Sternwarte Tübingen, Public observatory in Tübingen, Germany

Sternwarte Tübingen is a public observatory on the Waldhäuser Höhe, next to the Tübingen-Reutlingen technology park. It was formerly a research institute of the University of Tübingen. Its main instrument is a 30-cm refractor with a 5-m focal length, built by Carl Zeiss in 1924 and installed when the new observatory opened in 1956.

Tübingen's first astronomy chair was created in 1507, when Duke Ulrich of Württemberg appointed Johannes Stöffler. A university observatory was installed in 1752 on the northeast tower of Tübingen Castle, with a quadrant by the Paris maker Langlois, a pendulum clock and a 16-foot lens telescope. After 1785 it was renewed, and in 1833 a 15 cm Fraunhofer refractor was acquired. The present observatory on the Waldhäuser Höhe opened in 1956, its main instrument a 30 cm Zeiss refractor with 5 m focal length built in 1924.

The observatory serves as a teaching hub where students gain hands-on experience with modern observation methods. Visitors can directly experience how stargazing contributes to understanding our universe.

The observatory stands on the Waldhäuser Höhe next to the Technologiepark Tübingen-Reutlingen, not on the old campus. Public sky observations are organised by the Astronomische Vereinigung Tübingen, founded in 1972. Its main instrument is a 30-cm refractor with a 5 m focal length built by Carl Zeiss in 1924.

The main instrument of the 1956 observatory on the Waldhäuser Höhe was a 30-cm refractor with a 5-m focal length that Carl Zeiss had built in 1924. The Astronomical Association of Tübingen, founded in 1972 largely through the astrophysicist Kurt Walter, has since organized public sky observations there.