astronomy

Welcome to IOAA 2016

galaxy

Young astronomy students from 41 different countries of the world recently participated in the International Olympiad in Astronomy and Astrophysics. It was an opportunity for pre-university students from various countries to meet and make friends with students with similar interest from all part of the world. In this IOAA, 221 participants from 48 teams came and spent 10 days together competing and interacting with each other, from 9 to 19 December 2016.
India is one of the oldest countries in the world with its prehistory going back to almost 2 million years. It housed one of the earliest large scale civilisation, the Harappan civilisation from 7000 to 2000 BC and has not looked back. It is home to some of the finest architecture in the world from Taj Mahal to the magnificent Sun Temple at Konark, which the participants to the Olympiad visited.
India is also a vibrant democracy with a lot of interest and investments in pure sciences in general and astronomy in particular. Apart from several meter class astronomical telescopes, it hosts the world’s largest meter wave telescope and has recently launched a state of the art multi-wavelength astronomy telescope. Our hosting of the 10th International Olympiad in Moon Astronomy and Astrophysics was a part of our continuing tradition of encouraging young students to appreciate and enjoy the excitement of this oldest of pure sciences. The programme also offered an opportunity to meet Indian students beyond the participants through an active outreach programme associated with the event.
10th IOAA was hosted in one of the most picturesque and ancient city of Bhubaneswar, which boasts of a rich tradition of religious architecture, art form and cuisine. The city of Bhubaneswar, is also the capital of the state of Odisha. The host institute was National Institute for Science Education and Research (NISER).
For those of you who are new to the event, IOAA comprises of three rounds i.e. theoretical test, observation test and data analysis test, whose total counts towards medals of participating students. In addition, there was also be a team competition to determine the best team.

The event is being supported by

History

IOAA 2007 – Chiang Mai, Thailand

The first IOAA was held from 30th November to 9th December 2007, to commemorate the 80th birth anniversary of the King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand and the 84th birth anniversary of the Princess Galyani Vadhana of Thailand. Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Greece, India, Indonesia, Iran, South Korea, Laos, Lithuania, Myanmar, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Ukraine participated in the first IOAA. The International Board, composed by the leaders of every attending country, formally adopted statutes of IOAA. The international board also elected, for a five-year term, a President (Dr. Boonrucksar Soonthornthum, Thailand) and a General Secretary (Dr. Chatief Kunjaya, Indonesia).


IOAA 2007 opening Ceremony
IOAA 2008 – Bandung, Indonesia

The second IOAA was from 19th to 28th August 2008, with teams from 22 countries including a team from Cambodia and an observer from Malaysia.


Team Guides at IOAA 2008
IOAA 2009 – Tehran, Iran


Team Leaders at IOAA 2009 closing ceremony
The third IOAA was held from 17th to 27th October 2009. The observational exam was held in the desert, in the Caravanserai of Deh Namak. 20 countries participated including first time participants Kazakhstan and Serbia.

IOAA 2010 – Beijing, China

The fourth IOAA was held from 12th to 21st September 2010. One-hundred fourteen competitors from 23 countries participated in the event. It was a first time participation for Czech Republic, Philippines and Russia.


IOAA 2010 all participants at the opening ceremony
IOAA 2011 – Krakow – Katowice – Chorzow, Poland

The fifth IOAA was held from 25th August to 4th September 2011. This was the first IOAA to be held in Europe. The participants came from 26 countries, including the first time participation by Bulgaria, Colombia, Croatia, Hungary and Portugal. For a term from 2012 to 2016, The International Board elected a new President (Dr. Chatief Kunjaya, Indonesia) and a General Secretary (Dr. Gregorz Stachowski, Poland). They also indicated two Regional Coordinators (Dr. Thais Mothe Diniz, Brazil, for Americas and Dr. Aniket Sule, India, for Asia and Pacific).


Participants attempting data analysis round during IOAA 2011
IOAA 2012 – Rio de Janeiro and Vassouras, Brazil

The sixth IOAA was held from 4th to 13th August 2012. This was the first IOAA to be held in the western hemisphere. The participants came from 28 countries including reintroduction of Singapore and a solitary student representing United Arab Emirates.


Closing ceremony of IOAA 2012
IOAA 2013 – Volos, Greece

The seventh IOAA was held from 27th July to 4th August 2013. Total 39 teams from 35 countries participated in the event. These included first time teams from Armenia, Canada, Cyprus , F.Y.R. of Macedonia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Slovenia and U.S.A.


