Volkssternwarte Köln

In the Cologne district of Sülz, Volkssternwarte Köln houses the largest freely accessible telescope in North Rhine-Westphalia, a 60cm instrument built and paid for entirely by public donations. The observatory is run by the Vereinigung der Sternfreunde Köln e.V., a society of amateur astronomers.

About Volkssternwarte Köln

Founded in 1922, the Vereinigung der Sternfreunde Köln has run a public observatory at its current Nikolausstraße site in Sülz since 1962. The society organises lectures, public observing sessions and workshops for children, keeping Cologne's amateur astronomy tradition alive for more than a century.

Telescopes & research

The observatory's centrepiece is the Cologne Large Telescope (CLT), a 60cm refractor installed in 2012 and funded entirely by public donations. It is the largest freely accessible telescope anywhere in North Rhine-Westphalia, giving visitors views of planets, star clusters and deep-sky objects rarely possible through smaller instruments.

Location & getting there

Volkssternwarte Köln stands at Nikolausstraße 55 in the Sülz district of Cologne, Germany, at an elevation of about 54 metres, within easy reach of the city centre.

Visiting Volkssternwarte Köln

The society welcomes visitors to public observation evenings, lectures and children's workshops throughout the year. Since sessions depend on clear skies and a published schedule, check the current programme on the observatory's website before you go.

See your named star from here

With the Cologne Large Telescope's reach, volunteer astronomers here can aim at precise coordinates across the sky, including the exact position of a star named through star-register.eu. Name a star as a gift, or browse the catalogue to see stars already named by others.