On Saturday evening after spending an exciting and beautiful afternoon in Utrecht, our group went to the Zonnenburg Observatory to try out some telescopes. The first section of our trip was a short presentation of the history of telescopes and then the fun stuff began. We went up to the roof where they had set up for us some replicas of Galileo's telescopes for us to try. It was very interesting to use these relics of the past. I think it would have been even cooler if it were a clear night and we could take our shot at using them to see the moon but it was too cloudy and being able to use them to read signs on the other side of town was fun too.
Next we went to their observatory to see the telescope they had there. This telescope was from the late 1800's and was actually used as a practice telescope for students since astronomy was better done on a mountain because it is often cloudy in Utrecht. We had the chance to look through this telescope at a distant church steeple.
Overall, our experience at Zonnenburg Observatory was extraordinary thanks to a great experience with telescopes and two amazing guides.
It's awesome to think that the entire roof of the observatory moves! I wonder what we could have seen if it wasn't so cloudy.
ReplyDelete