Lots of light and lots of shadows
Dear reader, Eclipses are among the spectacular celestial events that even cast a spell over astronomy laymen. July 2019 saw a total solar eclipse and a partial lunar eclipse. While the "black sun" could only be observed in the South Pacific and South America, the "blackened full moon" could also be observed in this country - unless the weather thwarted the plan. My predecessor Uwe Reichert visited the La Silla Observatory of the European Southern Observatory ESO in Chile and summarizes his fascinating experiences in a report starting on page 70.
Observations of the sky like this are excellent for getting a young audience interested in astronomy and educating them in the natural sciences. But this opportunity often goes untapped. The range of basic astronomical education available at German schools looks like a patchwork quilt full of holes: there are federal states that do not provide any astronomical training at all, right through to those states in which astronomy is a separate school subject – which is of course the exception. From page 26 onwards, the former teacher Lutz Clausnitzer, who taught astronomy at the school for many years, pursues the following questions: From what grade level is how much school astronomy necessary, and what content and in what form should it be taught in schools?
The lunar eclipse in January 2019 was also followed by many hobby and amateur astronomers. They spotted a brief glow on our companion's eclipsed surface. The amazing cause of this "moon flash" is presented by ESA scientist Detlef Koschny on page 34.
Ambitious observers will find relatively simple methods presented by Frank Sackenheim in the topic of the month starting on page 62 to take attractive astrophotographs of cosmic nebulae against the black background of space.
Hush into the magazine! Yours
Your Andreas Müller
