you simply can't promise that there will be a tour! In that case you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (and call the person back), but again don't make any promises! A list of people offering tours can be found below.
* What is the '''average age of the persons attending''' the tour? That's an important point since the content of a tour differs between children and adults, of course. Furthermore some guides have favorite age groups!
* Carefully check the '''date and time of the tour'''!
** It's most likely to find a guide if the weekday of a tour is '''between Monday and Thursday'''. Friday might work if it is before noon, otherwise people might be on the way into the weekend. In all other cases you may offer to look for a guide giving the tour anyway (see the point about the group size above).
** Make sure that there is '''no tour scheduled already'''! For that look into our online calendar (the link can be found below) and on the whiteboard in the copying machine office.
** Related to the last point ensure that there is '''no lab course''' running at the date! The lab course is also marked in our online calendar.
** Usually, a tour will take '''about 1.5 to 2 hours'''.
* See [[Guided Tours and Public Outreach#Tip policy]] for information on the "price" of guided tours.
* '''Observing with our telescopes''' is possible, of course, but only in case of '''night and cloudless weather'''! No kidding, some people are not aware of these facts... ("The day is too bright to see stars.", "I'm sorry, we can't look trough the clouds.", "The weather forecast is too uncertain, we can't promise.") Please check if someone else has already signed in for one of the telescopes on the day/night of the guided tour! '''IMPORTANT:''' Be aware that you are not allowed to operate the telescopes on you own, there ALWAYS has to be at least a second person around. To assure that, you either have to have a second person from the observatory present (at least in the main building) or you have to set up AND disassemble everything while the people from the tour are there. Otherwise no observations are allowed to take place!
* If all the above points are clarified '''mark the tour''' in our [https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/calendar/ online calendar] and the whiteboard in the copying machine office. You have to be at a machine at the observatory to have access to the online calendar (to be more precisely: you're machine has to have an internal IP-address). The entry into the online calendar, besides the date and time, should include "for whom is the tour and the group size, contact person and phone number, name of the guide giving the tour". The whiteboard template is as follows: "date, for whom is the tour, time, guide"

= Giving a tour =

Each tour has several stations, where you can show things or talk to the people. Useful information and experiences about that is listed below. It might be helpful as well to read the article about [[intern:Popular_science:start|popular science]] in case you want or have to (if somebody asks) explain scientific aspects.

Note that there is also a separate page about guided tour stations: https://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/wiki/index.php/Guided_tour_stations

== Preparation ==

'''Before the tour'''
* Shut the doors of all offices in the main building (at least on the ground level) for several reasons: people are not allowed to walk in there and some of us are still working there during tours!
* Remove the northern hemisphere from the model of the inner solar system located in the entrance hall (you may put it into the Knigge room)
* Switch the lights on you need:
** entrance hall
** meteorite showcase (switch is on the right next to it)
** hallway to the meridian building; here are multiple switches
*** main light: right next to the door of the hallway or the backdoor of the main building (labeled "Meridian")
*** info panels: on the opposite wall to the door next to the blue cupboard
*** showcases and Blinkkomparator: in the cutout box up the few stairs on the right wall close to the library, labeled "Linke Steckdosen"
* In case of observations
** make sure that you are '''never''' alone in the domes! There always have to be at least two people present.
** carry the needed oculars into the domes (for observations with the naked eye, the 40cm telescope is strongly recommended)
** do __not__ open the domes (first, it might start raining while nobody is there, and it's more fun for you to let the people do it)
** do __not__ remove the dust covers of the telescopes (wait until the dome has been opened)
** read the [[remeis:start|guide how to operate the telescopes and mountings]]
** after observing: shut down the telescope mounting, put the dust covers back on and close the domes
* In case of showing nice pictures
** make sure enough chairs are available
** switch on the beamer in the library, log into the machine and start your presentation, picture-viewer, ...

'''After the tour'''
* Switch the lights off
* Logout of the used machines and switch the beamer off
* Put on the dust covers of the telescopes in the hallway
* Protect the photo plates on the Blinkkomparator from getting dusty
* '''Move the entry from the whiteboard''' in the copying machine office '''to the list attached to the pin-board''' next to it

== Material and Presentations ==
*Collected information valuable for guided tours: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours'' and ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*A merger of (picture/video) presentations given at guided tours: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.odp''

* Presentations & notes on using the CHT during tours: ''/home/thalhammer/userdata/guided_tours/''

*and according videos in ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/videos/''

*Research and activities at Remeis from the radio to the gamma-rays (Tobi Beuchert): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/observations_allwavelength_remeisresearch_beuchert.pdf''

*A presentation showing the astrophotography done at the observatory: ''/data/media/slideshow_astrophotographie/optische_Quellen.pdf''

