We were able to admire amazingly spectacular celestial bodies in the Svábhegy Star Observatory
We had an unusual experience recently when we spied the stars with Budapest’s largest telescope. We’ll show you what awaits you if you visit them!
Do you know why Jupiter is striped? Do you know the legend of Göncölszekér? Would you like to look at the hundred thousand stars of the brightest star cluster in the spring sky?
We went on an exciting night star tour of the Svábhegy Observatory, where we spied the stars with Budapest’s largest telescope and discovered the fantastic world of colliding galaxies. We show you what awaits you.
I have admired the castle-like, three-story, neoclassical main building of the Astronomy and Earth Science Research Center many times from Konkoly-Thege Miklós út, when we went for a walk to Normafa.
On this occasion, however, we were also able to go up to the roof terrace of the research building to spot stars, and we were also able to peer into the telescope of the iconic Budapest dome.
The program called The World of Colliding Galaxies began at quarter past 9 in the evening, after dusk and the stars became visible to the naked eye. After being admitted, we followed our astronomers through the dark park of the research institute to the main building.
The first stop of the program was the roof terrace of the research institute, where Róbert Vizi with the presenting astronomer we were able to take part in telescope observation and a constellation tour.
Here, with the help of a lens telescope and a pair of binoculars, we could see the bands of Jupiter, the constellation Fiastyúk, the Great Orion Nebula and the double star Göncölszekér, while we heard a lot of interesting things from Róbert about the observed celestial bodies.
First, we took a look at Jupiter and its three large moons, which line up next to the planet: Ganymede, Io and Europa. Those with sharp eyes could make out both the reddish and whitish bands of Jupiter. We learned that the color of the bands is given by the flow of gases, and that the Great Red Spot is the largest cosmic storm in our Solar System, the diameter of which is so large that our Earth could fit inside it.
Our astronomer also drew attention to the faint spot above Jupiter, which was none other than Fiastyús. It was a fantastic experience when, looking through the binoculars, the cluster of brightly shining stars suddenly appeared in front of my eyes in the dark sky.
Róbert also narrated the exciting Greek fable associated with it. The beautiful Seven sisters Fleeing from Orion’s love, she asked the gods for help, who placed them in the sky. Orion also followed them here in the form of a constellation, so the gods placed the constellation of Taurus between the Seven Sisters and Orion so that he would hold back the hunter in the sky.
Using a laser pointer, they also showed us the eye of Taurus, Aldebaran, which is a red giant star. Our guide also told us that the bluish and reddish color of the stars refers to their temperature, but just the opposite, as we see with water faucets. The blue ones are the really hot ones, while the red ones are the cooler stars.
It was an amazing experience to think that while we were looking at the sky, we were actually looking back into the past, since in many cases hundreds of years pass before the light of the stars reaches here. Who would have thought that the light of Fiastyúk, 440 light-years away, started to reach us in the 1600s.
Róbert also showed us the red giant called Betelgeuze in the Orion constellation, which has become so inflated that if we put it in the place of the Sun, it would reach Jupiter. It is already in its final stage, i.e. it can explode at any moment – within the next 100,000 years.
We were also able to take a closer look at the Great Orion Nebula with binoculars. At roughly 1,300 light-years away, this is the closest star-forming region to us. Its diameter is ten times that of our solar system.
Róbert told many interesting facts and legends about the constellations. Looking up at the sky, based on his navigation, we could also see the main characters of the stories, the Winter Triangle, the Pole Star, the constellations of Gemini, Cepheus, Severus, Pegasus, Leo, Virgo, Cassiopeia, the Bullhorn and the Big Dipper.
He also told how the Great Bear got its Hungarian name. According to legend, Göncöl (the old equivalent of the name Bence) was a benevolent healer who healed people. Once on the way, the pole of his cart broke, but even though he asked the people, they did not help him to fix it. In anger, therefore, he threw the chariot up to the sky and never returned to those who let him down.
During the sighting, we also had an eye test, just like the ancient Greek and Roman soldiers: only those with really sharp eyes noticed that one of the stars on the pole of the Big Dipper is actually a double star. I could only make out the two stars orbiting each other by looking through the telescope.
Another location of the program was the iconic building of the Budapest dome, where with astronomer Zoltán Fockter We were also able to try the largest telescope in Budapest.
The mirror telescope with a 60-centimeter main mirror is also the largest display telescope in the country, together with its brother, which is located in the Bükki Observatory. Also, we were able to scan the sky with a 30-centimeter lens telescope, which also holds the record for Hungary’s largest lens telescope.
It was a really exciting, movie-worthy scene when Zoltán adjusted the binoculars. Warning signals began to screech and lights flashed on the wall, and the dome suddenly moved above us and rotated to reveal a gap in it.
First, we looked at the M51 Galaxy, that is, we looked out of our own galaxy and actually glimpsed our galactic neighbor 25 million light years away.
We also looked at the globular cluster M3 of the Milky Way, which is not located in one of the spiral arms, like the Sun, but above the spiral arms. Looking through the binoculars, the orb cluster looked like someone had sprinkled powdered sugar in a spider’s web.
We learned from our astronomer that globular clusters are the oldest building blocks of our Milky Way. They consist of very many and very old stars. They are 11-12 billion years old, their age is comparable to the age of our galaxy.
As a farewell, we could use these telescopes to look at the double stars of Göncölszekér, Mizar and Alcor, which we had previously observed from the roof. It was exciting to experience how different the view is in binoculars and in such a large telescope.
If you haven’t been to a real observatory, it’s good to know, that celestial bodies are not seen as large and sharp through telescopes as, say, the Hubble Space Telescope produces images. A very important difference is that Hubble operates in space, where the atmosphere does not distort it, and on the other hand, its images are taken with a long exposure time. For this very reason, Zoltán also showed the relevant Hubble images on his laptop as a comparison. However, the image you see in the telescope shows the current reality of the sky, not a screenshot, which is a very unique and uplifting feeling!
If you are also interested in astronomy, or if you are looking for a super exciting program in the Normafa area, you should definitely browse the website of the Svábhegyi Star Observatory. Here you can visit not only night stargazing programs, but also daytime Astro-matinees with the children.
In addition, an exciting new concept is waiting for you at the Csillagkapu events from spring to autumn, which is actually a series of astronomy festivals. You don’t need to buy tickets in advance here, with the on-site ticket purchase, the possibility of entry is unlimited. From 5:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., you can freely walk around the area and try out all the interactive astronomy program elements. There is also a planet-sniffing laboratory, meteorite testing, a spectrum display and a space-time trampoline. These Stargate events are built around different themes, for example Children’s Day, but there will also be a Star Wars or Midsummer’s Eve theme. In such cases, you can get freshly baked pizza, soft drinks, and beer on site. The first Children’s Day Stargate event in cooperation with the LEGO Group will take place on May 25. For more details, visit the website of the Svábhegy Star Observatory! It was a fantastic experience for us to look through a telescope for the first time and look around the Universe. We will definitely go back for another program!
Written by: Russian Emese
Tags: Housing estates brutalist highrises mosaics visited iconic buildings #70s
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