Closing ceremony of IOAA 2013
IOAA 2014 – Suceava and Gura Humorului, Romania

The eighth IOAA was held from 1st to 11th August 2014. Total 42 teams from 37 countries participated in the event. These included first time teams from Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Nepal and Pakistan.


Closing ceremony of IOAA 2014
IOAA 2015 – Magelang, Indonesia


Prof. M. N. Vahia (2016 host) accepts IOAA flag from Prof. Chatief Kunjaya (President of IOAA and 2015 host).
The 9th IOAA was held from 26th July to 4th August 2014. Total 46 teams from 41 countries participated in the event. These included first time teams from Estonia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and United Kingdom. In addition, observers from Sweden and Qatar attended the IOAA.

IOAA Syllabus

General Notes:

Extensive contents in basic astronomical concepts are required in theoretical and practical problems.

Basic concepts in physics and mathematics at high school level are required in solving the problems. Standard solutions should not
involve use of calculus and/or the use of complex numbers and/or solving differential equations.

Astronomical software packages may be used in practical and observational problems. The contestants will be informed the list of
software packages to be used at least 3 months in advance. The chosen software packages should be preferably freewares or low-cost ones
enabling all countries to obtain them easily for practice purpose. The chosen softwares should preferably be available on multiple OSs
(Windows / Unix / GNU-Linux / Mac).

Concepts and phenomena not included in the Syllabus may be used in questions but sufficient information must be given in the questions
so that contestants without previous knowledge of these topics would not be at a disadvantage.

Sophisticated practical equipments likely to be unfamiliar to the candidates should not dominate a problem. If such devices are used in
the questions, sufficient information must be provided. In such case, students should be given opportunity to familiarise themselves with such
equipments.

The original texts of the problems have to be set in the SI units, wherever applicable. Participants will be expected to mention
appropriate units in their answers and should be familiar with the idea of correct rounding off and expressing the final result(s) and
error(s) with correct number of significant digits.

Theoretical Part

Symbol (Q) is attached to some topics in the list. It means “qualitative understanding only”. Quantitative reasoning / proficiency in these
topics is not mandatory.

The following theoretical contents are proposed for the contestants.

Basic Astrophysics

Contents Remarks
Celestial Mechanics Newton’s Laws of Gravitation, Kepler’s Laws for circular and non-circular orbits, Roche limit, barycentre, 2-body

problem, Lagrange points
Electromagnetic Theory & Quantum Physics | Electromagnetic spectrum, Radiation Laws, Blackbody radiation
Thermodynamics | Thermodynamic equilibrium, Ideal gas, Energy transfer
Spectroscopy and Atomic Physics | Absorption, Emission, Scattering, Spectra of Celestial objects, Doppler effect, Line formations,
Continuum spectra, Splitting and Broadening of spectral lines, polarisation
Nuclear Physics | Basic concepts including structure of atom, Mass defect and binding energy Radioactivity, Neutrinos (Q)

Coordinates and Times

Contents Remarks
Celestial Sphere Spherical trigonometry, Celestial coordinates and their applications, Equinox and Solstice, Circumpolar stars,

Constellations and Zodiac
Concept of Time | Solar time, Sidereal time, Julian date, Heliocentric Julian date, Time zone, Universal Time, Local Mean Time, Different
definitions of “year”, Equation of time

Solar System

Contents Remarks
The Sun Solar structure, Solar surface activities, Solar rotation, Solar radiation and Solar constant, Solar neutrinos (Q), Sun-Earth

relations, Role of magnetic fields (Q), Solar wind and radiation pressure, Heliosphere (Q), Magnetosphere (Q)
The Solar System | Earth-Moon System, precession, nutation, libration, Formation and evolution of the Solar System (Q), Structure and
components of the Solar System (Q), Structure and orbits of the Solar System objects, Sidereal and Synodic periods, Retrograde motion, Outer
reaches of the solar system (Q)
Space Exploration | Satellite trajectories and transfers, Human exploration of the Solar System (Q), planetary missions (Q), Sling-shot effect
of gravity, Space-based instruments (Q)
Phenomena | Tides, Seasons, Eclipses, Aurorae (Q), Meteor Showers

