Have you ever heard of an observatory? The observatory is a location to see the sky and events related to space. The activities carried out in this observatory use equipment that is permanently placed in the observatory. In modern observatories it usually contains one or more telescopes that are permanently installed in a building with rotating domes or can be released. Currently there are many space observatories in circulation. Indonesia itself also has a space observatory located in Lembang, Bandung. The following will be discussed about the types of equipment in the observatory.
Equipment Used at the Observatory
The observatory cannot be built in an arbitrary area. The observatory building must be in a place with good weather, moderate temperature, many sunny days and nights that are not cloudy, and have little fog, rain, and snow. It should also be free of city lights and from signs of fluorescent lights that can affect vision directly into the sky. Usually an observatory building plus a quarter of special parts such as a dome for a telescope. The equipment used was installed in two parts. The bottom usually cannot be moved. While the top or roof is shaped like a dome and can be rotated. This dome has a ‘hole’ that can be opened to remove the telescope towards the sky.
The dome in this observatory will rotate on a rail and can open towards each part of the sky. This dome or telescope is driven by an electric motor. Usually in modern observatories, astronomers only need to press a button to move the equipment. Then to see, astronomers or players that like to play need to be near a surveillance hole on a telescope or camera attached to a telescope. In some observatories, the floor is sometimes raised or lowered. There is also additional equipment in the form of a podium that can be adjusted. Usually an observatory building is always synonymous with the name of a dome that can open and a large telescope that can rotate.
It can be concluded that the main equipment in an observatory is a telescope. But in fact there are many more equipment used by astronomers in an observatory. Astronomers also use some complicated equipment installed in addition to a telescope. This complex equipment is in the form of cameras, spectroscopes, spectrographs, and spectroheliographs. All equipment is used to obtain important information. Indonesia itself has an observatory also called Bosscha Observatory located in Lembang, Bandung. This Bosscha observatory building is a Dutch Colonial heritage that is now a nature reserve. At Bosscha observatory itself there are 5 large telescopes used. The Bosscha Observatory is planned to be moved because of the start of disturbing light pollution.