The first three days of 10DA
The fifth Ten Days of Astronomy, held under the patronage of the President of the Republic of Croatia Ivo Josipović have begun in the packed hall of Hrvatski dom in Daruvar (naturally).
Tuesday, 25. March 2014. u 15:24 sati 10 Days of Astronomy 2014
Day one (Friday)
The fifth Ten Days of Astronomy, held under the patronage of president Ivo Josipović have begun in the packed hall of Hrvatski dom in Daruvar. Among those present were officials – mayor Dalibor Rohlik, deputy mayor Veronika Pilat (in front of the co-organizer), deputy prefect Tanja Novotny, deputy prefect Neven Alić and Saša Lukić and parliament members Vladimir Bilek and Vedran Babić. During his interesting speech county prefect Damir Bajs declared the 10DA open. We also prepared an interesting and occasion-fitting cultural and entertainment program that I personally believe managed to satisfy the tastes of all our visitors. We offer our gratitude to Bruno Bjelinski School of Music, the students of Technical School Daruvar and Daruvar High School, as well as their mentors. Students of Daruvar Technical School, assistant cooks and confectioners provided the pleasant atmosphere of our banquet and their not only tasty but also gorgeous delicacies were a delight to our visitors.
Dijana Dominis Prester, an astrophysicist from the University of Rijeka Department of Physics was the icing on the cake of our event. Her lecture entitled High-energy Space Radiation opened our series of nine lectures and explained to us what she was currently working on as a scientist. Her slides told us about the MAGIC (Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov Telescopes) collaboration and about the Cherenkov telescopes called MAGIC One and MAGIC Two, located in the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the Canary Island of La Palma, which detect gamma rays coming to Earth from distant astronomical objects using the Cherenkov radiation. We learned what it was like to spend five weeks with an international group of people who work at an altitude of above 2400 meters (8 000 feet) and we also learned about the purpose of it all because the project has been dubbed a waste of money by many, which, of course, it isn’t.
Good work, Dijana!
Dijana Dominis Prester, PhD
Day two (Saturday)
The day started very casually. Ivica Puljak and Zdeslav Benzon’s team from Split, whose multitude delighted us, visited the cellar of Count Janković where Daruvar Winery keeps its treasure of many top quality wines which we, naturally, seized the opportunity to taste. We didn’t taste all of it of course because we had a big day in front of us. After the wine tasting, astrophysicist Ivica Puljak, PhD, and yesterday’s lecturer Dijana talked to high school teachers of Bjelovar-Bilogora County at their County Expert Assembly. At 6 pm we were visited by the team that works on the Andromeda program which airs on the Croatian Radio Station HR2, Tanja Devćić and editor Dubravka Družinec, who we all care deeply about. Mrs Tanja took the chance to talk to our guests and us organizers and record the lecture that started at 7 pm. Ivica Puljak, a professor at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture in Split and his colleague, OB/GYN doctor, writer and sci-fi enthusiast Zdeslav Benzon held their lecture called A Look Into the Future – Science Fiction and Modern Science in front of 130 visitors that eagerly listened to the two hour long talk. We heard a lot about the things modern science has achieved that people used to write about in old sci-fi novels, such as teleportation and what it really is. Teleportation is commonly explored in science fiction novels and films that Zdeslav talked about, while Ivica explained that teleportation is possible and that it has been achieved on a particle which was teleported over a distance of 16 kilometers. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. We listened to Zdeslav talk about nano robots, another common theme science fiction novels tell us about; and Ivica gave us a scientific picture of their possible reality and use. We also learned about cloning and whether or not today’s 3D printers represent the beginnings of replicating clones. The rest of the lecture told us about what happened during the 0,00000000000000000000000001 second-long period of time after the Big Bang (yes, the comma is followed by exactly 25 zeroes), what happened after that and how our universe will end. There were so many priceless things the Split duo talked about that I cannot immediately recall and put into words, but the entire lecture was recorded and you will have the chance to see it. The lecture was followed by a round of applause and then a round of Q&A (followed by another round of applause) and we hope to hear about many more interesting things from the Split duo.
Day three (Sunday)
Observing the Sun and its sunspots through our three telescopes was interrupted by clouds and rain. Still, a number of our citizens managed to take a look at sunspots and hear our astronomers from Križevci, Zagreb and Daruvar explain what those spots are and that the smallest ones are larger than our planet. Ogren Variola, moderator and demonstrator at the Zagreb Technical Museum held a lecture called The Basics of Star Formation and Evolution at 7 pm. He gave an expert (and slightly humorous) account of how stars are formed from dust particles and that we have to regularly vacuum instead of sweeping all the dust under the carpet so as to prevent a star from forming and causing trouble. We learned about the things that were necessary for nuclear processes to begin inside the star stuff and exactly how much time was needed, as well as that the birth, life and death of the star depend on the amount of material collected. Ogren also told us about neutron stars, pulsars and black holes. We also learned what the HR (Hertzsprung-Russell, 1910) diagram was – one of the best ways to systematize and define types of stars. Our third lecture already ended with a round of applause and a few questions from our visitors.
We are waiting to welcome you in Hrvatski dom at 7 pm every day.
See you!
Find more photos from 10DA in our Flickr gallery.
