Media & outreachThe Asterion Astronomical Club
Our club is an association of astronomy enthusiasts in Petrozavodsk.
Our main goal is to popularize astronomy and science in general.
The Asterion Club is the only one engaged in educational and educational activities in the field of astronomy in Karelia.
For many years now, we have been conducting:
- an online general astronomy circle for everyone (starting from 1st grade without age restrictions from above and not only for residents of Karelia, but for everyone interested). This is a full-fledged astronomy course taught by professional astronomers and people with physical and astronomical education.;
- sidewalk and field observations with telescopes for everyone in Petrozavodsk and the areas closest to it. During them, we introduce participants to a wide variety of objects in the sky - from the Moon and planets, to star clusters, nebulae and galaxies. We have a good set of telescopes with auxiliary equipment for this: Sky-Watcher 200 mm HEQ5, Sky-Watcher 80 ED, SkyWatcher Dob 16" Retractable, Maxvision 127ED APO EXOS-2 GOTO, Coronado SM60T BF10, Seestar S50;
- we conduct astronomy lessons in Petrozavodsk schools by invitation. As a rule, about 20 schools are visited during the academic year, and an average of 30 lessons are taught to students of both junior and senior grades.;
- we organize popular science lectures on astronomy in Petrozavodsk and beyond.
All our events are conducted by enthusiasts and involved people on a voluntary basis, and we actively attract new volunteers and young people.
For the participants, in accordance with the purpose of the club, all events are free of charge.
We plan to:
- purchase and donate books to active participants of the online circle (those who attended most of the classes during the school year and completed homework from teachers). In this regard, there is an agreement with the AST publishing house to purchase Mikhail Shevchenko's books "Luna" at wholesale prices in the amount of 60 copies. This is a wonderful book, beautifully illustrated and suitable for both younger and older band members. We need 31 thousand rubles for this.
- invite famous astronomy popularizers to Karelia with free lectures for everyone. We have an agreement with Vladimir Surdin and Dmitry Vibe. Our club takes care of all organizational matters. This would be a unique opportunity for the residents of our city. Such events will attract many people and bring great benefits. It takes about 45 thousand rubles to buy tickets, accommodation and catering for one such trip.
- trips to the regions of Karelia with popular scientific events on astronomy. Our events take place mainly in Petrozavodsk, and it is difficult to arrive in other cities of Karelia due to the great distance and poor transport accessibility of many areas. So far, we have managed to visit Segezha with such a trip, where we held lectures on basic astronomical facts and organized daytime sidewalk observations for residents of the city, looked at the Sun in the ash-alpha line and with a conventional solar filter, told them which star is not simple, why there are spots, prominences, flare fields and other phenomena on it.. We have partners in the regions of Karelia who have been inviting us for a long time and are waiting for us with events.
