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Planetarium Köln

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Cologne's first planetarium — a 1965 Zeiss projector in the basement of a Nippes secondary school, paired with an observatory built by students.

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The Planetarium Köln is located in the Leonardo da Vinci Gymnasium in the Nippes district. In the school's basement, a Zeiss compact planetarium projects the night sky; the facility is complemented by its own observatory with domes on the school tower and flat roof.

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Source: Wikipedia

At a Glance

Type
School planetarium with observatory, Cologne's first planetarium
Location
Leonardo da Vinci Gymnasium, Cologne-Nippes
Projector
Zeiss ZKP-1 compact planetarium, built 1965
Observatory
two domes, built by former students
Group size
shows for up to 30 people
Access
public guided tours and group visits by arrangement
Did you know?

A large part of the observatory – including the telescopes and domes – was built by former students in their spare time.

The Night Sky in the Basement

The ZKP-1 projector dates from 1965 and sits in the school basement. Its projection sphere contains either 32 or 38 individual projectors — sources differ — each fitted with a copper foil punched with a section of the star map. Together they recreate the sky above Cologne on a clear night, showing over 5,000 stars, the Milky Way, and the planets exactly as they would appear to the naked eye. Shows are designed for groups of up to 30 people.

© Ulaanbaatar91 · CC BY-SA 4.0

The Observatory

Built between 1960 and 1963, the observatory comprises two domes: one on the school tower (4 m diameter) and one on the flat roof (5 m diameter). The tower houses a 40 cm (16-inch) reflecting telescope with a 2.4 m focal length, used for both visual and photographic observation; a TV camera allows bright objects to be shared with larger audiences in the planetarium below. The second dome holds a Zeiss AS refractor with a 110 mm aperture, compact enough for students to operate independently. An 8-inch Celestron Schmidt–Cassegrain telescope and a Schmidt camera round out the equipment.

© Ulaanbaatar91 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Built by Students

Much of the facility — including the telescopes and domes — was constructed by former students in their spare time. Astronomy working groups have been active at the school since 1962. The long-serving director Hermann Gundermann (1938–2022) was succeeded by Stefan Nowak.

Timeline

  1. 1960–1963
    Observatory built by former students (domes and telescopes)
  2. 1962
    Astronomy working groups established at the Nippes school
  3. 1965
    Zeiss ZKP-1 small planetarium projector installed (built 1965)

Map

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Address

Blücherstraße 15
50733 Köln

Hours

Mi: 19:00–20:30

Sa: 17:30–19:00

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