Stargate, Midsummer Night, with a parade of planets and fireflies - June 20

At dusk, the slender crescent of the mysterious and tiny Mercury, the brightly shining round Venus, Jupiter with its bands of clouds, and of course the crater-covered surface of the Moon come into view through the telescope. As night falls, sparkling star clusters and mystical planetary nebulae await us. Moreover, in the evening, alongside the stars, fireflies will light up their tiny green lanterns on the park’s grass.

Stargate: Amid the excitement of our major astronomy event, the program venues at the Svábhegy Observatory can be explored freely at your own pace. It’s worth buying tickets online in advance, but tickets are always available for purchase on-site as well.

Programs

Daytime Astronomy:

Solar Observation: We will examine the sunspot-rich surface and atmosphere of the Sun. We will marvel at the structure of sunspots, fountain-like solar flares, and solar prominences.

Crescent Moon in the Blue Sky: Even in the daytime sky, we can observe the shape of the crescent moon and the dark lunar seas.

Twilight Planet Parade:

Mercury Crescent: This tiny, grayish-pink planetary phenomenon is a true rarity. The Mercury crescent, showing only 29% of its surface, will dance across the field of view of a powerful telescope as a faint arc.

Jupiter: Look for the large, elliptical giant planet in the twilight sky, with its ruffled, parallel bands of clouds.

Evening Star, or Venus: the brightest planet of the evening is in its 73% illuminated phase. Even the polar caps and cloud bands may appear on its tiny glowing disk.

Interactive astronomy programs

Meteorite examination – hold stones from space in your hands!

Spectrum Zone – light experiments in all the colors of the rainbow

Planet Sniffer Lab – get ready for some deep breaths!

Comet Cooking – we’ll cook up a smoking comet nucleus

Bubble Universe – giant colorful bubbles and their astronomical connections

Space-Time Trampoline – set the planets on their orbits around the Sun!

Telescope Tricks – we’ll take it apart, cut it in half, look inside, and focus it.

Constellation Puzzle – you’ll be one of the stars in the sky!

Nighttime Telescope Observation

Crescent Moon: On the Moon’s waxing crescent, we’ll admire the giant craters near the light-shadow boundary—and even a beautiful trio of craters. Their terraced walls and central peaks bear witness to massive impacts.

Through the telescope, the most beautiful early summer double stars: Mizar-Alkor, Izar, Albireo, and the Double-Double.

Star clusters and planetary nebulae: Ring Nebula (M57) and the Blinking Nebula (NGC 6826)

Large open star clusters: Summer Beehive (IC 4665) and Shoulder (Cr 399)

Sparkling globular clusters: M3 and M13

+ the glowing lanterns of the fireflies!

In case of cloudy weather: Our Stargate event will take place regardless of the weather, and our interactive program venues will remain open for visitors to explore. In cloudy weather, instead of telescope observations of celestial bodies, we’ll offer a dome tour, video observations through a telescope, spectroscopic observations of light sources through a telescope, and a themed lecture!

A Celestial Guide for Interstellar Navigators – Book launch and discussion with the author about the great mysteries of the universe

Why is the week seven days long? What could the Star of Bethlehem have been? Are we really made of stardust? Few know the answers, but they amaze many. The book invites readers under the starry sky, where they are almost imperceptibly swept into an adventurous journey through time, from an Earth-centered worldview all the way back to the Big Bang. Along the way, it becomes clear that we are tiny specks of dust in an incomprehensibly vast universe, and merely a fleeting moment in its 14-billion-year history. Yet the book’s main message is that we are special—children of the stars—and that there may be millions of similar beings living on other planets in our galaxy.

The author, Tamás Simon, is a high school teacher and the founder of the astronomy club at the Alternative Economics High School, which has been in operation for 33 years.