Welcome to BFO

 

Welcome to the Black Forest Observatory

BFO is remote and even secluded but the signals we record tell us from far away places:  from earthquakes all around the globe, they tell us about the structure of the Earth's mantle and core: density heterogeneities in the mantle that drive mantle convection and plate tectonics. But with our inquiries we don't stop with planet Earth: prototypes of seismometers that have been tested here have matured and are now recording quakes on the surface of Mars. And beyond Mars? We have used gravity signals recorded here at BFO to look for signs of dark matter - an as yet elusive form of regular matter. 

      If all this makes you curious you are welcome at BFO!

 

mehr
News

We look for Hiwis to help with our web pages. Contact anybody at BFO if you are interested.

VBB seismometer on MARS

The VBB seismometer of the NASA discovery mission InSight, that has been tested here at BFO, is now already over a year in operation on the surface of Mars recording mars quakes. Recently we detected that the seismometer has recated to a solar eclipse by the moon Phobos. While eclipses by Phobos last only 30 seconds, this was long enoght to lead to a detectable cooling and subsequent deformation of the martian surface.