Stars

Contents Remarks
Stellar Properties Methods of Distance determination, Radiation, Luminosity and magnitude, Color indices and temperature, Determination of

radii and masses, Stellar motion, Irregular and regular stellar variabilities – broad classification & properties, Cepheids &
period-luminosity relation, Physics of pulsation (Q)
Stellar Interior and Atmospheres | Stellar equilibrium, Stellar nucleosynthesis, Energy transportation (Q), Boundary conditions, Stellar
atmospheres and atmospheric spectra
Stellar Evolution | Stellar formation, Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, Pre-Main Sequence, Main Sequence, Post-Main Sequence stars, supernovae,
planetary nebulae, End states of stars

Stellar Systems

Contents Remarks
Binary Star Systems Different types of binary stars, Mass determination in binary star systems, Light and radial velocity curves of

eclipsing binary systems, Doppler shifts in binary systems, interacting binaries, peculiar binary systems
Exoplanets | Techniques used to detect exoplanets
Star Clusters | Classification and Structure, Mass, age, luminosity and distance determination
Milky Way Galaxy | Structure and composition, Rotation, Satellites of Milky Way (Q)
Interstellar Medium | Gas (Q), dust (Q), HII regions, 21cm radiation, nebulae (Q), interstellar absorption, dispersion measure, Faraday
rotation
Galaxies | Classifications based on structure, composition and activity, Mass, luminosity and distance determination, Rotation curves
Accretion Processes | Basic concepts (spherical and disc accretion) (Q), Eddington luminosity

Cosmology

Contents Remarks
Elementary Cosmology Expanding Universe and Hubble’s Law, Cluster of galaxies, Dark matter, Dark energy (Q), Gravitational lensing, Cosmic

Microwave Background Radiation, Big Bang (Q), Alternative models of the Universe (Q), Large scale structure (Q), Distance measurement at
cosmological scale, cosmological redshift

Instrumentation and Space Technologies

Contents Remarks
Multi-wavelength Astronomy Observations in radio, microwave, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelength bands, Earth’s

atmospheric effects
Instrumentation | Telescopes and detectors (e.g. charge-coupled devices, photometers, spectrographs), Magnification, Focal length, Focal
ratio, resolving and light-gathering powers of telescopes, Geometric model of two element interferometer, Aperture synthesis, Adaptive optics,
photometry, astrometry

Practical Part

This part consists of 2 sections: observations and data analysis sections. The theoretical part of the Syllabus provides the basis for all
problems in the practical part.

The observations section focuses on contestant’s experience in

naked-eye observations,
usage of sky maps and catalogues,
application of coordinate systems in the sky, magnitude estimation, estimation of angular separation
usage of basic astronomical instruments-telescopes and various detectors for observations but enough instructions must be provided to
the contestants. Observational objects may be from real sources in the sky or imitated sources in the laboratory. Computer simulations may be
used in the problems but sufficient instructions must be provided to the contestants.

The data analysis section focuses on the calculation and analysis of the astronomical data provided in the problems. Additional requirements
are as follows:

Proper identification of error sources, calculation of errors, and estimation of their influence on the final results.
Proper use of graph papers with different scales, e.g., polar and logarithmic papers. Transformation of the data to get a linear plot
and finding “Best Fit” line approximately.
Basic statistical analysis of the observational data.
Knowledge of the most common experimental techniques for measuring physical quantities mentioned in Part A.

IOAA Statutes

Statutes of

International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics

#1

In recognition of the growing significance of astronomy and related subjects in all fields of Science and Technology, including the general education of young people, and with the aim of enhancing the development of international contacts between different countries in the field of school education in astronomy and astrophysics, an annual competition in these subjects has been organised for high school students; the competition is called the “International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics” (IOAA). The International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics should be organised during the period of July – December.

#2

The competition is organised in one of the participating countries on whose territory the competition is to be conducted. Participation in the IOAA is restricted to teams from countries or territories with National Olympic Committees, duly recognised by the International Olympic Committee, under the condition that they agree to abide by the Statutes of the IOAA and the decisions of the IOAA board, and appropriate international legal and diplomatic agreements. In the event of a dispute regarding the official name of a participating team, the name recognised by the International Olympic Committee will be used.

The organising country is obliged to ensure equal participation of all delegations, and to invite all the participants of any of the latest three competitions. Additionally, it has the right to invite other countries.

The International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics is a purely educational event. No country may have its team excluded from participation on any political ground resulting from political tension, lack of diplomatic relation, lack of recognition of some countries by the government of the organising country, imposed embargo and similar reasons. When difficulties preclude formal invitation of the team representing a country, students from such a country should be invited to participate as individuals.

