An Interview with the Sky

It is one of the most modern educational institutions of the Banská Bystrica municipality, combining science and culture. It presents information about astronomy and related natural and technical sciences. Its main goal is to shape scientific knowledge, to develop positive relations with nature, to increase the general, professional and cultural awareness of people and to organise leisure activities and out-of-school educational activities.

The organisation focuses primarily on working within the Central region of Slovakia. Even though its history goes back only 12 years, it has served as a public planetarium since the early 70s. More than 20 thousand visitors come here every year.

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A wide range of programmes at KHaP are designed for all ages from pre-school children through to adults. Permanent events include sky and astronomic phenomena displays on the projection dome, popular and scientific as well as professional lectures, discussions, audiovisual presentations and video presentations. Visitors can also observe current and interesting phenomena in the sky, learn about their formation, development and also about the practical implications of these observations.

Professional activities focus on basic and supplementary observation programmes. These professional observations are part of national, international and world-wide observation programmes – a fact for which the institution has been granted several awards.

The solar eclipse is a fascinating phenomenon not only for astronomers. The magical play of light and darkness is caused by the Moon covering the radiant Sun. It allows us to glance at the fantastic atmosphere of the Sun – the corona – for a few moments. Its observation and study are important in order to learn about the Earth-Sun connection and to identify space weather. This knowledge then enables us to define global warming more closely and to forecast climatic changes affecting all of us.

More info: www.planetarium.sk

By Stanislav Kaniansky
Photo: the Observatory

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