Astronomers in Cunnewitz - the second barbecue
There was a large crowd at the Dreiseitenhof farm in Cunnewitz on August 30. Citizens from the municipality of Ralbitz-Rosenthal and the neighboring municipalities accepted the DZA's invitation.
In addition to many citizens, the chairman of Domowina e.V., Dawid Statnik, the second deputy of the city of Bautzen, Dr. Romy Reinisch, the mayor of the city of Bautzen and the district administrator of the district of Bautzen were also present. Romy Reinisch, the mayor of Hoyerswerda, Torsten Ruban-Zeh, the mayor of Weißwasser, Torsten Pötzsch, the mayors of Königswartha and Ralbitz-Rosenthal, Swen Nowotny and Hubertus Rietscher, as well as the mayor of Bernsdorf, Harry Habel, members of the municipal council of Ralbitz-Rosenthal and the surrounding communities were also present.
The DZA is a joint initiative of German astronomy and astrophysics to establish a national center for astrophysical research, technology development and digitalization in Lusatia. Here, near Ralbitz-Rosenthal, an underground laboratory, the Low Seismic Lab, is to be built in the Lusatian granite, a seismologically quiet area.
Many of the applicants from the DZA were on site. Professor Günther Hasinger, designated founding director of the DZA, Professor Stefan Wagner (Heidelberg State Observatory), Professor Christian Stegmann (DESY), Professor Michèle Heurs (University of Hanover), Professor Andreas Rietbrock (KIT), Professor Martin Roth (AIP Potsdam) and, for the DZA team, Professor Jürgen Besold, Katharina Henjes-Kunst, Maria Haupt, Johanna Schurr and Tim Heinl as well as Markus Schade and Daniel Neubert from DESY. So there was plenty of expertise on hand to answer the public's questions. And there were plenty of them after Günther Hasinger's presentation of the project.
But first, Dawid Statnik, Chairman of Domowina, together with Professor Hasinger and Professor Stegmann, introduced the Sorbian name of the DZA: Astrocentrum Łužica.
The local people were particularly interested in questions relating to the treasure of Lusatia, the granite: What's next for the underground laboratory? Professor Rietbrock explained the next steps together with Katharina Henjes-Kunst - over the next two years, further geological and seismic experiments will be carried out in the region to find the ideal location for the Low Seismic Lab.
At the end, Professor Günther Hasinger kept his promise from last year and played songs on his guitar that set his life stages to music - from Oberammergau to Munich, Potsdam, Hawaii, Madrid and Upper Lusatia.
A big thank you to Mayor Rietscher and the volunteer fire department for the organization and hospitality.
