Lühburg Astronomical Observatory

One of 6 themed observation stations on the "De Sternkieker" astronomy trail in the Mecklenburger ParkLand Star Park. In the glow of the moonlight There is an astronomical observation station on the Lühburg Castle estate that is all about the moon. Where nature lovers hear croaking frogs in spring and the breeding cries of deer in late summer, there are now many more moons. You can visit them particularly well during the day and get an idea of what our moon has to offer. At night, however, Lühburg has pure starry skies. The landscape is then bathed in moonlight and transformed into a fantastic new world. It's almost as if the 400-year-old lime tree behind the castle is dancing in the moonlight. Not only stargazers and nature lovers will find a range of interesting information at the astronomical observation station at Lühburg Castle. With the help of the anyone can quickly and easily find the North Star. The ergonomically designed wooden lounger is enthroned on a small hill with a good view of the surrounding landscape and the firmament. Of course, there is also an armrest for relaxed holding of spotting scopes and binoculars at the edge of the field. But the best thing is that after visiting the station, the castle invites you to pay a visit and there are lots of great architectural details to discover. Interesting facts about the moon The moon is one of the celestial bodies with which humans probably have the closest relationship - both because it is our only natural satellite and because of its influence on phenomena such as the tides. All civilizations gave it names such as Diana, Selene or Cynthia. The Romans called it Luna. Like the sun and planets, the moon was often worshipped as a deity. The moon orbits our planet Earth in 27.3 days. However, the cycle of the moon's phases is 29.5 days (one lunar month) when viewed from Earth. On average, the moon is 384,000 km away from us and, given the speed of light (around 300,000 km/sec), its brightness reaches us in just over a second. The Earth's gravitational pull has forced the moon to always show us its same face. With binoculars, we can observe how the terminator line of the moon (light-shadow boundary) shifts every day. This allows us to recognize many details of the moon's surface that cannot be seen in such high contrast when the moon is full. Did you know that ... an astronaut who weighs 78 kg on Earth only weighs 13 kg on the surface of the moon? the average temperatures on the surface of the moon vary between 120 and -153°C!!! you can see the moon in its ashen gray light at new moon? If the moon is particularly close to the earth on its orbit, we even call it a supermoon and it sometimes appears slightly reddish to us due to the diffraction of sunlight by the earth's atmosphere. Its orbit in the sky lies on the ecliptic and it can therefore be found along the same orbit as the sun and the other 7 planets. It appears to move in front of the fixed stars and is the only celestial body that we can see during the day next to the sun. However, it only reflects sunlight as it is not a star. From Earth, we can only see the front of the moon, as the moon rotates in a fixed orbit around the Earth. It is only since the space age that people have known the far side of the moon. As the moon has no atmosphere, most meteorite impacts can be seen as craters on the moon's surface. With a diameter of 3476 km, it is the fifth largest known moon in the solar system. This makes it quite large in relation to the Earth and causes the tides on Earth and determines many rhythms in nature. The six moons of Lühburg The Earth's moon cannot be overlooked by us humans. It is the second brightest celestial body in the sky and influences nature and is responsible for many geophysical phenomena on Earth. It is therefore not surprising that the moon has left its mark in the mythology of many cultures and in the imagination of countless people. Seeing the moon in a different way than an ordinary astronomical lecture was one of the motivations behind the development of the astronomical observation station at Lühburg Castle. The artistic realization was made by Cassandra Danielides.