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Examples of personal collaborations with Romania (successes and failures)

Ovidiu Vaduvescu presents examples of successful and unsuccessful collaborations in astronomy with colleagues in Romania, including projects with amateur astronomers, celestial mapping software, printed maps, and online databases.

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Examples of personal collaborations with Romania (successes and failures)

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  1. Examples of personal collaborations with Romania (successes and failures) Ovidiu Vaduvescu Conferinta Diasporei - Workshop Astronomie 22-24 Sep 2010 Bucharest, Romania

  2. Brief Background Since I was 15 years and I saw Sagan’s “Cosmos”, I have fallen in love with astronomy, so I have become an amateur astronomers since then! For 6 years I became a professional astronomer in Bucharest, Romania, living a very difficult life mostly due to a very low salary (50 Euros/month)! Far away of my natal country, during the past 13 years, as a • computer programmer (3 years in Canada), • PhD student in astronomy (5 years in Canada) • astronomy teacher (3 years part time in Canada), • postdoc in astronomy (half year in South Africa and 1 year in Chile), • astronomy professor (1 year in Chile) and • presently astronomer in Canary (the last 2 years), I have searched different ways to collaborate with my former colleagues from Romania, • professional astronomers, • professors in universities, • public outreach professionals, • amateur astronomers and • students. Thanks to the Internet but also to my 9 visits (quite long each) in Romania, I found and proposed many ways to collaborate. Some were fructuous but some were failures. I will list these examples now. In my previous talks I listed some possible new collaborations for the interested people who want to work with me.

  3. Successes with amateurs: EuRo Eclipse 99 • Almost 200 foreign astronomers from 15 countries (professionals, amateurs, famous eclipse chasers and tourists) observed the famous total solar eclipse in Romania in 1999, bringing more than 100,000 US$ to Romania; • This project was organized by me (TSE99 based in Canada), SARM (based in Romania) and Romantic Travel (our tour operator from Bucharest); • Although not professionals in tourism, we were among the first 4 “agencies” to bring such a large number of tourists in Romania, starting from a very basic webpage which I set on geocities and advertised for free 1.5 years before! • During this time, the Romanian government spent 1 million US$ eager to bring 1 million tourists and creating an “official” website very poor only 2 months before the event, so the estimated number of tourists who officially visited Romania was only… 2000! • Although originally planned as a collaboration with both amateurs and professionals, my former Astronomical Institute failed to accept at least one single visitor, so I directed the entire collaboration to the amateurs (SARM)!

  4. Successes with amateurs: Celestial Maps • An accurate charting software mapping large, small and very small astronomical charts under five projections; • Runs 20 astronomical catalogues organized in three database categories accessible online and offline; • Written in Borland Delphi 4 for Windows (about 50,000 lines of code); • Developed in 10 versions between 1991 and 2005; • Versions 8.5 and 9 developed from Canada entirely working via email in collaboration with Lucian Curelaru (SARM and computer programmer, Brasov).

  5. Successes with amateurs: Printed map of the sky by SARM • Starting with 1993, it became a growing need to edit a better general star map at J2000 epoch to be used by amateur astronomers and the public; • In 2000 some funding was obtained by SARM (Valentin Grigore) to produce it; • Using Celestial Maps, myself and Lucian Curelaru (SARM) created the necessary upgrades in about three months, working only via email; • We worked very hard to meet the deadline (3 months and last 3 days continuous) together with Lucian Curelaru and Valentin Grigore, and we succeeded; • In 2000 a first set of 500 copies of the 53x53cm map was printed and distributed to amateurs. During the next years, at least other 3 sets (about 1000 copies) were printed by SARM; • The Astronomical Institute still uses its old version (created by hand at epoch J1975) for their Astronomical Yearbook, and they never became interested to adopt our better map.

  6. Successes with amateurs: Astrosoft • A PHP database to include some astronomy software (description, download); • A SARM project since 2003; • Authors: L. Curelaru, O. Vaduvescu, V. Chiriac, A. Tolea, M. Parlea.

  7. Successes with amateurs: Who’s who • A dynamic PHP database to link all Romanian astronomers, amateurs and professionals; • Main structure is public (name and location) while other details (contacts, experience, interests, instruments etc) are visible after login; • A SARM project since 2003. • Authors: L. Curelaru, O. Vaduvescu, V. Chiriac & A. Tolea. We invite all of you to join us and fill your profile in only 10 min!

