Germany — Deciphering CIA’s Classified Document from Cold War

A CIA declassified document contains a report on an undisclosed photo taken by one of its agents in Berlin, Germany during the Cold War.

The text reads:”The telescope, built for Bonn Uni, being assembled at the factory. The field is 20 times the size of the Mount Palomar telescope. The camera is 20 feet, and the weight is 3 tons. Stars of the 23rd size can be seen.

From this document, I extracted the following information: the location of the picture was Berlin, Germany, and the photo was taken on January 18, 1953. The factory constructing the telescope was called Askania Factory in Berlin. The telescope was being built at the Askania Factory and was to be dispatched to Bonn University for use.

The two questions to find answers to are:

a) A photo that matches the description on the caption report.
b) The exact location of where the telescope was placed once completed.

Photo: Given the information from the document, I began searching on Google with the keywords “Askania telescope 1953.” This search led me to information about the factory and a website that featured a photo matching the description. The relevant image can be found here (below).

Establishing the Location of the Telescope in Bonn

Next, I needed to determine the exact location of the telescope after its transfer to Bonn. Using advanced search techniques on Google with keywords like “Bonn AND University AND telescope AND 1953,” I discovered information about the University of Bonn’s involvement in astronomy. This search directed me to a website belonging to the Hoher List Observatory in Bonn. The site identified the telescope as the Askania Schmidt telescope, which was later given away by the University of Bonn for preservation.

According to the Hoher List Observatory’s website, the exact location of the telescope is the Hoher List Observatory in Bonn. It is available on Google Maps with the coordinates: 50.16178784771907, 6.848999501285653.

To find the precise location, I performed another search using the keywords mentioned earlier. This led me to a website that provided a photo of Tower 1 at the Hoher List Observatory as seen above, which houses the telescope.

Despite the limitations of Google Maps in providing a 3D view, I found a photo from Maps showing people camping near the tower. The physical structure and details closely matched, allowing me to confidently identify the exact location as 50.1618263284345, 6.848303743050027.

Thanks to Sofia Santos for presenting such a cool challenge.