ASTRONOMISCHER VEREIN BASEL - CLUB ASTRONOMIQUE DE BÂLE

The Basel Astronomical Club has an observatory - Saint Margarethen - open to the public, in which there is also a famous meteorological station - Binningen - which has been conducting uninterrupted surveys since 1755, as well as the offices of various organisations responsible for studying gamma radiation, atmospheric pollutants and seismology. It was founded in 1929, succeeding the Bernoullianum Observatory at the time. Until 2007 it belonged to the University of Basel, today it is managed by the Basel Astronomical Observatory. The club offers all year round afternoons or observation evenings, Fridays and Sundays. These astronomical appointments are free of charge, depend on weather conditions (cancelled in case of heavy cloud cover), and are open to everyone, including families with young children (it is only necessary to respect the conditions on site, i.e. darkness, hence the need to supervise the children well). Whatever the season, it is imperative to come dressed warmly, especially since during observations and waiting before passing through the telescope's eyepiece, visitors remain static most of the time. Finally, it should be noted that daytime observations allow us to contemplate the solar protuberances, plasma ejected into space by the Sun, a particularly impressive spectacle to watch.