  8. Successes with amateurs: “Biblioteca online” • Born in 2003 to commemorate Matei Alexescu, one of the greatest public outreach of astronomy in Romania, after I scanned his best book, “Laboratorul”; • Since then, many amateurs contributed by scanning and including 80 PDF books; • A SARM project since 2003. • Contributors: 26 people, mostly amateurs.

  9. Successes with amateurs: SARM website 1998-2005 • Born in 1998 in preparation of EuRo Eclipse 99, SARM website on geocities (free) became the virtual home of SARM for 6 years and was maintained by myself from Canada! • In 2004, the new website www.sarm.ro was established in Romania by V. Grigore et al.

  10. Successes with amateurs: Perseids Astronomy Camps • Organized by SARM (Valentin Grigore) with funds from authorities and sponsorship, “Perseids” camp started in 1992 and became the national annual astronomical running every year for 2 weeks in July – August hosting up to ~50 amateurs and students! • While in Romania, I participated to 6 such Perseids camps and other events (Horodnic, Galati), organizing astronomy contests for youth, giving public lectures, presentations, etc. • While based away from Romania (Canada, SA, Chile), I participated to 4 such events! • During all this time the Astronomical Institute never sent any representative to the camp.

  11. Successes with amateurs: EURONEARFirst Romanian Students to Observe at famous observatories in Chile and La Palma! • Based in Chile and La Palma, I invited Alex Tudorica (2 runs in 2008) and Daniel Dumitru (two runs in 2010) to observe with me with 1-2m telescopes at Cerro Tololo, Las Campanas and Roque de los Muchachos! • Many thanks for the funding to Bucharest University (twice), Prof. Mircea Rusu (Bucharest), ING La Palma, IAC Tenerife, IAA Granada, myself and to my collaborators! • They are the first Romanian students who achieved this dream! • No other astronomer based in Romania ever observed in Chile ore Canary.

  12. Successes with amateurs: EURONEARFirst Romanian Discoverers of Asteroids! • In 10-13 March 2008, while based in Chile and Mirel Birlan in France, a page of history for the Romanian astronomy was written in La Silla! Part of the EURONEAR project, I and Mirel observed NEAs for 3 nights using the ESO/MPG 2.2m telescope. A team of other 7 Romanians, based in Romania and composed mostly by amateurs and students, assisted us via internet for data reduction on a daily basis! • “Collateral” with the follow up of 15 known NEAs, we discovered about 450 asteroids from which one was probably a NEA. Now, 58 are official, so we became the first Romanians discoverers of asteroids! Taking into account this, at 1 Dec 2008 we proposed to the IAU 12 names for asteroids of Romanian passed away astronomers, plus “Romania”. The application is pending. • First 2 pictures: O. Vaduvescu & M. Birlan in Chile. The last picture (left to right): the discoverers A. Nedelcu, R. Toma, C. Vancea, O. Vaduvescu, A. Tudorica, C. Opriseanu, M. Birlan, D. Vidican, A. Sonka at the press conference in July 2008 in Bucharest!

  13. Successes with amateurs: EURONEARProbably First Romanian Amateurs and Students to Publish Astronomy ISI Papers! "EURONEAR: Data mining of asteroids and Near Earth Asteroids", Vaduvescu, O. et al., 2009, Astron. Nachr. 330, 7, 698 including 2 Romanian students and amateurs: L. Curelaru & A. Tudorica "More than 160 near Earth asteroids observed in the EURONEAR network", Birlan, M., Vaduvescu, O., et al., 2010, A&A 511, A40 including 6 Romanian students and amateurs: A. Tudorica, R. Toma, I. Comsa, D. Vidican, C. Opriseanu, C. Vancea "Mining the CFHT Legacy Survey for known Near Earth Asteroids", Vaduvescu, O., et al. 2010, submitted to AN (June 2010) including 6 Romanian students and amateurs: A. Tudorica, R. Toma, M. Badea, D. Dumitru, C. Opriseanu, D. Vidican "EURONEAR: Follow-up, Recovery and Discovery of Asteroids on ESO/MPG, INT and Swope Telescopes", Vaduvescu, O., et al. 2010, to be submitted soon including 7 Romanian students and amateurs: A. Tudorica, R. Toma, D. Vidican, C. Opriseanu, C. Vancea, D. Dumitru, M. Popescu "Searching the ESO/MPG and INT Image Archives for Near Earth Asteroids" Vaduvescu, O., et al. 2011, to be submitted in 2011 including 9 Romanian students and amateurs: M. Popescu, M. Constantinescu, M. Badea, D. Vidican, C. Opriseanu, T. Badescu, D. Lacatus, A. Paraschiv, A. Tudorica

