International conference Science for Space Weather was held in Goa, India 24-29 January 2016. The conference was accompanied by a Space Weather school for graduate and PhD students funded by CAU, CESSI, COSPAR, ILWS, SCOSTEP-VarSITI, PRL, and ISRO. More than a hundred scientists and students attended the conference from 21 different countries, among them T. Žic and M. Dumbović from Hvar Observatory with two contributions “The Hvar Observatory CME-Effectiveness Forecast Tools” and “The drag-based model application".

M. Dumbović and B. Vršnak attended second workshop „Large‐Amplitude Oscillations in Solar Prominences“as members of the International Space Science Institute (ISSI) team led by Manuel Luna Bennasar, which includes also scientists from Spain, UK, USA, China and Belgium. B. Vršnak presented new results on the physical nature of the solar prominence oscillations excited by coronal large amplitude waves, obtained in collaboration with T. Žic in the frame of SOLSTEL research program (pdf). M. Dumbović, invited as a young scientist, presented the catalog of observed large-amplitude oscillations compiled based on extensive number of publications in recent years, in collaboration with J. Čalogović (pptx).

From 5th to 9th November 2015, Bojan Vršnak attended as a member of SOC a conference "Coimbra Solar Physics Meeting: Ground-based Solar Observations in the Space Instrumentation Era" held in Coimbra, Portugal. The main topic of the meeting was the state-of-art of solar ground-based and space-based observing techniques and related topics. During the conference two posters were presented: "Forecasting the arrival of Coronal Mass Ejections: The Drag-Based Model" (Vršnak B., Žic T., Čalogović J., Dumbović M.) and "Photosphere and Chromosphere Telescope at Hvar Observatory" (Čalogović J., Dumbović M., Vršnak B., Brajša R.).

On September 29, 2015, Bojan Vršnak presented a talk entitled „What the Sunlight Reveals to us" at a symposium "Man and the Light" held at Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Symposium was organized by the Croatian Physical Society in the frame of the International Year of Light 2015. The recording of lecture is available here.

From 20 to 25 September 2015, Bojan Vršnak attended a conference „Multi-Wavelength Studies of the Solar Atmosphere" organized by the SOLSTEL, Grece, where he presented an invited-review on the physical nature of the solar coronal large amplitude waves, including the results obtained in the frame of the SOLSTEL research program.

Free interactive exhibition "European Space Expo" was held on main square in Zagreb (Trg bana Josipa Jelačića) from 12 to 21 June 2015. Exhibition presented the services and applications of the major European space programs in the domain of satellite navigation (Galileo) and Earth Observation (Copernicus). The main objective of Space Expo organized by European Commission was to inform the public about the positive effects of European space programs on the daily lives of Europeans. Thanks to rich and interactive audio-visual materials, visitors could discover the various applications of satellite technology. During the whole exhibition period Space Expo visited more than 83.000 people. Faculty of Geodesy was one of the main local partners that also organized various public lectures. One of the lectures was held by Dr. sc Roman Brajša, head of Hvar Observatory about research performed at Hvar Observatory ("Istraživanje svemira na Opservatoriju Hvar"). General presentation about Hvar Observatory was also available at local interactive kiosk during the whole exhibition period and was prepared by Dr. sc Jaša Čalogović.

A workshop was held at the Hvar Observatory from 26 to 29 May 2015 with general topics on the cosmic ray modulation, Forbush decreases, coronal mass ejection initiation and propagation, and magnetic clouds in the interplanetary space. There were 14 participants from the Physics department of the University of Kiel, Physics Institute of the University of Graz, Space Research Institute in Graz and Hvar Observatory.

Photos from the workshop are available here.

An international team of scientists led by Dr.sc. Christian Möstl from the Space Research Institute (Institut für Weltraumforschung, IWF) in Graz, including couple of Hvar Observatory team members, recently published a scientific paper in Nature Communications. The paper Möstl et al. regards the non-radial propagation of CMEs, using a synthesis of data of a fast CME from seven different space missions. CME, which originated in an active region near the disk centre, was forecasted to have a significant geomagnetic impact. However, the CME is demonstrated to be channeled during eruption into a direction away from its source region, leading only to minimal geomagnetic effects. In situ observations near Earth and Mars confirm the channeled CME motion, and are consistent with an ellipse shape of the CME-driven shock provided by the new Ellipse Evolution model, presented in the paper. The results enhance our understanding of CME propagation and shape, which can substantially influence the geomagnetic effects of CMEs. The publication of the paper was covered by several media such as space.com(ENG), the Conversation(ENG), Discovery News(ENG), Sueddeutsche Zeitung(GER), Der Standard(AUT), tportal(CRO).

Hvar Observatory participated in the 13^th Festival of Science, with special topic "the Sun" which was held across Republic of Croatia 20-25. April 2015. The aim of festival is to promote and raise awareness of science, technology and the environment with the aim of getting children interested in science and technology. This year Hvar Observatory together with Hvar local elementary school organized for the first time Festival of Science in Hvar. In addition, a public lecture was held in Rijeka and a workshop for children, as well as a public lecture, was given in the Technical museum in Zagreb.

From 2nd to 5th March 2015 Bojan Vršnak took part in a team-workshop „Large‐Amplitude Oscillations in Solar Prominences" organized by Manuel Luna at the International Space Science Institute in Bern. The results on the physical nature of the solar prominence oscillations excited by coronal large amplitude waves, obtained in collaboration with Tomislav Žic in the frame of SOLSTEL research program, were presented.