Polish astronomers to build a worldwide telescope network
Dr Maciej Konacki, an astronomer at the Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Centre PAS (CAMK) was just awarded in a prestigious competition of the European Research Council. The grant of EUR 1.5 million Konacki and his team received will fund building a network of telescopes in the southern hemisphere. Konacki’s project aims to explore the planets that eclipse binary stars (its title is: "Eclipsing binary stars as cutting edge laboratories for astrophysics of stellar structure, stellar evolution and planet formation"). In the competition " Starting Independent Researcher Grant" conducted by the European Research Council (ERC) the panel of 17 Europe's leading astronomers and astrophysicists awarded maximum scores to the project.
2010-09-08 12:20

The spectrum of bright fireball
For the first time in the history of Polish meteor research a very bright meteor spectrum has been recorded - said Przemysław Żołądek, President of the Comet and Meteor Workshop (PKiM). On the night of 2/3 August 2010, at 2:28 CET over central Poland a bright fireball appeared, with brightness comparable to the moon in the first quarter. Such fireballs appear over our country quite often, this one, however, is unique due to the fact that for the first time in history of PKiM research a good quality spectrum of a very bright meteor has been obtained.
2010-08-17 02:30

Astronomers from Toruń found a new planet
International team of astronomers led by Dr Gracjan Maciejewski from the Nicolaus Copernicus University discovered a new extrasolar planet with a mass 15 times larger than Earth. It is one of the smallest known exoplanets.

 

2010-07-30 05:19

Astronomical discovery of Polish secondary school students
Harvard Minor Planet Center, gathering data on asteroids for the International Astronomical Union and NASA - confirmed the discovery of an asteroid by secondary school students from Sierpc. The new object is a so-called MBA, or main belt asteroid. Secondary school students found the asteroid on June 18, but had to wait two weeks for the final confirmation of their discovery. Dr Patrick Miller, Hardin-Simmons University in Texas employee and the program manager of the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC) informed of their success. Newly discovered object received a designation 2010 MN2.
2010-07-28 02:53

Season to observe the highest clouds started
The season for the observation of noctilucent clouds (highest clouds observed from the ground) started. Observers from northern Europe reported their emergence to SpaceWeather.com service. The sky will be favorable for their observation after the new moon, because the moon glow will not brighten the dark sky.

2010-06-28 07:09

Robot from Toruń suitable for Mars
Magma robot built by Polish students from Bialystok University of Technology and Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń won third place in international competitions of Mars rovers University Rover Challenge - informed its constructors during the conference at the Industrial Research Institute for Automation and Measurements in Warsaw (PIAP).
2010-06-21 05:43

The space Ribbon: new era in the Solar System's voyage through the Galaxy?
Scientists from the Space Research Centre PAS, in an article published in the latest issue of the prestigious journal Astrophysical Journal Letters, attempt to explain the nature of the Ribbon - ring-shaped structure cutting the sky, which IBEX satellite discovered last year. Authors suggest that the appearance of the ribbon may be related to the Solar System approaching the border of a cloud of interstellar matter whose temperature is estimated at one million degrees.
2010-06-18 02:55

First Polish scientific satellite to help understand the internal structure of the biggest stars of our galaxy
Two institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences - Space Research Center (CBK) and N. Copernicus Astronomical Centre (CAMK) - in cooperation with the Astronomical Institute, Wroclaw University (IAUWr) will build the first Polish scientific satellite BRITE-PL.

 

2010-06-14 14:41

Ministry of Science will fund the construction of the first Polish satellites
Ministry of Science and Higher Education will fund the construction of the first Polish scientific satellites, which will study the internal structure of stars in our galaxy. On May 19 Minister of Science Barbara Kudrycka signed an agreement with PAS institutes for the amount of over PLN 14 million.
2010-06-14 00:41

Polish "dwarf planet" candidates
Astronomers from the University of Warsaw, working on the OGLE project, found four bodies on the edge of the Solar System, which because of their sizes could be qualified as "dwarf planets". These objects are the largest bodies in our planetary system discovered so far by Polish astronomers.
2010-06-09 03:54