A few days ago, I rifled through one of several of our bookshelves in our house. Hidden behind some family pictures I came across two books which I've had since shortly after I first got interested in Astronomy (at the ripe old age of 8 [I'm now 82]). In previous posts I have stated that I was born in Berlin; the books were published in the German language and were first printed in the 1930's. My copies are reprints from the 1940's.They were already well-used books when they were given to me and haven't improved their condition since then. I wrote about what got me started in astronomy in November 2019; the article appeared in the Jan/Feb 2020 Nova newsletter.
The books are written by different authors. The older book, "Von Fernen Welten" (Of Distant Worlds) by Bruno H. Bürgel, was originally published in 1910. The author was a true philosopher; he wrote other books about many aspects of the "human condition". As such, this book was written for the general public and was only meant to be a general look into Astronomy. Nonetheless, it contains a lot of astronomical detail.
The "newer" book, simply named "Astronomie", by Oswald Thomas, was first published in 1933. Thomas was a professional Austrian astronomer and wrote this book for the scientifically interested public and to "fill in" some astronomical themes which were less often addressed in other books on astronomy. It contains a multitude of tables, drawings, information about both the non-rotating and rotating sky, astronomy of the Earth's globe, the solar system, and what was known and unknown of the near and distant universe at the time. However, it was not annually updated. An enlightened neighbour in the apartment building where we lived gave me this (also used) book in 1953 as a present.
Bruno Bürgel's book gave me more motivation to look at and learn more about the sky. I spent many hours in public libraries. The sky of Berlin in the late 40's and early 50's was far less light-polluted, because many buildings had been bombed into ruins and streets were still sparsely illuminated. We could not afford to buy a pair of binoculars, never mind a small telescope, but I was the proud possessor of a 3X40 Galilean monocular. That monocular was my "telescope" for a number of years. It was an overwhelming feeling for me to find some of the interesting astronomical details mentioned in Bürgel's book. Oswald Thomas's book became my reference book later, and I occasionally still refer to it. Even in this digital age, well-written older books have value. They can last centuries and don't need batteries.
Nowadays, you can get all this information on the internet, and on your smartphone or home computers; at that earlier time the necessary technology did not exist. I've used the two books only occasionally in the last 4 decades. Having been a member of the RASC through all this time I have the advantage of access to up-to-date astronomical information in the annual Observers' Handbook, SkyNews magazine, the RASC Vancouver Centre's library, and the Nova newsletter, all included in membership. The astronomical knowledge and experience of RASC members is freely given to everyone who asks, member or not.
In early 1950, I joined an astronomy club called the BAV (Berlin Association [workgroup] for Variable stars) which had access to the what was then a temporarily located Wilhelm Foerster observatory (see note). It had a seven inch refractor, exposed to the weather (no domed building). The telescope had been built by dedicated amateur astronomers with salvaged parts from the bomb-damaged Urania observatory in Berlin. We were an enthusiastic group of people of various age and, beside variable stars, observed everything else, too, along with setting up and showing people the view through the telescope on public astronomy nights. Our variable star observational results were mailed to the AAVSO in the U.S. and I hand-copied their reference maps by tracing them on transparent paper (AAVSO's star maps are now accessible on-line). I still regard my participation in our RASC's in-person public astronomy nights as my most rewarding of astronomical activity. Covid-19 has put a damper on this in the last couple of years, but I'm hopeful about doing so again soon (subject to Covid-related rules at this time).
The "temporary" Wilhelm Foerster Observatory, about 1950
Note: The new Wilhelm Foerster observatory is now located on top of the only "mountain" in Berlin worth that designation (in my opinion); the mountain consists of thousands of tons of broken bricks and cobblestones, and other detritus collected from the war's ruins when rebuilding of the city was underway after the war. Trees and other plants have turned it into a beautiful park. The 3-dome Wilhelm Foerster observatory is now a totally up-to-date public institution connected to a Zeiss planetarium.
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