Wednesday, July 7th, 2010, together with the “Rudolf Walter” foundation – Timisoara branch, the Astronomical Observatory of Timisoara, and the “Antares” astro-club of Timisoara, I joined other countries in organizing “A Match under Starlight”. The idea pertains to my friends, Azhy Hasan from the Iraqi Kurdistan, and Marcelo Souza from Brazil – two enthusiastic astronomers and football aficionados. Their idea was to celebrate the ending of the 2010 World Cup with a football match – in fact with several ones, all over the world – followed by star parties. This way, kids – because the participants would be very young – would be lured towards the stars.

The “Rudolf Walther” foundation – a model institution where disadvantaged kids are educated and cared for (no resemblance whatsoever with Ceausescu’s orphanages) was happy to be visited by professional and amateur astronomers; the latter were happy, too, to reply in positive to my call of sharing their passion for the infinity that surrounds us with children.
So we had a great time – the kids played football (I had the honor of the first kick), the astronomers delighted them afterward with 3-D projections and captivating talks – yet we could not see the stars, because of the bad weather. No worries – Andrei Juravle – owner of astrovest.ro – donated a telescope to the kids, with an open heart and with a caveat: never look to the Sun through a telescope. Otherwise, the sky belongs to them.

And here is a TVT-89 newscast about the event:

They played a footbal game, and then they attended an astronomy lesson! This is the way the kids from the „Rudolf Walter” foundation in Timisoara celebrated the ending of the International Year of Astronomy and of the World Cup. This was the way in which the organizers attempted to inspire into the kids an interest for astronomy, and towards sport and physical education.
The kids from the “Rudolf Walter” foundation attended an unusual event – a footbal match and an astronomy lesson, in the same day. The youngsters played, had fun, and then they learnt new things about the solar system by means of a 3-D projection.
“We wanted to combine sports with astronomy, to offer the kids a pleasant day” – Cristian Popescu, head of the „Rudolf Walter” foundation, Timisoara branch
“We hope that this way the interest of the kids for astronomy will grow and, why not, they will be inspired to study” – Virgiliu Pop, researcher, Romanian Space Agency.
The youngsters watched in awe the images, listened to the talks by the scientists, and actually learnt from them.
The “Match under starlight” took place in other countries as well – such as Brazil, Irak, and Sri Lanka

Florina Bălu

Photo credits: Remus Boata, Andrei Juravle, Virgiliu Pop

Last year, I approached Cosmin Lungu and Anca Pol from the “Carturesti” bookshops, suggesting them to host two space events – Yuri’s Night and the World Space Week. Both YN and WSW were highly succesful; the public present at Yuri’s Night interracted with Andrei Juravle, Laszlo Farkas and other astronomers from the Antares, Altair and the Timisoara Astronomical Observatory, and with myself, on behalf of the Romanian Space Agency; also, in October, for the World Space Week, Alex Conu and Cristina Tinta joined us. This year, sadly, Cosmin Lungu is no longer with us, but Anca Pol has invited myself – as a ROSA researcher – and Andrei – as an Antares astronomer – to lead an astronomy and astronautics workshop during “Street Delivery. This series of events, taking place in the same time (June 11-13) in Timisoara and Bucharest, takes over two streets and fills them with joy. One such joy was that of bringing the sky closer to the public. Here are some images, with my tkanks to Anca, to the memory of Cosmin, to the young people who manufactured the planet models, to Andrei and to his coleagues from Antares:

The Astronomical Observatory of Timisoara, the “Antares” Astroclub and the Romanian Space Agency organised the local “Yuri’s Night” on the evening of Sunday, April 11th. Bad weather precluded astronomical observations, but the people in attendance were enchanted by Georgiana Stancioni, Iulia Ioanas and Carmen Paulescu, three violin students who played a Scherzino by Karol Miculi. Together with Laszlo Farkas and Andrei Juravle, I then took the floor and interracted with the public on all things pertaining to astronomy and astronautics – from the trivial (2012 and Nibiru) to the latest scientific discoveries.

Brice Russ from Yuri’s Night headquarters asked me to share the secret of Yuri’s Night success in Romania. I happily obliged. Here’s the original interview.

