Zonnenburg Observatory

On Saturday evening we toured the Zonnenburg Observatory in Utrecht. This site was very interesting because we not only got a tour of the observatory, we were able to try out a few telescopes. The replica Galileo telescopes were a little difficult to use at first. It was a change to realize that I had to move my eye or the telescope to focus instead of being able to turn a gear to focus the lens on what I wanted. It was also difficult once you found something through the telescope to steady the telescope long enough to get a good look. I could barely make out the letters in a neon sign on a building, I have no idea how Galileo made any of his discoveries with an instrument like this. It is crazy to think that the scientists in Galileo's time made these world changing discoveries with instruments like these telescopes.

The other telescope we were able to look through was the one in the observatory itself. It was really fascinating to see and hear from the tour guide how every aspect of the observation room was created to be able to use the telescope in the best way possible. In the observation room two hatches opened on the ceiling. This make it possible to use the telescope to look anywhere from one end of the ceiling to the other in a arch from front to back. To be able to see anywhere else that the ceiling covered, the entire ceiling rotated around moving the exposed hatch to anywhere someone desired look at with the telescope. It was very interesting to see the innovations that enables people to use this observatory to its full extent.