Mateja Dumbović obtained Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellowship

Written by Mateja Dumbovic Tuesday, 21 March 2017 14:46

In the scope of individual fellowships of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie actions within EU programme HORIZON 2020 (standard European fellowships – physics panel) project "Forbush decrease model for expanding CMEs affecting Earth and Mars (ForbMod)" by M. Dumbović was accepted for funding. The subject of the project research are depressions in the galactic cosmic ray flux during solar storms (so called Forbush decreases) and the project aim is to develop a new analytical model which would explain these phenomena and compare model results with observation at Earth and Mars. The project will utilize a number of ground-based as well as spacecraft measurements including the Curiosity rover at Mars. M. Dumbović will implement this two-tear project at the University of Graz under supervision of Dr. Manuela Temmer and in collaboration with Dr. Christian Möstl from the Space Research Institute in Graz and Dr. Bernd Heber and Dr. Jingnan Guo from the Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel. A short overview of the evaluation results (Flash Call Information) is available at the EU participant portal.

Bojan Vršnak as guest in Croatian TV show "Third Element"

Written by Jaša Čalogović Tuesday, 22 November 2016 00:00

On November 17, 2016 Dr. Bojan Vršnak participated in the Croatian scientific TV show (HRT-3: "Third Element") entitled "Solar System". In the show, he explained the formation and evolution of the Sun, effects of the solar wind and the solar eruptive processes on the Earth and other objects in the solar system. Various solar-activity effects on the robotic and crewed space missions, including the future missions to Mars, were discussed. 

Video of TV show "Third element" on 17.11.2016 is available here (only in Croatian)

CORAMOD meeting in Zagreb

Written by Jaša Čalogović Tuesday, 15 November 2016 00:00

The final CORAMOD project meeting was held at the Faculty of Geodesy in Zagreb from 7.-11. November 2016 where the following CORAMOD members participated: Konstantin Herbst, Adrian Vogt, Mateja Dumbović, Bojan Vršnak and Jaša Čalogović. On Thursday, 10. November 2016 Konstantin Herbst held a public lecture at Zagreb Observatory with the title: "Cosmogenic radionuclides - the quest of studying the solar activity over past 10,000 years". During the meeting in Zagreb discussions about upcoming papers that should be soon submitted and further plans for upcoming projects and collaborations were made.

Visit of the Dean to Hvar Observatory

Written by Jaša Čalogović Monday, 03 October 2016 12:35

On Moday, September 26, the Dean of the Faculty of Geodesy, prof. Damir Medak arrived to Hvar and visited Hvar Observatory to get a closer insight into activities and the life at the Observatory. Hrvoje Božić, Bojan Vršnak and Toni Visković showed the Dean solar and stellar telescopes, explained the scientific programs and strategies of the Observatory and briefed him about some infrastructural problems.

XIVth Hvar Astrophysical Colloquium

Written by Jaša Čalogović Sunday, 15 May 2016 00:00

XIVth Hvar Astrophysical Colloquium "Solar and Solar-Terrestrial Physics: Now and in the future" will be organized from 26 to 30 September 2016 in Hvar, Croatia. The scientific sessions will include following topics: Observing techniques, Campaigns and Databases, Activity of Sun and Solar-Like Stars, Eruptive Processes in the Solar Atmosphere, Solar-Terrestrial Connection and the Heliosphere, Space Weather and Space Climate Forecasting. Abstract submission (deadline 15 July 2016) and early registration (150 EUR, deadline 1 September 2016) are now open. It is possible to apply for financial support covered trough SCOSTEP-VarSiti grant for accommodation and/or registration fee (deadline 15 June 2016).

Scientific programme

Mercury transit observed at the Hvar Observatory, 09.05.2016

Written by Jaša Čalogović Tuesday, 10 May 2016 00:00

The transits of Mercury across the solar disk are rare phenomena, although Mercury orbits the Sun in just 88 days. The reason for this is that Mercury orbits the Sun with the certain angle to the ecliptic, ie. the plane that the Earth orbits the Sun. Mercury transit in Croatia was visible on 9 May 2016, started at 13:12h local time and could be seen for almost 7 hours. Unfortunately, end of transit was not visible from our region because the sunset was at 20:10h and end of transit was at 20:42h. This rare phenomena was possible to observe from Hvar, and it was recoreded in white light and H-alpha using Hvar solar telescope. The next transit of Mercury will be visible from the Croatia in 2019.

Read more: Mercury transit observed at the Hvar Observatory, 09.05.2016

Mateja Dumbović received the national fellowship ”For Women in Science”

Written by Jaša Čalogović Thursday, 05 May 2016 18:14

On April 27th 2016 fellowships of the national program "For Women in Science" were awarded for the 10th time, organized by L'ORÉAL ADRIA d.o.o. and Croatian commission for UNESCO at Ministry of culture, under sponsorship of Croatian academy of sciences and arts and supported by the Croatian Rectors' conference. Among the four young female scientists awarded with this prestigious fellowship is Mateja Dumbović from Hvar Observatory, Faculty of Geodesy in Zagreb for the research she did during her PhD studies that resulted in her thesis "Analysis and forecasting of coronal mass ejection space weather effects" (supervised by dr. sc. Bojan Vršnak). The ceremony was attended by many esteemed guests, among others the Croatian president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and the news was greatly covered by Croatian press.

Read more: Mateja Dumbović received the national fellowship ”For Women in Science”

Festival of science 2016 in Hvar

Written by Jaša Čalogović Thursday, 05 May 2016 16:33

From 21 to 23 April 2016 Festival of Science was organized at city hall in the town of Hvar, and this year's festival theme was "Science and Art". The event was organized by the Observatory Hvar and the Elementary School of Hvar, Stari Grad, Jelsa and the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb.

Science Festival is being held for the 14th consecutive year in Croatia and its goal is to bring the science to pupils of primary and secondary schools and the entire interested general public. This year, the Science Festival was organized in 18 cities in Croatia, and it was the second time that city of Hvar hosted it. Compared to the last year, organizers offered a much richer program and the Festival in Hvar lasted for three days, that was visited by students of almost all schools on the island (elementary school of Hvar, Stari Grad and Jelsa).

Read more: Festival of science 2016 in Hvar

CORAMOD workshop Hvar 2015

Written by Jaša Čalogović Saturday, 06 June 2015 11:30

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.

Hvar Observatory participated in 13th Festival of Science

Written by Jaša Čalogović Thursday, 30 April 2015 11:40

Festival of Science with special topic "the Sun" was held for the first time in the Hvar town loggia on 20th April 2015, organized by Primary school Hvar and Hvar Observatory. The aim of festival is promote and raise awareness of science, technology and the environment with the aim of getting children interested in science and technology. The program consisted of the exhibition of student's artwork, a workshop "Funny quiz about the Sun" with more than 40 participants and a lecture "Why and how do we study our nearest star – the Sun?". A promotional/educational stand was set, where information was presented about Hvar Observatory, the Sun and the International Astronomical Union initiatives. Additional educational interactive stand was also set, where prism experiment was performed and that offered several puzzles of the Sun in different colors. During the day the visitors – students, teachers and parents were observing the Sun through the telescope where several sunspots were visible, while in the evening observations of the Moon, Venus, Jupiter and Orion nebula were organized with amateur telescopes.

During the Festival of Science, from 20. to 25. April 2015, staff members of Hvar Observatory gave also two public lectures in Astronomy Center of Rijeka (23.4.) and organized workshop (24.4.) and lecture (25.4.) in Technical museum, Zagreb.

Pictures from Festival of Science in Hvar are available here.

Read more: Hvar Observatory participated in 13th Festival of Science