Observatory "Sonnenborgh"

The observatory has been built on top of one of the old fortifications, the fort Sonnenborh.It hosts some old telescopes among which is the Herz telescope. This was the largest telescope when it was built. It also hase meridian measuring equiopment since the Utrecht meridian was used for calculating Standard (Solar) time for the Utrecht province. This was before the world wide standardization of timezones.

Since 2002 the observatory hosts a museum with numerous different expositiions on various astronomical subject. Every Friday night (from Sept. To April) the observatory is open to public so weather permitting, people can watch the universe with their own eyes. The observatory also opens on special occasions like Solar- and mooneclipses, Transits of Mercury and Venus and other important events. Once a year there is the dutch national sky watching days (mostly a weekend in februari or march) when all observatories open their doors. 

The observatory