Stellarium - your online planetarium

   For this workshop the Bulgarian team introduced Stellarium which is an online planetarium software that allowed our team to explore the night sky from anywhere in the world, even when they're indoors or when light pollution obscures the view.

Exploring the full potential of the app, the students embarked on a journey of stargazing and astronomical exploration, unlocking the secrets of the cosmos.

Working with Stellarium, they simulated the night sky and were able to explore the a starry night on the screen of their laptops. In the course of the workshop they even adjusted the sky brightness to mimic the effects of light pollution. 

The app allowed the international team of students to:

• Access the Location Window to change their viewing location, date, and time.

• Explore how different cultures have interpreted and depicted the constellations.

• Find and study specific celestial objects, like the Moon, and observe their movements over time.

Implemanting several buttons (Dark-Sky Objects, Planet Hints, Search Window, etc.) the students had to do an assignment consisting of several challenges:

• what they can observe at the current time

• name things they could observe during the night but could not see during the day

• study some ocnstellations artwork

• observe the changes when they move to the North Pole

• study the patterns and names different cultures gave to constellations.

• During the final discussion they provided feedback and shared their experience and results.