Any kind of religious or political propaganda against any other country at the Olympiad is forbidden. A country that violates this rule may be barred from participation.

Within five years of its entry in the competition a country should declare its intention to be the host for a future Olympiad. This declaration should propose a timetable so that a provisional list of the order of countries willing to host Olympiads can be compiled. A country that refuses to organise the competition may be barred from participation, even if delegations from that country have taken part in previous competitions.

#3

The competition is organised by the Ministry of Education or other appropriate institution of one of the participating countries. Hereunder, the term “Ministry of Education” is used in the above meaning.

The Ministries of Education of the participating countries, as a rule, assign the organisation, preparation and execution of the competition to a scientific society or other institution in the organising country. The Ministry of Education of the organising country notifies the Ministries of Education of the participating countries of the name and address of the institution assigned to organise the competition.

#4

Each participating country sends one regular team consisting of high school students. Also students who finish their high school in the year of the competition can be members of a team. The age of the contestants must be less than twenty on June 30th of the year of the competition. Each team should normally have 5 students.

In addition to the students, two accompanying persons are invited from each country, one of which is designated as delegation head (responsible for the whole delegation), and the other – as pedagogical leader (responsible for the students). The accompanying persons become members of the International Board, where in they have equal rights. Members of the International Board are treated as contact persons for the participating countries concerning the affairs of the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics until the following competition.

The competition is conducted in a friendly atmosphere designed to promote future collaborations and to encourage friendships in the scientific community. To that effect all possible political tensions among the participants should not be reflected in any activity during the competition. Any political activity directed against any individuals or countries is strictly prohibited.

The delegation head and pedagogical leader must be selected from scientists or teachers, capable of solving the problems of the competition competently. Normally each of them should be able to speak English.

The delegation head of each participating team should, on arrival, hand over to the organisers a list containing the contestants’ personal data (first name, family name, date of birth, home address and address of the school attended) and certificates (in English) from the schools confirming the contestants attendance or graduation in the year of the competition.

#5

The organising country has the right to invite guest teams in addition to the regular teams (no more than one guest team per country). Normally the guest team consists also of five students and two leaders. However, the leaders of the guest teams are not members of the International Board. Except for that, their duties are the same as those of the leaders of the regular teams.

Participation of a guest team always needs approval from the organising country. The country sending a guest team pays all the expenses arising from its participation.

The next organisers are not obliged to invite guest teams present at the previous competition. Countries present with guest teams only are not obliged to organise the IOAA in the future.

Contestants from guest teams and guest teams are classified in the same way as regular teams. They may receive diplomas and prizes, their names should be identified with the letter “G” (“Guest”) in all official documents.

#6

The working language of the International Olympiad in Astronomy and Astrophysics is English. Competition problems and their solutions should be prepared in English; the organisers, however, may prepare those documents in other languages as well.

#7

The financial principles of the organisation of the competition are as follows:

The Ministry which sends the students to the competition covers the round trip travel expenses of the students and the accompanying persons to the place where the competition is held.

The Ministry of the organising country covers all other costs from the moment of arrival until the moment of departure. In particular, this concerns the costs for board and lodging for the students and the accompanying persons, the costs of excursions, awards for the winners, etc.

#8

The competition consists of 2 parts: the theoretical competition (including short and long questions) and practical competition (including observations and data analysis). There should normally be 15 short and 2 or 3 long questions for the theoretical part. For the practical part, the organiser may give a set task on 1) observation, 2) paper-based practical problem, 3) computer-based problem, 4) planetarium simulation or combination of the four, which is expected to be solvable in 5 hours. The problems should involve at least four areas mentioned in the Syllabus.

The sequence of the competition days is decided by the organisers of the competition. There should be one free day between the two parts of the competition. The time allotted for solving the problems should normally be five hours for the theoretical part and five hours for the practical part. The duration of the Olympiad (including the arrival and departure days) should normally be 10 days.

When solving the problems the contestants may use non-programmable pocket calculators without graphics and drawing materials, which are brought by the contestants themselves. Collections of formulae from mathematics, chemistry, physics, etc., are not allowed.

#9

The host country has to prepare 5 short and 1 long spare of theoretical problems and 2 spare practical problems. They will be presented to the International Board if some of the originally presented is/are rejected by two thirds of members of the International Board. The rejected problem cannot be reconsidered.

