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Science JournalScience Journal
Coming up on this month’s Science Journal: advice on how to win the
National Prize for scientific research – just revolutionise global
progress in the field of virology; organisms of the Czech Republic, unite!
Your genetic data is wanted, but there are so many of you – more than
100,000; and how do generations of children from smoggy Prague know there
are stars out there? Because there is one of the largest planetariums in
the world here, and it’s celebrating its fiftieth birthday. More
Current AffairsMulti-million-crown projector becomes new star attraction at Prague Planetarium
The Prague Planetarium has gone digital. On Saturday, the attraction
unveiled a new, state-of-the-art, projection system, which allows onlookers
to witness the skies as they were hundreds of years ago. Earlier today, I
paid a visit to the Planetarium in the capital’s Stromovka Park to talk
to technical director Jan Šifner about the site’s newest attraction:
More
Current AffairsPrague astronomical congress strips Pluto of planet status
It is now official: Our solar system has only eight planets. In Thursday's
vote at the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union here
in Prague, astronomers from all over the world approved a definition of
what a planet is and decided to relegate Pluto into a special category
called "dwarf planets". As a result of the Prague congress,
textbooks around the world will now have to be rewritten.
More
Current AffairsWorld's astronomers meet in Prague for talks on Big Bang, tiny bodies and Pluto
The world's astronomers began gathering in Prague on Monday for a summit
which could resolve - among other things - whether Pluto is a planet or
simply a big rock floating on the outer edges of the solar system. The
Pluto issue is just one of hundreds of topics up for debate over the next
12 days, as the International Astronomical Union holds its first General
Assembly meeting in Prague for 39 years.
More
Czech ScienceOn holiday with a telescope
In the northern sky at one hour right ascension and 40 degrees north
declination — the coordinate on the celestial sphere analogous to
longitude on the Earth and the angular distance north of the celestial
equator — lies Andromeda. After her death, the beautiful Ethiopian
princess was placed there by Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, to shine
for all eternity.
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SpotlightThe Ondrejov Observatory
In this week's Spotlight, we visit the Ondrejov Observatory 35km south-east
of Prague, where some 50 scientists are busy solving the mysteries of the
universe. The observatory has been part of the Astronomical Institute of
the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic since 1953 and houses the
biggest telescope in Central Europe. It's open to the public every weekend
in the summer from 9 a.m.
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Czech ScienceAstronomy in the Czech lands - The Astronomical Institute
Welcome to Czech Science where we have been following the history of
astronomy in the Czech lands since the 17th century. Today astronomy is
being studied at universities in Prague, Brno and Opava. But since the
1950s the main centre of research in astronomy in Czechoslovakia and later
the Czech Republic has been the Astronomical Institute of the Academy of
Sciences. Professor Jan Palous is the head of the institute.
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