Einstein’s birthday aka Pi (π) Day 2023:

The Twin Paradox and its resolution

Lecture in English

Boris Lohner (Munich Public Observatory)

Tuesday, 14 March 2023, 7:30 p.m.
Venue: Volkssternwarte München, Rosenheimer Str. 145h

Explanations of the twin paradox sometimes give the impression that special relativity is defective and that this „defect“ requires general relativity to be „repaired“ – or give the impression that time dilation is not real but a mere effect of observation. In this talk it is shown how the twin paradox can be resolved in a consistent way while staying within special relativity.

Early summer lecture series „Venus & Mars“

Exploration of Mars:

where have we been, what have we learned

Lecture in English by

Paul Salazar (Munich Public Observatory)

Friday, 12 May 2023, 8 p.m.
Volkssternwarte München, Rosenheimer Str. 145h

Mars has fascinated humankind for centuries, including the exciting idea that there might be life on Mars. In the 19th century astronomers saw ‚canals‘ on the surface; in the 20th century Mars was a target for science fiction writers who brought us ‚little green men‘ and more. And since the 1970s humans have landed many robotic missions on Mars, some successful and others wildly unsuccessful. This talk will focus on the scientific findings from the past generations of Mars landers and robots, with particular focus on the discoveries of the last 10 years.

50 Years Last Apollo Flight to the Moon / Reihe: „50 Jahre nach Apollo“

„It was 50 years ago today“

Lecture in English · On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of  Apollo 17

Paul Salazar (Munich Public Observatory)

Friday, 16 December 2022, 8 p.m.
Volkssternwarte München, Rosenheimer Str. 145h

Apollo 17, the last flight to the moon, had lift-off from Earth on Dec. 7 and, back from moon, splashed down on Dec. 19.
Let us celebrate this historic date with a review of the Apollo missions.

Halloween special (in English)

by Ioannis Kamaretsos, PhD (Munich Public Observatory)

Monday, 31 October 2022, 7:30 p.m.
Volkssternwarte München, Rosenheimer Str. 145h

Can you tell the difference between an asteroid and a potato?
How about a supernova remnant and a jellyfish?

In this presentation I will trick your visual perception of celestial objects, while giving an insight into their true nature.

Costumes welcome!   +++ EVENT IS FULLY BOOKED. NO SEATS LEFT. +++

*** 75th Anniversary of the Munich Public Observatory ***
*** 200th Death Anniversary of W. Herschel ***

Herschel’s Legacy: Breaking Barriers of the Heavens – On gravitational lensing

Prof. Dr. Sherry Suyu (TU München, Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Garching)

Friday, 21 October 2022, 8 p.m.
Volkssternwarte München, Rosenheimer Str. 145h

In his lifetime, Herschel built and used the heretofore biggest telescopes in the world to measure the Milky way galaxy and to chart thousands of faint nebulae, then unknown to be galaxies in their own right. Today we use those distant galaxies, some of which had first been seen by Herschel, as telescopes themselves – the biggest ones to date and possibly forever – to observe space and time even beyond the pre-relativistic barriers. 200 years from galaxies in telescopes to galaxies as telescopes!

Lecture in English:

The Known Unknowns of the Universe

Deanna C. Hooper, PhD (Helsinki Institute of Physics)

Wednesday, 04 May 2022, 7 p.m. (please note the early beginning at 7:00 p.m.!)
at Volkssternwarte München, Rosenheimer Str. 145h

A lecture on dark matter and dark energy – the known unknowns of the universe. A mystery topic out of the ordinary, and a lecture out of turn on a Wednesday at 7 p.m. – Dr. D.C. Hooper will join the Neutrino Cosmology Day at TUM on 6 May, and we are very glad that a talk could be arranged at Volkssternwarte two nights before. For a description of the talk and background information on the lecturer please see below.
Advance ticket booking required (limited number of seats).

Lecture in English:

Return to the moon

Paul Salazar (Munich Public Observatory)

Friday, 03 June 2022, 8 p.m.
Volkssternwarte München, Rosenheimer Str. 145h

It’s been 50 years since humankind set foot on the Moon, and now there is a great deal of interest in returning to the Moon. The NASA Artemis missions are a series of human-crewed trips to start building a space platform that will orbit the Moon, and a permanently inhabited base on the Moon. This lecture will highlight the Artemis missions and the plan to learn about living on the Moon as a stepping stone to get to Mars, to develop our understanding and experience of how we humans can exist elsewhere in the Solar System.

Compact Objects and Gravitational Waves

Ioannis Kamaretsos, PhD (Volkssternwarte München)
Lecture in English

Friday, March 25th, 2022, 8 p.m.
at Volksternwarte München, Rosenheimer Str. 145h

One great example of mankind’s legacy is the path to a deeper understanding of Gravity.
The eventual discovery of gravitational waves constitutes a crown of such conceptual and experimental efforts. This additionally provides us a new window into the Universe.

Tickets: € 8 / 5
Advance booking required due to limited number of seats.
Admission from 7:45 p.m.

Herschel-Jahr 2022 / The 2ooth death anniversary of William Herschel 2022 :

The Herschel Space Observatory (HSO)

Dr. Jeroen de Jong (Observers Group at Deutsches Museum)
Lecture in English

Friday, 8 April 2022, 8 p.m.
at Volksternwarte München, Rosenheimer Str. 145h

The Herschel satellite was the largest space observatory ever built. It was operational from 2009 until 2013. With its 3.5-meter-mirror it took images and spectra of unprecedented resolution. Herschel detected cold sources in the universe at low infrared wavelengths. Its observations helped to sort out many questions about the formation of planets, stars and the whole universe. The speaker will present his own experiences with the mission and its highlights as he has contributed to PACS, one of Herschel’s three instruments.

Image credit NASA / JPL

Recent and ongoing research on the atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune

Dr. Michael T. Roman, University of Leicester / UK

Friday, 26 November 2021, 8 p.m.
Venue: Munich Public Observatory, Rosenheimer Str. 145h, 81671 München
SWITCHED ENTIRELY TO ONLINE – TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE

Online tickets € 5 / 3