Team AIRA members at Astrofest 2023
The Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy participated at Astrofest 2023
On May 20, 2023, the popular astronomy and science educational fair - Astrofest 2023 opened again its gates of knowledge to the public, in Bucharest. The Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy had a fully featured stand for the entire duration of the event, and welcomed there a large number of visitors of all ages.
Inside and outside our colorful educational stand, AIRA’s outreach team members - Dr. Diana Ionescu, Octavian Blagoi, Dr. Simon Anghel, Dr. Dumitru Pricopi, Cristian Dănescu, Sorin Marin and Cristian Omăt, presented to the public our main research areas in astronomy and beyond it, in other associated scientific fields. To better introduce the visitors to our research fields, a binocular stereo microscope was used to analyze the features of a Sericho pallasite meteorite fragment discovered in Kenya in 2016. Our magnetic field experiment and that of the proportion size of planets relative to the size of our Sun complemented the discussion about the variety of space bodies and their features in our Solar System.
In front of the AIRA stand, our educational refractory telescopes determined the formation of queues of people for the whole day. They waited patiently and eager only to have a glimpse of Venus through these fine instruments.
On the main stage of Astrofest 2023 event, Dr. Mirel Bîrlan, our Director, revealed some of the challenges of a light polluted metropolis like Bucharest for the astronomical research, while the astronomy historian Sorin Marin presented in brief the story of the scientific infrastructure build-up process that took place on AIRA’s present day domain since the 19th C.
Published on: May 22, 2023