The competition tasks are prepared by the host country.

#10

The theoretical part makes 50 % of the total mark, and the practical part 50 % (25% data analysis and 25% observation) of the total mark. The practical solutions should consist of theoretical analysis (plan and discussion) and practical execution. The solution to each problem should contain an answer and its complete justification.

#11

The contestants will receive diplomas and medals or honorable mentions in accordance with the number of points accumulated as follows:

The mean number of points accumulated by the three best contestants is considered as 100%.

The contestants who accumulated at least 90% of points receive first prize (diplomas and gold medals).

The contestants who accumulate 78% or more but less than 90% receive second prize (diplomas and silver medals).

The contestants who accumulate 65% or more but less than 78% receive third prize (diplomas and bronze medals).

The contestants who accumulate 50% or more but less than 65% receive an honorable mention (diplomas).

The contestants who accumulate less than 50% of points receive certificates of participation in the competition.

In each of the categories above, through majority vote, the international board can adjust the position of cut-off up to two positions. i.e. include or exclude two students at the boundary of the respective category.

The participant who obtains the highest score (Absolute Winner) will receive a special prize and diploma.

Other special prizes may be awarded.

#12

In addition to the individual classification one establishes the team classification according to the following rules:

Teams consisting of less than three contestants are not classified.

For judging the best team, a task to be performed by the team as a whole will be designed. This task may form either a part of the theory exam, practical exam, or be held at a different time. In case it is included in the theory or practical exam, the duration of the individual exam may be suitably reduced. The test may contain theory, practical or observation aspect or any combination thereof. The host country will be free to decide which option to use or propose a different format in consultation with the Secretariat. This should be announced to all participants in advance.

#13

The obligations of the organiser:

The organiser is obliged to ensure that the competition is organised in accordance with the Statutes.

The organiser should produce a set of “Organisation Rules”, based on the Statutes, and send them to the participating countries in good time. These Organisation Rules shall give details of the Olympiad not covered in the Statutes, and give names and addresses of the institutions and persons responsible for the Olympiad.

The organiser establishes a precise program for the competition (schedule for the contestants and the accompanying persons, program of excursions, etc.), which is sent to the participating countries in advance.

The organiser should check immediately after the arrival of each delegation whether its contestants meet the conditions of the competitions.

The organiser chooses (according to the Syllabus) the problems and ensures their proper formulation in English and in other languages set out in # 6. It is advisable to select problems where the solutions require a certain creative capability and a considerable level of knowledge. Everyone taking part in the preparation of the competition problems is obliged to preserve complete secrecy.

The organiser must provide the teams with guides.

The organiser should provide the delegation leaders with Photostat copies of the solutions of the contestants in their delegation at least 24 hours before the moderation.

The organiser is responsible for organising the grading of the problem solutions and moderation.

The organiser drafts a list of participants proposed as winners of the prizes and honorable mentions.

The organiser prepares the prizes (diplomas and medals), honorable mentions and awards for the winners of the competition.

The organiser is obliged to publish the proceedings (in English) of the Olympiad. Each of the participants of the competition (delegation heads, pedagogical leaders and contestants) should receive one copy of the proceedings free of charge not later than one year after the competition.

#14

The International Board is chaired by a representative of the organising country. He/she is responsible for the preparation of the competition and serves on the Board in addition to the accompanying persons of the respective teams.

All decisions, except those described separately, are passed by a majority of votes. In the case of equal number of votes for and against, the chairman has the casting vote.

#15

The delegation leaders are responsible for the proper translation of the problems from English (or other languages mentioned in # 6) to the mother tongue of the participants.

#16

The International Board has the following responsibilities:

To direct and supervise the competition to ensure that it is conducted according to the regulations.

To discuss the organisers’ choice of tasks, their solutions and the suggested evaluation guidelines before each day of the competition. The Board can change or reject suggested tasks but cannot propose new ones. Changes may not affect practical equipment. There will be a final decision on the formulation of tasks and on the evaluation guidelines. The participants in the meeting of the International Board are bound to preserve secrecy concerning the tasks and to be of no assistance to any of the contestants.

To ensure correct and just classification of the prize winners.

To establish the winners of the competition and make decisions concerning the presentation of prizes and honorable mentions. The decision of the International Board is final.

To review the results of the competition.

To select the country which will be the organiser of the next competition.

