Stargate! Extraterrestrial life

Our UFO roundtable discussion reveals what we can look at as an unidentified flying object in the sky. In our meteorite study, we look at the meteorites hiding the oldest organic matter of the solar system, as well as the results of the institute's investigations of the famous Antarctic meteorite containing traces of possible life.

As part of the 100 Hours of Astronomy program series held at the initiative of the International Astronomical Union, head to the starlit autumn sky! We will examine the extraterrestrial E.T. star cluster, the most beautiful planetary nebulae, and the amazing details of the giant planets rising. Last but not least, First Craftbeer has a good October beer tasting on tap!

Stargate: In today's colorful hustle and bustle, the astronomical program locations of the Svábhegy Observatory can be freely toured at your own pace. If you definitely don't want to miss out on this buzzing stargazing bustle, in addition to our tickets sold on site, you can also buy your ticket online well in advance.

Let's see what we are preparing for this afternoon and evening:

17:00-18:00 Dusk moonsickle and Venus sighting

The Stargate opens at 17:00! Since the sun is already behind the trees, in the first hour of the stargate we can observe from our roof terrace the thin 3-day lunar sickle with crater-cut peaks and the rainbow-colored disk of the declining 84% planet Venus!

17:00-21:00 Interactive programs:

Before dark, we prepare several scientific, interactive, entertaining programs closely related to astronomy:

Astrobiology - life outside Earth.

The exciting questions of our presentation are: How do researchers look for traces of extraterrestrial life on Mars, Jupiter's moon Europa or Enceladus orbiting Saturn? Which of the many exoplanets discovered with exciting conditions could harbor life, and how could we detect it in the near future?

UFO - unidentified flying objects.

In our roundtable discussion, we will examine what kind of often everyday objects and phenomena we can see as UFOs, and what is their explanation (if we know them)?

Meteorites - life-carriers and building blocks.

In our meteorite study program, we investigate the panspermia theory, whether it is possible to transfer life from one celestial body to another using meteorite mail. We take a look at some of the images taken by our staff of the famous Martian meteorite ALH 84001, in which traces of suspected life have been found. We also examine carbonaceous chondrites from the primordial solar system, from which many amino acids, components of life, have also been detected.

In our planet-sniffing Lab, you can see with your own nose how exotic the organic compounds ejected by comets smell. Perhaps they brought water and the first materials necessary for the development of life to the primordial earth?

Spacetime We use glass balls racing on trampolines to model the movements of planets and stars.

In our Spectrum Zone you can find many illuminating optical devices and light bending devices. This really promises to be a colorful program.

Plush Planet Solar System program we will get to know all the planets and their most well-known moons. In fact, with the help of the children, we build a distance-proportional plush model of the solar system.

Constellation puzzle.

This time, the most beautiful constellations and star legends come to life not in the sky, but in our Observatory. We are counting on the diligent participation of the children in this as well!

Local history walk.

We can get acquainted with the romantic life of astronomers and the most exciting stories of our centuries-old research institute on this walking tour. What did the old telescope giant witness?

19:00-23:00 Evening astronomy:

The observatory will be conducted at four locations: the Budapest dome, the Observation Terrace, the Telescope Workshop and the Observation field with many Telescopes.

Until 7:30 p.m. we will be looking at the most beautiful double stars in the darkening sky. Delta Cephei is a beautiful binary star in the constellation Cepheus and the namesake of the cefeid-type variable stars. Its peculiarity is that we can see another double star pointing in the same direction in the same field of view! The double double of Epsilon Lyrae is a real celestial speciality, the loose double star splits into two more close doubles!

From 20:00 we will follow in the footsteps of the most beautiful star clusters, nebulae and slowly rising giant planets in the autumn sky!

True to our extraterrestrial theme, we are telescope on the magnificent E.T. star cluster. The cute extraterrestrial eyes are shaped by two bright stars, the brighter of which winks at us in orange. And the stranger's chunky torso and long arms are outlined in gorgeous chains of stars!

The planetary nebulae in the autumn sky are specially shaped rings of gas blown off dead stars. The tiny bluish planetary nebula in the Saturn Nebula (NGC 7009) does indeed reveal a planet-like disk and rings visible from its edges in our telescope at hundreds of times magnification. The Ring Nebula (M57) can be observed as a wonderful cosmic ring with our telescope giant. The Dumbbell Nebula (M27) is a large, complex planetary nebula that resembles the shape of an apple cob.

Saturn, as the queen of the planets, dazzles us with her graceful ring. Next year, the planet's ring will be visible from its edge, so it already looks like a thin, knife-blade-sharp phenomenon around the giant planet's disk.

After 22:00, the rising giant planets take center stage.

Neptune's extremely tiny, sea-blue disk floats in our telescope at seven hundred times magnification, waving from the edge of the solar system into this distant icy world.

Uranus' yellowish-greenish disk appears slightly larger than Neptune. It is a delicacy to see the planet that is not visible to the naked eye from Budapest.

On Jupiter's flattened disk, we can magnificently observe reddish-brownish cloud bands parallel to the equator, and even the cloud clumps and ripples of the bands.

20:30-23:00 Star legends in the early autumn sky.

In the framework of a laser constellation tour we wander among the most beautiful constellations of the autumn sky. In addition to Greek star legends, legendary Hungarian and distant exotic star tales also come to life.