Astronomical Society Ruđer Bošković () is an astronomical society in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

. Founded in 1934 by a group of students, it is the oldest one in the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

. Initially having only several members, today it gathers more than 700 astronomy lovers. It is named after Ruđer Bošković. The main role of the Society is popularisation of astronomy. The Society also practices

amateur astronomy Amateur astronomy is a hobby where participants enjoy observing or imaging celestial objects in the sky using the Naked eye, unaided eye, binoculars, or telescopes. Even though scientific research may not be their primary goal, some amateur astr ...

observations. To accomplish this, in 1964, the Society founded the Public Observatory, which is still located in adapted Despot's Tower in

Kalemegdan The Kalemegdan Park (), or simply Kalemegdan ( sr-Cyrl, Калемегдан) is the largest park and the most important historical monument in Belgrade. It is located on a cliff, at the junction of the River Sava and the Danube. Kalemegdan Pa ...

, Belgrade. The Belgrade Planetarium, one of the only two planetariums in Serbia, is also founded by the society, in 1970. It is located in the lower part of Kalemegdan Fortress, in a former

Turkish bath A hammam (), also often called a Turkish bath by Westerners, is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the culture of the Muslim world and was inherited from the model ...

. The Society publishes a popular science magazine called Vasiona since 1953.

History

A group of students at the Belgrade University back at the 1934 decided to form an astronomical society focused on amateur observations and astronomy popularization. Before the World War II, the Society published magazine

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...

, organized popular lectures and few observation trips. Thanks to the Society's efforts, the translation of the book Stars and Atoms by sir Arthur Eddington was published. All activities in Society were banned by during the German occupation in 1941. Society continued its work in 1953 as the Astronomical Society Ruđer Bošković and has begun to publish magazine Vasiona. Publication of books was also one of the Society's main activities: Ruđer Bošković's Eclipses of the Sun and the Moon (translated and commented by Nenad Janković) was published. In 1964 Society has established the Public Observatory, located in the Despot's Tower in

. At the terrace of Observatory a Zeiss refracting telescope (110/200) is placed. The Society also got a planetarium ZKP-2 in 1970 and opened the Belgrade Planetarium with diameter of 8 m and 80 seats. Planetarium is mainly visited by the students of primary and high schools. Belgrade Planetarium closeup

During the 60s, 70s and 80s amateur astronomical observations of the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

occultation An occultation is an event that occurs when one object is hidden from the observer by another object that passes between them. The term is often used in astronomy, but can also refer to any situation in which an object in the foreground blocks f ...

s, binary and

variable star A variable star is a star whose brightness as seen from Earth (its apparent magnitude) changes systematically with time. This variation may be caused by a change in emitted light or by something partly blocking the light, so variable stars are ...

s and

planet A planet is a large, Hydrostatic equilibrium, rounded Astronomical object, astronomical body that is generally required to be in orbit around a star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf, and is not one itself. The Solar System has eight planets b ...

ary phenomena were regular. Too much light pollution around the Observatory in the last 5–10 years has limited Society's activities mainly on theoretical works and application of computers in astronomy. Every year Society organizes a few courses for the popularization of astronomy, like: the Astronomy Course for beginners held two times annually, Belgrade Astronomy Weekend (BAW) in June which consists of several lectures on different topics and Summer Astronomical Gatherings in August and September with several lectures on similar topic. All courses are held in the Society's planetarium.

References

External links

Official website
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English main page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Astronomical Society Ruder Boskovic Astronomy in Serbia Amateur astronomy organizations Scientific organizations based in Serbia 1934 establishments in Yugoslavia 1934 establishments in Serbia

History

See also

References

External links