The International Board is the only body that can make decisions on barring countries from participation in the International Olympiad in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the violation of these Statutes.

Observers may be present at meetings of the International Board, but may not vote or take part in the discussions.

#17

The institution in charge of the Olympiad announces the results and presents the awards and diplomas to the winners at an official ceremony. It invites representatives of the organising Ministry and scientific institutions to the closing ceremony of the competition.

#18

The long term work involved in organising the Olympiads is coordinated by a “Secretariat for the International Olympiad in Astronomy and Astrophysics”. This Secretariat consists of the President and Secretary. They are elected by the International Board for a period of five years when the chairs become vacant.

The President and Secretary are members of the International Board in addition to the regular members mentioned in # 4. They are invited to each International Olympiad in Astronomy and Astrophysics at cost (including travel expenses) of the organising country.

#19

These statutes are supplemented by:

Regulations concerning the details of the organisation.

The Syllabus mentioned in #18

Supplementary material (including Banner, Logo, Seal, Anthem, Publications, etc.)
#20

Changes in the present Statutes, the insertion of new paragraphs or exclusion of old ones, can only be made by the International Board and requires qualified majority (2/3 of the votes).

Changes in the Supplementary material can be made by simple majority (1/2 of the votes).

No changes may be made to these Statutes, Supplementary material or Syllabus unless each delegation obtained written text of the proposal at least 3 months in advance.

#21

Participation in the International Olympiad in Astronomy and Astrophysics signifies acceptance of the present Statutes by the Ministry of Education of the participating country.

#22

The originals of these Statutes are written in English.

Supplementary Materials

The banner of the IOAA is made of blue silk cloth. Embroidered on it, in pink thread are the words “IOAA” in large capital letters. Above the words IOAA, a galaxy with 13 spirals is embroidered in yellow silk thread. On the right side of the galaxy the globe is embroidered in turquoise thread. Circularly underneath the word IOAA, the words “International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics” are written with small white letters. The lower oblique sides of the banner are decorated with several white tassels, either sides of the central tassel, which is yellow.

The logo of the IOAA was designed by Dr. Waspodo from Indonesia. It consists of the small letters “ioaa”. All letters are green, except for the second letter, which is a solid orange disc, depicting in the centre, a white spiral with three upper arms and four lower arms. The dot of the first letter is orange.

The basic pattern of the seal of the IOAA is similar to the logo. Circularly around the logo, as described above, the words “INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIAD ON ASTRNOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS” are written with capital letters. A solid dot separates the last letter of the word “ASTROPHYSICS” and the first letter of the word “INTERNATIONAL”.

The anthem of IOAA is the musical work entitled “IRIS”, composed by Vassilis Tassoudis from Greece. It was accepted by the International Board on 8th August 2013 during the 7th IOAA at Volos, Greece. The score of this anthem has been deposited at the IOAA headquarters.

The banner, the logo, the seal and the anthem of the IOAA are collectively or individually referred to as “IOAA properties”.

