The Karl Schwarzschild Observatory is a German astronomical observatory in Tautenburg near Jena, Thuringia.
It was founded in 1960 as an connection institute of the former German Academy of Sciences at Berlin and named in honour of the astronomer and physicist Karl Schwarzschild. In 1992, the institute was re-established as Thuringian State Observatory.
Telescope
The observatory has the largest telescope located in Germany, which is also the largest Schmidt camera in the world. Made by VEB Zeiss Jena, this instrument is known as (2m) Alfred Jensch Telescope: though its mirror is 2 metres in diameter, the telescope's aperture is 1.34 m.
Extrasolar planets and brown dwarfs observed
The observatory has observed many extrasolar planets and brown dwarfs around the stars HD 8673, 30 Arietis, 4 Ursae Majoris, and around HD 13189 on 5 April 2005. The observatory also hosts an International station for the interferometric radio telescope LOFAR.