Starkenburg Observatory


The Starkenburg Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Heppenheim, Germany. It was founded in 1970, and currently has about 150 members.
The observatory was the venue for the 1997 and 2003 meetings of the European Radio Astronomy Congress. The amateur astronomers at the observatory have discovered more than 40 asteroids and participate in the tracking of near earth asteroids.
The instruments at the observatory consists of:
The two main-belt asteroids 6864 Starkenburg and 14080 Heppenheim were named in honor of the medieval castle, the adjunct observatory and the nearby town Heppenheim, respectively.

List of discovered minor planets

As of 2016, IAU's Minor Planet Center credits the discovery of 52 numbered minor planets directly to the observatory including 47 discoveries to "Starkenburg", and 5 discoveries to "Heppenheim", for which no apparent distinction can be made.
12053 Turtlestar9 August 1997 
12057 Alfredsturm18 February 1998 
14080 Heppenheim1 April 1997 
15397 Ksoari27 October 1997 
16809 Galápagos21 October 1997 
16969 Helamuda29 October 1998 
17855 Geffert19 May 1998 
18567 Segenthau27 September 1997 
18610 Arthurdent7 February 1998 
18653 Christagünt28 March 1998 
2 April 2000 
21663 Banat3 September 1999 
24168 Hexlein29 November 1999 
27984 Herminefranz1 November 1997 
31984 Unger25 April 2000 
33863 Elfriederwin5 May 2000 
35357 Haraldlesch28 September 1997 
38270 Wettzell11 September 1999 
24 August 2000 
40764 Gerhardiser13 October 1999 

For the table below, the mentioned astronomers may or may not be credited directly with the discovery by the MPC. Instead, the discovery site/observatory, "Starkenburg" or "Heppenheim", may be the sole credited discoverer, as for 18610 Arthurdent.