Conducting the activity at the Astronomical Observatory in Cluj. Credit: © Observatorul Astronomic Cluj-Napoca
New activities within the European project Exo4Edu
The Astronomical Observatory in Cluj hosted an educational event on Wednesday, 10 December 2025, organized within the European project “Exoplanets for Education” (2024-1-FR01-KA220-SCH-000256856) Exo4edu, funded by the European Commission through the Erasmus+ Programme. The activity was carried out by the Astronomical Observatory of the Romanian Academy, Cluj-Napoca Branch, the Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy, and Babeș-Bolyai University.
The event, initiated and coordinated by Lecturer PhD Iharka Csillik, researcher at the Astronomical Observatory of the Romanian Academy, Cluj-Napoca Branch, brought together students from the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science of Babeș-Bolyai University and seventh-grade pupils from a school in Sălaj County. The participants attended a presentation of the Exo4EDU application, followed by a practical simulation conducted by the university students.
The initiative made use of experiential learning methods focused on the study of exoplanets. In the first part, topics from the field of astronomy were presented in an accessible and applied manner, aiming to clarify new concepts for the pupils. Subsequently, an application dedicated to interstellar travel was used, on the basis of which 12 mixed groups were formed. Each participant selected an exoplanet from the exoplanet.eu database and, with the support of the students, estimated the time required to reach it, depending on the speed of the fastest spacecraft. The activity concluded with astronomical observations using the telescope, targeting the planet Saturn, the star Vega, and the open cluster Pleiades, thereby contributing to stimulating pupils’ interest in astronomical research.
Credit: © Observatorul Astronomic Cluj-Napoca
ASPIICS WorkShop Participants
Proba 3 Science Working Team Meeting
The Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy had the honour of hosting two important scientific events between 24 and 28 November 2025, bringing together experts from the space missions sector: The 12th Proba-3 Science Working Team Meeting and The First ASPIICS Data Workshop. Throughout the 12th Proba-3 Science Working Team Meeting, the scientists engaged in comprehensive discussions regarding the current status of the Proba-3 mission and collaboratively defined scientific use cases to be applied for ongoing or future observation campaigns. One of the central points of this meeting was the mission’s successful entry into its full operational phase. The high-quality observations captured by the ASPIICS instrument are now calibrated and publicly available, marking a major milestone for the scientific community and significantly increasing opportunities for solar corona research. The First ASPIICS Data Workshop served as a key assembly, gathering not only the Proba-3 scientists, but also a group of external researchers. The primary goal of this focused event was to promote and facilitate the utilization of ASPIICS data among the wider scientific community. The workshop successfully encouraged the application of these unique datasets toward obtaining new insights into the dynamics and physics of the lower solar corona.
High-quality urban astrophotography powered by AIRA through the Exo4Edu project
The smart telescope Vespera II (Vaonis) has been recently integrated into the infrastructure of the Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy (IAAR) as part of the implementation of the European project Exo4Edu. This initiative aims to develop STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) competencies among teachers and students, by using an instrument dedicated to education and outreach programmes, with the possibility of being used also in observational activities. Within the mission of the Astronomical Institute to conduct fundamental research in astronomy and astrophysics, to develop know-how and specialized high-tech partnerships, as well as to educate the public through science, Vespera II has entered into operation as a compact, fully automated observing station that makes high-quality astrophotography accessible in an urban environment.
The instrument combines a 50 mm quadruplet apochromatic refractor with a highly sensitive Sony IMX585 sensor and technologies such as Live Stacking and CovalENS, which enable dynamic accumulation and composition of images, including mosaics for extended objects. Alignment and tracking are performed automatically via GPS, plate solving and an alt-azimuth GoTo mount, while full control of the observations is provided through the Singularity application installed on a small-format tablet. The integration of the LumENS artificial intelligence module, capable of providing real-time explanations of the objects being observed, directly supports IAAR’s educational activity and facilitates scientific dialogue with the public.
The capabilities of the Vespera II system have been illustrated by obtaining from Bucharest of the first image with this instrument (the galaxy M31 – Andromeda) and by solar observations carried out with a solar filter. While configuration and monitoring are conducted on a compact tablet, during public presentations the image of the solar disc will be displayed on a large-screen tablet, so that details of the photosphere and sunspots can be analyzed collectively. In this way, Vespera II becomes a bridge between IAAR’s research infrastructure and its ongoing science education activities. This instrument will provide visitors with direct, visual and interactive access to deep-sky phenomena and to solar dynamics.
Installation of the Vespera II telescope and its first night- and daytime images
AIRA educational team at School Different 2025 activities.
From the Stars to Romania’s Time. School Different at the Astronomical Institute
Between 20–24 October 2025, roughly 400 participants—schoolchildren and teachers—explored the cultural-educational spaces of the Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy. The itinerary began in the Meridian Hall, where, historically, the transit of stars across the local meridian was measured and logged with high precision. The centerpiece, the Gautier-Prin meridian telescope —preserved today as a national treasure—captured everyone’s attention and sparked a cascade of questions. The audience discovered how this instrument worked together with the fundamental Leroy and Riefler pendulum clocks to mark stellar passages across the reticle wires and refine stellar catalogues. Regarded as fundamental research, these observations required computing in Bucharest an extremely stable time base from which, for decades, Romanian astronomers derived Romania’s official time. To their surprise, many realized they were standing exactly in the scientific facility where this was calculated and reported daily for the entire country.
The cultural tour continued with an exhibition of mechanical and electromechanical calculating machines as well as the first electronic computers, used at the Bucharest Astronomical Observatory for data reduction, applying corrections, and other scientific computations. The outcome of this scientific rigor and the work of Romanian astronomers was a new generation of catalogues with verified stellar positions and numerous astronomy studies published at home and abroad. Thus, students saw that science means measuring, comparing, and correcting: by tracking Earth’s rotation—our most reliable “clock”—against the stars, we determine time.
In the Planetarium Room, demonstrations of modern software—freely available to amateur astronomers—shifted the discussion from the history of Romanian astronomy to advances in contemporary technologies. The guided walk through the Institute’s scientific and educational park also included the Solar Dome, one of Romania’s scientific facilities from which our nearest star, the Sun, is monitored every day.