Potsdam Astrophysical Observatory

a scientific astronomical observatory at Potsdam in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), founded in 1874–78 and part of the Central Institute for Astrophysics of the GDR. It is located on land held jointly by the Central Institute for Astrophysics, the Solar Obsevatory, and the working group on radio astronomy of the Central Institute for Solar and Terrestrial Physics. The three institutions have at their disposal a double (80- and 50-cm) refractor, a 20-cm astrograph, 70-cm and 40-cm reflectors, a 50-cm Schmidt camera, a 60-cm tower telescope, and a 10-cm radio telescope. The observatory’s main fields of research are stellar physics, magnetic fields in outer space, solar physics, and radio astronomy.