Dr. Wolfgang Herrmann – Director of The Astropeiler Stockert Observatory
Dr. Wolfgang Herrmann is a physicist having received his Diploma and the Ph.D from the university of Bonn. He has spent most part of his professional career in the telecommunication industry. Since retirement, he is engaged at the Astropeiler Stockert e.V., a volunteer organization operating and maintaining the Astropeiler observatory. He is now heading the organization.
His scientific focus is on FRB, Pulsar and Maser observations. He is also engaged in the education of students by conducting lab courses and supervising Bachelor and Master degree thesis work.
Water maser observations at 22 GHz
Water is one of the molecules which can form natural masers in a astrophysical environment. Masers can be found in regions with intense infrared radiation such as star forming regions or around giant stars. Water masers are particularly interesting as they can be very variable and sometimes exhibit very strong flares.
The talk will report on the observations conducted in since 2024 (and some earlier observations) with the 10-m dish at Astropeiler Stockert. The instrumentation used will be explained covering the frontend design and the SDR backends. The spectra recorded cover W3, W49, W51, Centaurus A, Cygnus X and Orion KL with focus on the variability.