One of 6 thematic observation stations of the astro nature trail "De Sternkieker" in the Mecklenburger ParkLand Star Park.
In the glow of the moonlight
On the estate of Lühburg Castle there is an astronomical observation station, which is completely under the sign of the moon. There, where the nature lover hears croaking frogs in spring and the breeding cries of deer in late summer, there are now many more moons. It is especially good to visit them during the day and get an idea of what our moon has to offer. At night, however, there is pure starry sky in Lühburg. The landscape is then bathed in moonlight and transformed into a fantastic new world. It is almost as if the 400 year old lime tree behind the castle is dancing in the moonlight.
Not only star and nature lovers will find a lot of interesting information at the astronomical observation station, at Lühburg Castle. With the help of the everyone can find the polar star quickly and easily. The ergonomically cut wooden lounger is enthroned on a small hill with a good view of the surrounding landscape and the firmament. Of course there is an armrest for holding spotting scopes and binoculars at the edge of the field. But the most beautiful thing is that after the visit of the station the castle invites to a visit and there are many great architectural details to discover.
Interesting facts about the moon
The moon is one of the celestial bodies with which humans probably have the closest relationship - both because it is our only natural satellite and because of its influence on phenomena such as the tides.
Among all civilizations it bore names such as Diana, Selene, or Cynthia. Among the Romans it was called Luna. Often the moon was worshipped as a deity, similar to the sun and planets.
The moon orbits our planet Earth in 27.3 days. However, the cycle of lunar phases is 29.5 days (a lunar month) when viewed from Earth. The moon lies on average 384,000 km away from us and its brightness reaches us in a little more than one second, considering the speed of light (about 300,000 km/sec).
The earth with its attraction has forced the moon to show us always its same face. With binoculars we can observe daily how the terminator line of the moon (light-shadow boundary) shifts. By it we can see many details of the lunar surface that cannot be seen with such contrast when the moon is full.
Did you know that ...
- an astronaut who weighs 78 kg on Earth has a weight of only 13 kg on the surface of the Moon?
- the average temperatures on the lunar surface vary between 120 and -153°C!!!
- you can see the moon in its ashen light at new moon?
If the moon is especially close to the earth on its orbit, we even call it a supermoon and it sometimes appears a bit reddish to us, due to the diffraction of the sunlight at the earth's atmosphere.
Its orbit in the sky is on the ecliptic and thus it is found along the same path as the Sun and the other 7 planets. It appears to travel in front of the fixed stars and is the only celestial body we can see during the day besides the Sun. However, it only reflects the sunlight, since it is not a star.
From the earth we see only the front of the moon, since the moon executes a bound rotation around the earth. Only since the space age people know the back side of the moon. Since the moon has no atmosphere, most meteorite impacts can be seen as craters on the lunar surface.
With its 3476 km diameter it is the fifth largest known moon in the solar system. Thus it is quite large in relation to the Earth and causes the tides on Earth and determines many rhythms in nature.
The six Lühburg moons
The earth's moon cannot be overlooked by us humans. It is the second brightest celestial body in the sky and influences nature and is responsible for many geophysical phenomena on Earth. So it is not surprising that the moon has left its mark in the mythology of many cultures and in the imagination of a myriad of people. To see the moon in a different way than an ordinary astronomical lecture was a motivation in the development of the astronomical observation station at Lühburg Castle. The artistic realization was made by Cassandra Danielides.
