A review of the DSP-MARS-Excursion to the VEGA Observatory

At first, there was a long period of anxiety and calculating the probabilities of whether the weather conditions would be stable enough for observing the night sky through the telescope at the observatory. However, it was decided to take the risk and hope for the best, and all interested parties from the DSP college were confidently invited.

This meeting of various participants from different fields of research, with some of them not even knowing each other in person, calls for an introducoral gathering with good food and drinks. After all, it’s much easier to talk with a full stomach, and the cozy atmosphere at the Kaiserbuche restaurant in Obertrum particularly drives good conversations. Everyone arrives at their own pace, and there is admittedly still a somewhat limited distribution of the department members across the various tables. However, during the course of dinner, participants begin to network with each other, and by the time of the joint departure down a dark path to the entrance of the observatory, people are already closer together, where the last participants also join.

Under normal circumstances, an introductory lecture takes place before observing the starry sky, but it was postponed due to the increasing cloud cover. After a brief explanation of the telescope, we were allowed to take turns observing Saturn, Jupiter, and a binary star system. The telescope’s adjustment to the various celestial bodies is done by computer in just a few seconds.