The birth of the astronomical ring
Man was led by an eternal desire to know not only what is around him here on Earth, but also to know the distant worlds around us, whose messengers are the stars. Enjoy free time - especially dinner - under a clear sky and watch what is happening around us in space. This attracted several enthusiasts in Hlohov's Slovakofarma at the beginning of 1954.
The impetus for the establishment of the astronomical circle was the sale of old war optics of very good quality for relatively cheap money. However, they arrived late and the optics were already sold out. However, the ring has already been established and still works today. The history of astronomy in Hlohovec began to be written on January 10, 1954 with the founding of the Astronomical Circle at the ROH Racing Club near Slovakofarma.
The mission of the circle was:
- organize popular science lectures
- to attract the broadest strata of the population and youth and to sell them knowledge about the universe
- make professional astronomical observations
- to establish a folk observatory at ZK
The first telescope
On the advice of the director of the Prague Observatory, František Kádavý, they turned to Prof. Ing. G. Gajdušek from Ostrava with a request to build a telescope. He made the lens, his own binoculars (refractor 100/1070) were made by František Kozelský. At that time, they paid CZK 3,000 for a finished binocular without a stand and assembly. The money was donated by the theater circle at ZK from its income for theater performances. At the end of July 1954, there was a solar eclipse. This event helped immensely to popularize the work of the circle in the city.
First steps
The binoculars were portable, so he could stand on the terrace of ZK and observe the starry sky from there. The first activities of the circle were connected with discussions, lectures and observations. The members of the circle walked "With binoculars among the people." This is what they called lectures in the surrounding villages associated with open-air observation. They explained what planets, stars, nebulae, galaxies are and at the same time they showed everything in the sky. At that time, it was the most important activity that deserves admiration even today.
Later, they also focused on making visual aids, e.g. model of the solar system, model of the moon, gnomon, starry sky. In 1955, they even introduced regular observations of the solar photosphere and the drawing of sunspots.
Astronomical observatory
The year 1956 was rich in various astronomical phenomena. Above all, it was the great opposition of Mars and the discovery of Comet C / 1956 R1 (Arend-Roland). The following year, 1957, a prominent Slovak astronomer, Dr. Mrrkos, discovered a new comet, which was given the designation C / 1957 P1 (Mrkos).
In 1956, the reconstruction and extension of the racing club began, within which an astronomical observatory was to be built. The ceremonial first excavation took place on September 1. The launch of the Earth's first artificial satellite (Sputnik 1) on 4 October 1957 increased society's interest in astronomy and cosmonautics, resulting in interest in the accelerated completion of the observatory.
From 10 to 25 May 1958, the first Slovak meteoric expedition took place in Bezovec. More than 8,000 meteors were recorded on it, thus starting a very successful series of meteor expeditions to Bezovec. The great advantage of Bezovec is the extremely suitable climatic conditions, especially the many clear nights in the summer months. In memory of this and subsequent expeditions dr. Kohoutek named one of his discovered asteroids Bezovec. The planet was given a registration number in the year of the most successful expedition to Bezovec, in 1963.
29.XI.1958 finally came the solemn moment of the opening of the observatory. In addition to the observatories in Prešov, Levice and Humenné, it was the fourth observatory in Slovakia established after World War II. After ceremonial speeches by many important personalities, the then director of Slovakofarma, Mr. Gajdoš, symbolically handed over the keys from the Racing Club to RNDr.E.Cserem. He was both the chairman of the ZK and the head of the astronomical circle.
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