Stargate at the Svábhegyi Observatory! Night of the shooting stars, here come the Perseids!

Let's see what we have in store for this afternoon and evening:

17:00-21:00 Daytime astronomy in 3 locations at the same time!

The Stargate opens at 17:00!

From 17:00 to 18:30, we will be unraveling the secrets of our Sun on our Observation Terrace. In our special Hydrogen Alpha telescopes, we will discover the shapes of the sun's surface and the fountain, flare or bridge-shaped prominences of the solar atmosphere. In addition to the Sun, we can also look for the crescent of Venus in its lower conjunction from the roof, even in the daytime sky. The 9 thousandths (!) thin crescent grows to enormous size, and we can also observe a special phenomenon, the horns extending beyond the crescent's apex!

At the telescope workshop until 18:15, we will be observing the **Sun'**s surface and atmosphere, with a colourful world of sunspots and flares.

In the** Budapest Dome**, we will point our telescope giant at the rarely seen 45% crescent of Mercury. We'll be able to admire a noticeably notched crescent.** After 18:00**, we'll look for distant Mars, about to play hide-and-seek behind the Sun. Its red disk is particularly tiny because of its great distance. From 18:30, we'll start to explore the red giant star** Arcturus**, still in daylight.

17:00-20:30 Interactive programmes:

Before dark, we will have a number of scientific, interactive and entertaining programmes closely related to astronomy:

On the** Space-Time Trampoline, **we will model the motion of planets and stars with the help of speeding marbles.

Meteorite Investigations: we'll be looking into our microscopes to see the rainbow-coloured crystals of meteorites with our own eyes. You can also get your own hands on objects from billions of years of space.

Our Spectrum Zone takes us into a colourful world of light and optical experiments, and shows us exciting things like black flames!

Smell the scents of the planets of the solar system by smelling the 'space perfumes' in the flasks of a** planet-sniffing lab**! A unique experience, we guarantee it! : )

As evening falls, the starry sky awaits!

21:00-23:00 - evening stargazing

In the twilight sky, we will look at the most beautiful double stars of the summer sky. Our telescopes will reveal the** double double star Epsilon Lyrae** in 4 components, and we will also admire the orange and blue star pair** Albireo**, which forms the head of the Swan. Gamma Delfini, shaped like the nose of a tiny dolphin, is a beautiful, aesthetic straw-yellow star pair that wink at us through the telescope.

In a moonless summer sky, we can finally take a plunge among the Milky Way's most beautiful star clusters! In the slowly setting summer Milky Way, we'll visit the V-shaped Wild Duck Arrow cluster** (M11) of the constellation Shield and rest in the Sagittarius constellation's M25** cluster, which forms a support chair. We'll also visit the most beautiful gas nebulae in the central Milky Way: the huge Lagoon Nebula** (M8)** with its porous lagoon of dust, the graceful-necked Swan Nebula (M17), which forms a bird on the water, and the Eagle Nebula (M16) with its swirling mound of arrows.

And you can** hunt for shooting stars at night at any time, on the Observation Terrace, Observation Square and at the Telescope Workshop,** even during a telescope show. Our laser guided stargazing tour of the Observatory takes us not only into the world of constellation legends, but also into the realm of shooting stars. In good weather, you can also lie out on the grass surrounded by domes in our Observatory, where you can bring your own polyfoam.