The purpose of the education was to boost students' interest in astronomy and related natural and technical sciences through the presentation of basic knowledge in astronomy.
Lectures followed by attractive presentations of astronomical content were delivered by prominent experts and scientists in the field of astronomy. The topics covered were of popular-scientific content that was adapted to age and prior knowledge of the students.
The students were introduced to the structure of the universe, the position of the Earth in the solar system, the position of the solar system in our galaxy. Students also received new interesting information about all the planets of the solar system and Pluto that lost status of the planet in 2006. The students had the opportunity to walk around the city to see a part of the Model of the Solar System in Zagreb, which shows the realistic relationship between the planets. This model was created in 2004 by the artist Davor Preis, thus enabling the people of Zagreb to travel through the solar system in their own city.
The concept of parallax was also introduced and our STEMfluencers who learnet how to measure the distance to a star using parallax. They learned about the sun's activity, phenomena on the sun and its influence on the Earth. The students were especially interested in astrognosy, a branch of astronomy that deals with the recognition of stars and constellations and other celestial bodies in the sky and orientation with the help of the stars.
In addition to the above, the students learned a lot about the Moon - how it was created, how it causes a solar eclipse and why it is slowly moving away from the Earth. They were given information that at one point it will be so far from the Earth that it will not cause a total solar eclipse.
In the end, the students also learned to use the Stellarium application that shows the sky in 3D, they got to know the principle of the telescope, how to use it, disassemble and assemble it. The highlight of the summer astronomy school was an interesting night visit to the Observatory when they had a chance to observe the night sky and practice to use the telescope.