International Board

  1. Chatief Kunjaya, President
  2. Gregorz Stachowski, General Secretary
  3. Marietta Vazgen Gyulzadyan, Armenia
  4. Emilya Karapetyan, Armenia
  5. Taif Hossain Rocky, Bangladesh
  6. Moshurl Amin, Bangladesh
  7. Alexander Poplavsky, Belarus
  8. Stanislaw Sekerzhitsky, Belarus
  9. Mirko Sime Raljevic Ergueta, Bolivia
  10. Gustavo de Araujo Rojas, Brazil
  11. Eugenio Reis Neto, Brazil
  12. Nikola Ognyanov Karavasilev, Bulgaria
  13. Zahari Donchev, Bulgaria
  14. Vera Zagainova, Canada
  15. Konstantin Toubis, Canada
  16. Ziping Nelson Zhang, P. R. China
  17. Yan Dai, P. R. China
  18. Cristian Alberto Goez Theran, Colombia
  19. Juan Sebastian Valbuena Bermudez, Colombia
  20. Damir Hrzina, Croatia
  21. Ivan Romstajn, Croatia
  22. Tomáš Gráf, Czech Republic
  23. Czech Republic
  24. Tõnis Eenmäe, Estonia
  25. Jaan Laur, Estonia
  26. Teimuraz Gachechiladze, Georgia
  27. Guram Mikaberidze, Georgia
  28. Loukas Zachilas, Greece
  29. John Hugh Seiradakis, Greece
  30. Tibor József Hegedűs, Hungary
  31. Imre Udvardi Szony, Hungary
  32. Aniket Sule, India
  33. Swapnil Sushil Jawkar, India
  34. Mochamad Ikbal Arifyanto, Indonesia
  35. Rhorom Priyatikanto, Indonesia
  36. Mehdi Khakian Ghomi, Iran
  37. Habib Gharar Khosroshahi, Iran
  38. Nurzada Beisen, Kazakhstan
  39. Aizhan Mansurova, Kazakhstan,
  40. Aleksandra Shumeiko, Kyrgyzstan
  41. Dzharkyn Bapanova, Kyrgyzstan
  42. Audrius BridŽius, Lithuania
  43. Gediminas BeresneviČius, Lithuania
  44. Wooi Hou Chan, Malaysia
  45. Keng Yin Fong, Malysia
  46. Carlos Miguel García Rosas, Mexico
  47. Daniel Tafoya Martinez, Mexico
  48. Suresh Bhattarai, Nepal
  49. Manisha Dwa, Nepal
  50. Muhammad Asif Raza, Pakistan
  51. Waldemar Ogloza, Poland
  52. Wioletta Ogloza, Poland
  53. Jorge Manuel Custadio Grave, Portugal
  54. Cristian Pîrghie, Romania
  55. Petru Crăciun, Romania
  56. Boris Eskin, Russia
  57. Kuznetsov Mikhail, Russia
  58. Sonja Vidojevic, Serbia
  59. Stefan Anđelković, Serbia
  60. Geraldine Tan, Singapore
  61. Dave Lommen, Singapore
  62. Ladislav Hric, Slovakia
  63. Maria Hricová Bartolomejová, Slovakia
  64. Tadeja Veršič, Slovenia
  65. Andrej Guštin, Slovenia
  66. Yong Bok Lee, South Korea
  67. Hyungmin Park, South Korea
  68. Kalu Pathirannahelage Sarath Chandana Jayaratne, Sri Lanka
  69. Saman Aravinda Mallika Appuhamilage, Sri Lanka
  70. Pornthep Nisamaneephong, Thailand
  71. Ngarmjit Jearnkulprasert, Thailand
  72. Andrii Simon, Ukraine
  73. Volodymyr Reshetnyk, Ukraine
  74. Sandor Jozsef Kruk, United Kingdom
  75. Charles Edward Barclay, United Kingdom
  76. Luke Finnerty, United States of America

National Olympiad Pages

Students from any country cannot register for IOAA directly. They are advised to contact organisers of National Olympiad programme in their respective country. Links for National Olympiad Programmes of every participating country are listed below. If your country is not listed here, contact organisers for further information.

1 Armenia
2 Bangladesh
3 Belarus
4 Bolivia
5 Brazil
6 Bulgaria
7 Canada
8 China
9 Colombia
10 Croatia
11 Czech Republic
12 Estonia
13 F.Y.R. of Macedonia
14 Georgia
15 Greece
16 Hungary
17 India
18 Indonesia
19 Iran
20 Kazakhstan
21 Kyrgyzstan
22 Lithuania
23 Malaysia
24 Mexico
25 Nepal
26 Pakistan
27 Poland
28 Portugal
29 Qatar
30 Romania
31 Russia
32 Serbia
33 Singapore
34 Slovakia
35 Slovenia
36 South Korea
37 Sri Lanka
38 Sweden
39 Thailand
40 Ukraine
41 United Kingdom
42 USA
43 Ghana
44 Mali
45 Morocco
46 Philippines
47 Vietnam
48 Jordan

IOAA Elections

Election of IOAA president and general secretary for the Term 2017-2021

As per Article #18 of IOAA statutes, the election will be held during IOAA2016 in Bhubaneswar, India.

The new president and general secretary will preside over IOAA activities from 1 Jan 2017 to 31 Dec 2021.

Electoral College

All members of the International Board, as reconstituted during the 10th IOAA will be eligible to vote in the election. This includes leaders of first teams of each country, the incumbent president, the incumbent general secretary and chair of the international board meeting.

Deadline of Nomination
Any international board member can nominate any person for election to the either post. The nominating member should take consent of the nominee before sending the nomination. All nominations should be sent to the LOC, by e-mail (info [aT) ioaa2016.in) on or before 20 September, 2016.

