Sternwarte Feuerstein

Above the town of Ebermannstadt in Forchheim, Bavaria, Sternwarte Feuerstein combines a public folk observatory with an 11-kilometre trail that walks visitors through the scale of the solar system.

About Sternwarte Feuerstein

Sternwarte Feuerstein is a public "folk observatory" open to amateur astronomers and students, with an educational focus on the history and recent discoveries of astronomy and astrophysics. Its grounds include a main building with telescope garages, two telescope domes and two radio telescopes.

Location & getting there

The observatory sits above Ebermannstadt, in the Forchheim district of Bavaria, Germany, at about 500 metres elevation. Vehicle access is restricted beyond the parking area near the airport buildings, except for wheelchair users with special permission, so visitors typically walk the final stretch.

Visiting Sternwarte Feuerstein

Admission costs €5, with children under 15 admitted free. The observatory is also the starting point of an 11-kilometre planetary trail, whose stations use hands-on demonstrations and information boards to compare the sizes and weights of the planets.

See your named star from here

The domes and radio telescopes at Sternwarte Feuerstein exist to study the sky by its coordinates — the same information that comes with a star named through Star Register. Find your star's position in the star catalogue and see if it's visible from the hills above Ebermannstadt.