POLAND-SCRAP/OBSERVATORY Polish astronomers build private observatory with scrapped government equipment

Record ID: 145067

  • Title: POLAND-SCRAP/OBSERVATORY Polish astronomers build private observatory with scrapped government equipment
  • Date: 31st July 2015
  • Summary: RZEPIENNIK BISKUPI, POLAND (JULY 21, 2015) (REUTERS) MOUNTAINS RZEPIENNIK BISKUPI VILLAGE VARIOUS OF PRIVATE OBSERVATORY VARIOUS OF MAGDALENA AND BOGDAN WSZOLEK SETTING UP OPTICAL TELESCOPE (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) ASTRONOMER, BOGDAN WSZOLEK, SAYING: "Two-thirds of my salary was being put away and during the holidays (we were assembling the hardware) in a very economic system
  • Embargoed: 15th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Poland
  • Country: Poland
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA657S49NJPM5PRCMJHZVJKHZSZ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Hidden away near a small village in southern Poland lies an unexpected treasure trove for astronomy enthusiasts: a private observatory with equipment worth millions of euros, but built for just a fraction of that cost.
    The huge antennae and optical telescopes at the observatory in Rzepiennik Biskupi were all set to be sold for scrap metal by successive Polish governments, but were snapped up by trained astronomers Magdalena and Bogdan Wszolek.
    They have been painstakingly assembling their pet project over years, investing all their spare time and energy into creating their very own observatory.
    "Two-thirds of my salary was being put away and during the holidays (we were assembling the hardware) in a very economic system with our own involvement, with the involvement of our children, and by hiring local people who were able to do things cheaper than specialist companies. So we have been building and building, and at this point it is what it is. Of course these antennae worth millions were acquired at scrap metal prices," Bogdan explained.
    The couple have erected two buildings with five-metre-high domes for optical telescopes in a forest meadow near their home. The long process was a team effort requiring the expertise of the village blacksmiths as well as the Wszolek's astronomy know-how.
    Each antenna and unit has its own interesting history but they are connected by their original fate to be sold for scrap until the Wszoleks salvaged them.
    The elements of the observatory were acquired one by one from private owners, starting with an American nine-metre satellite dish in 2012. Two years later came a US terrestrial satellite station - a military antenna with a dish diameter of 5.4 m that can be rapidly tilted to point in different directions.
    Though the installation is a work in progress, the first signals from space have already been received.
    "The first light has already been received by the white antenna. We received the radiation from our galaxy, from the center of our galaxy on the 21 centimetre line, on the hydrogen line -- on this line the universe sends a strong signal," Bogdan explained.
    While these radio signals require scientific expertise to decipher, less advanced observers can admire the sky through another piece of the observatory's equipment: a telescope with an optical diameter of 0.5 meters.
    The telescope was donated to Poland in the 1940s by members of the Polish diaspora to Jagiellonian University in Krakow, where Bogdan worked for many years before moving to Czestochowa University.
    But it was never installed, and remained lying in a wooden crate until it was brought back into operation by the Wszoleks. Now it is once more delivering crystal clear images of far-away planets.
    "If you look at Saturn through a small telescope, it's impressive, but it's shaking and everything is small. If you look at Saturn through this telescope on the same evening, then the effect is disproportionately greater. It is a big "wow" when we see that Saturn may be so huge and clear as if within an arm's length with all its rings. If we look with this telescope at the Moon, then the structure of the Moon is very clear, it seems as if we can see every little pebble," Bogdan enthused.
    The couple's dream is to create Poland's first interferometer, though they say they could not take on such a challenge alone.
    They are not counting on making great discoveries, but encourage both scientists and budding young space enthusiasts to visit the observatory and contemplate the universe's enticing mysteries.
    "There may be problems with the Sun one day, so the cosmos is, so to say, a compulsion for man. Mankind cannot stay here forever because these conditions will be changing. And he must seek his place somewhere else in the cosmos," Magdalena said.
    The observatory can be visited for free because, as its owners say, 'the sky is open for all people'.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register