OFFICIAL LOGO OF THE 10th IOAA

The IOAA 2016 logo is designed to bring out India’s rich cultural heritage as well it’s commitment to modern science. The radio antenna in place of letter “I” represents Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (G.M.R.T.), which is located in western India, 90km from the city of Pune. GMRT is the world’s largest telescope at metre wavelengths. It consists of 30 dishes, spread in a circle of 17km in radius, with an aperture of 45m each. The spoked wheel in place of letter “O” represents the famous Sun temple of Konark. This temple is a world heritage site located about 50km away from Bhubaneswar and is built in shape of a 24 wheeled chariot of the Sun.

Circulars

IOAA 2016 announcements and circulars can be found here.

Academic Information for Contestants

The information below appears in circulars above. However, it is being restated here for the benefit of contestants:

Stationary:

Students have to bring their own writing instruments and geometric instruments like pen, pencil, eraser, ruler, compass, set squares, protractors etc. No writing instruments / geometric instruments will be provided by the organisers.

Planetarium

Pathani Samanta Planetarium in Bhubaneswar city is a 170 seater unidirectional planetarium with Digistar 4 projection system. One component of the observation test will be held inside the planetarium dome.

Telescopes

IOAA 2016 observation examination will involve use of a 150mm f/5 Newtonian reflector telescope on EQ2 mount.
telescope moon

telescope

Computer Based Questions

There will not be any computer based questions in IOAA 2016.

Calculators

No calculators will be provided by the organisers to the contestants. Each contestant must bring their own calculator. Calculator used by any contestant must adhere to following norms:

Calculators should not have a graphing mode.

Their display must not have more than three rows for any function like matrix mode.

Calculators should not contain equation solver function.

Should not have stored physical constants (e.g. gravitational constant) in their inbuilt memory.

It is duty of team leaders to ascertain that calculators used by their team members adhere to these norms. If calculator of any contestant is found to violate these norms, the contestant would not be allowed to use that calculator during the examination. An indicative list of acceptable calculator models is as follows:

Allowed calculators (incomplete list)

Disallowed calculators (incomplete list)

Bhubaneswar

Popularly known as the city of temples, Bhubaneswar is the capital of Odisha, located at approximately 20oN and 86oE at an average altitude of 45 metres.

Bhubaneswar has a long history dating back to the 1st and 2nd century CE. Important places to visit in and around Bhubaneswar include Lingaraj, Mukteshwar, Rajarani temple, Museum of Natural History, the caves of Udaygiri and Khandgiri, the Rock edicts at Dhauli, etc. Konark’s Sun Temple by the sea and Puri, two of India’s top tourist attractions are just over an hour’s drive away.

Fast growing as an educational hub, it caters to more than 1.4 million people today. The airport at Bhubaneswar is very well connected to the international hubs such as Mumbai and New Delhi as well as to other major cities of India.

Bhubaneswar is one of the greenest cities in the country. The weather in December is expected to be pleasant with clear skies. Typical daytime temperatures would be between 25-30o C and nighttime temperatures would be between 8-12o C.

NISER

National Institute for Science Education and Research

An autonomous institute under the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India and a unique institution of its kind, NISER continues to strive to be recognized as a centre of excellence in science education and research in Basic Sciences and related areas.

The sprawling 300 acres campus is located at Jatni, which is about 25 kms from Bhubaneswar Airport. NISER presently has about 600 students for its 5-year M.Sc. in Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics. In addition, it also runs a doctoral programme in all Basic Sciences. In near future, NISER would initiate undergraduate programmes in the areas of Earth and Planetary Science, Computer Science and MSc-PhD dual degree.

The vibrant and extremely talented faculty members drawn from the most reputed institutes and universities across the globe have set highest standards for themselves. At NISER they are committed to nurture world class scientists and prepare the students to take up cutting edge research and neo-age teaching assignments in academia, R&D labs and industries.

Organisation

Host Institution:

National Institute for Science Education and Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar

National Advisory Committee

Local Organising Committee

Academic committee for IOAA 2016 will comprise of astronomy researchers and educators from most of the leading institutions in the country. This effort will be largely coordinated by Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE – TIFR), Mumbai.

Contact Us

National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER)
At/PO-Jatni, Dist – Khurda
Odisha– 752050, INDIA
Telephone: +91 – 674 – 2304063
Fax: +91 – 674 – 2304070
Email Address: info [ aT) ioaa2016.in

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