*A video tour with Joern: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Joerns_example_tour''

*A video tour with Uli (only hallway): ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Ulis_example_tour_hall_2019''

*A complete tour by Sebastian Müller: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Sebastians_example_tour''

*Presentations for tours by Andrea Gokus: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material'' Contains presentations about the solar system (solar_system.pdf), neutrinos (neutrino_talk.pdf), overview of different objet types (impressions_universe.pdf)

*Andreas tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Andrea_tour_material/Sternwarten_Fuehrungsnotizen.pdf''

*Amys tour notes: ''/data/media/presentations_for_guided_tours/Guided_Tour_Information_Amy.pdf''

*Tobis tour notes: ''/userdata/data/beuchert/work/teaching/guidedtour/presentation/guidedtour.pdf''

*Information on clocks: ''/data/media/history/2009-01_KlassikUhren_Poehlmann_Max_Ort.pdf''

*Information on history of the observatory and the collection: ''/data/media/history/AstronomischeSammlung.pdf''

*History of the observatory (Litten): ''/data/media/history/Litten-1.pdf'' ''/data/media/history/Litten-2.pdf''

*Last will of Dr. Karl Remeis: ''/data/media/history/Testament_Karl_Remeis.pdf''

*Die Remeis-Sternwarte zu Bamberg 1889-1939, E. Zinner: [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1939VeBam...4....1Z&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf ADS]

== Picture presentation ==

There are different modes for the beamer (e.g. presentation, videos, graphics etc.) which result in a different appearance of the images. Make sure to select a presentation mode in which the pictures appear in an appropriate brightness on the screen. (I think "graphics" was a good one).

== Telescopes in the domes ==
It's nice to show the main mirror to the people so that they can see themselves. To do so, just turn down the telescope in declination. This is only possible for the 40cm as the 50cm-Mount has a mechanical stop.

Sometimes people want to know what we do with the tiny, little telescopes attached on the side of the big ones. Those are guiding-scopes. You can attach a camera to them and let it take pictures of one star. If the star moves (what it shouldn't do) a correction signal is sent to the mount to compensate the movement of the star. Stars can "move" in an image for example due to impreciseness of the mount.

The (dusty) plate in front of the 40cm mirror is called "Schmid-Platte". It is used to improve the imaging of the telescope and to correct several errors of the mirrors like coma and field-curvature. As it is very sensitive to scratching, it won't be cleaned and left dusty. But the dust has hardly any effect on the images as it lays far outside of the focusplane. The optical design is similar to a Ritchey-Chrétien type regarding the capability, but has a spherical main mirror, an aspherical secondary mirror and a lens-corrector (=Schmidt-plate). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 25.000€ altogether.

The 50cm doesn't have a Schmid-Platte but a corrector (lenses) placed in the OAZ. It has an elliptical main mirror and a spherical secondary mirror (Corrected Dall Kirkham). The price of the telescope and the mount is roughly about 65.000€. The secondary mirror is, compared to the size of the main mirror, significantly larger than the 40cm-sec. mirror. This results in a better luminosity an a larger, flat-field which is important for taking images. We can achieve tracking accuracies of about 10min without guiding.

== Tours looking for a guide ==
If you want to give a tour, just email the [mailto:fuehrungen@foerderverein-sternwarte-bamberg.de guide organizers].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;
! Date & Time
! Language
! Organizer
! Additional information
! Group
! Observing
! Deadline for guides

|-
| Friday, 28.11.2025 at 17:00
| German
| Gleissner
| Field trip of students with parents, but not a full school class, just a few students from a Montessori school and their parents
| 10 adults, 10 children (aged 6-10)
| Yes
| 17.10.2025

|-
| Monday, 20.10.2025 at 08:15
| German
| Fischer
| Tour for school class, tour possible on most Mondays between 8:15-10:15AM, suggested dates: 20.10., 29.10., 10.11., 12.11., 17.11, 24.11. or 26.11
| 2 adults, 25 children (aged 10-11)
| No
| 20.10.2025

|-
| Monday, 03.11.2025 at 19:30
| German
| Schneyer
| Requestee works/worked (?) at Cafe Remeis. Regular tour, but emphasis on Karl Remeis himself (there's a lot links to interesting PDFs on him on the Wiki) is appreciated. Tour also possible on Friday 07.11
| 20 adults
| Yes
| 20.10.2025

|-
| Friday, 05.12.2025 at 16:00
| German
| Labisch
|
| 25 adults
| Yes
| 31.10.2025
|}

PhD Hat Caro

2025-10-06T13:24:00Z

Zalot: /* 2nd meeting! */

PhD Hat Caro

2025-10-06T13:22:30Z

Zalot: /* First Meeting! */