“Over the past few years, Romania has become one of the most booming areas on Earth for hosting Yuri’s Night parties. This year alone, Romania will be hosting at least 13 YN events, more than Russia, China, Japan, and Australia combined! (If you’re reading this from one of those countries, though, there’s still plenty of time to register your event.) Much of this growth is due to the efforts of Virgiliu Pop, a former member of the Space Generation Advisory Council and graduate of the International Space University who’s put a great amount of effort into working with Romanian educators to celebrate Yuri’s Night. We managed to catch him recently for a quick interview:

Q: How are you getting so many groups in Romania to organize their own Yuri’s Night events?

Virgiliu: “I am extremely fortunate to work with the most enthusiastic teachers in the whole solar system – the Romanian teachers – and with equally enthusiastic amateur astronomers. The merit for having so many Yuri’s Night events pertains to them. Ever since I started to work at the Romanian Space Agency (ROSA) in the space education and outreach field, I aimed to create a network of educators interested in promoting space, and ROSA is well aware of the tremendous opportunity represented by events such as Yuri’s Night and the World Space Week in promoting space with the public. I also give the organizers due credit – by publishing their reports online, on a dedicated blog – http://noaptealuiyuri.blogspot.com.”

Q: How did you first get involved in Yuri’s Night?

Virgiliu: “I’ve known Loretta and George ever since 1999 or 2000, and I knew of their dream of creating a global space party ever since I met them. My involvement in Yuri’s Night became stronger in 2007, when I started working at the Romanian Space Agency and I organized a Yuri’s Night party myself, at a night club. It was amazing to see young people dancing with images from Yuri’s flight in the background. In that year I started to coordinate Yuri’s Night nationally, and the event reached escape velocity.”

Q: What’s your occupation outside of Yuri’s Night?

Virgiliu: “My professional life is an ongoing Yuri’s Night: I am fortunate enough to work in the space field, as a researcher at the Romanian Space Agency. My main area of expertise is the international law of outer space – I authored two books and several articles on this subject – but I am also interested in the societal implications of space exploration. I also coordinate educational activities at the Romanian Space Agency – such as the World Space Week and Yuri’s Night – these being amazing opportunities of communicating space with the public.”

Q: Is there anything else you’d like to say to the Yuri’s Night community as a whole?

Virgiliu: “I’ll just reiterate Yuri Gagarin’s words: Poehaly – let’s go!””

In 1964, while most of the African countries were struggling for their independence, a Zambian science teacher named Edward Mukuka Nkoloso was planning to beat the United States and the Soviet Union in their race to the Moon. Training his “afronauts” in 44-gallon oil drums which would be rolled down a hill to emulate weightlessness, Nkoloso was certain that, provided the necessary cash, he would succeed.

Almost half a century later, Mr. Mukuka Nkoloso jr speaks to Virgiliu Pop in exclusivity about his experiences as a young Zambian space cadet and about his father’s dream. Stay tuned.

The University of Zambia hosted me for a lecture on space technology and its applications for Africa (with Romania as a possible model to follow), on space education, and on the Zambian Space Programme of the 1960’s (more about this, later). In attendace were staff and students from the UNZA Physics department. Thanks to Nchimunya Mwiinga, Hansingo Kabumbwe and Steven Mudenda for organising this.

The main reason of participating at the CAP2010 conference in Cape Town, besides attending the “Astronomy101 school”, was to deliver a paper entitled “World Space Week and Yuri’s Night as means of communicating astronomy with the Romanian public”:

“This paper will present two yearly opportunities – Yuri’s Night April 12th) and the World Space Week (October 4-12th) and the ways they are used by the Romanian astronomical community as means of communicatng astronomy with the omanian public, especially with the youth”

Photos courtesy of Jim Volp and psychohistorian.org

World Space Week and Yuri’s Night as Means of Communicating Astronomy with the Romanian Public

Christina Scott (“Science Matters” (SAfm), associate editor, science: Mail & Guardian; ZA) invited some participants at the Astronomy101 school to be her guests on her radio show. I was happy to share with the South African public news about the Romanian Space Agency and its soon-too-be-launched CubeSat, Goliat, and about other space matters in Romania.

As a practical means of communicating astronomy with the public, we headed to the Isilimela High School in the Langa Township. Jim Volp and I, together with the other Astronomy101 students, interacted with the township kids, answered some of their questions about the Universe, and helped them launch water rockets.