  14. Failures with professionals, especially the Astronomical Institute • 1999 - EuRo Eclipse 99: Actually, my former Director Magda Stavinschi suggested me first in 1997 to bring astronomers and tourists from Canada and abroad to watch the eclipse in Romania. In March 1998, I started to refer to the institute the first 4 astronomers and professors from Canada and USA, but the Astronomical Institute failed to contact them and to collaborate! Thus, I decided to direct all professional astronomers (a few dozens) to the amateurs (SARM)! • 2001: Romanian Astronomical Journal Based in Canada and following three years of computer experience, I realized that the future of libraries is online. Later as an astronomy student in Canada, I also realized that journals which are not online and are not indexed ISI practically do not count for the big astronomy world! Thus, I proposed to the Director Magda Stavinschi and the editor in chief Vasile Mioc to place online their small journal collection, then to contact ADS and make some efforts to include it in ADS and make it accessible to the world. Nothing happened, and today Romanian Astronomical Journal includes nothing else than small abstracts in ADS, being not ISI recognized...

  15. Failures with professionals, especially the Astronomical Institute • 2005 - 2007: Data mining the Bucharest Plate Archive In 2005 I proposed to the institute a collaboration to study their photographic plate archive (10,000 2x2 deg plates observed between 1930-2005) for apparitions of NEAs, but nothing happened. In 2007 I finished the PRECOVERY software especially dedicated to this task and I wanted to apply on the AIRA archive. From the encountered recoveries, only about 10 plates hold potential visible asteroids, so we wanted to scan them, but the answer was very cold from the new Director Vasile Mioc. Finally in 2009, I published on this topic one ISI paper with 2 co-authors from AIRA and 2 amateurs; • 2006: Small contract for a few months? In 2006 I gave up my postdoc in South Africa, due to many reasons leaded by the very high criminality risk in that country. I came to Romania where I expected to stay for a few months, during which I proposed any paid collaboration to the Astronomical Institute (asking only for a low salary to be able to survive in Bucharest). They answered was negative, there was some money, but I could not be included in any contract…

  16. Failures with the Astronomical Institute • 2007 - 2010: Invitation for Common Observing Proposals • Since 2007 when I took the position in Chile (the BEST place for access to big telescopes), I invited all astronomers from Romania to submit common observing proposals based on their science interests. The answer was extremely poor, and only two persons (only one from AIRA with his PhD in France soon) were able to sent proposals. Comparatively, I had more success with collaborators from other countries (CA, CZ, SK, SP, FR, DE, UK, RU, we used 1-8m telescopes, published papers and got nice results; • 2010: The Diaspora Conference paid by the Government! By chance, in March 2010 I’ve meet at the Observatory in Canary a Romanian delegation lead by The President of ANCS, Prof. Adrian Curaj, who told me and invited me to participate to the present Diaspora Conference. I had the courage to dream more than that, so I proposed to ANCS to organize an astronomy exploratory workshop (one of the 24 workshops today). Each workshop costs the Romanian Government about 15,000 Euros, so the whole event is expected to reach almost half million Euros (possibly EU funding?) for which I sincerely congratulate Romania for his willing to bring Diaspora home! Naturally, I hoped such an Astronomy meeting to be hosted by the national Astronomical Institute in Bucharest. After two weeks of thinking, the Director Vasile Mioc answered that they can not host this event “because of the actual situation” (?!) Now, we have to thank very much to our actual hosts ROSA and INCAS (the Institute of Aviation)… probably the best place for Romanian astronomy to be, again… on air 

  17. Failures with the Astronomical Institute • 2009 – 2010: New Romanian Telescopes? With huge surprise, in 2009 I received the good news from the Institute (Marian Suran) about two infrastructure proposals to compete for receiving a few Million Euros from the Romanian Government (actually, EU funding) to establish 2 or 3 new 1-2m telescopes, much necessary for the poor Romanian astronomy 50 years old holding 50cm telescopes in indecent sites! I offered them for a few hours my experience and advice (pros and cons) about possible sites in Romania, Chile and Canary, initiating an open letter in which I evaluated some scientific, technical and financial aspects for the construction of a national observatory in a good site in Romania or outside, in an established international astronomical complex. The open letter was supported unanimously by other 3 astronomers of Romanian origin. Apparently, both projects qualified for funding, but the first failed to meet the deadline (1m+2.5m telescopes), while the second (1.3m for 1.5 MEuros) will probably fail soon due to the lack of interest mainly from… the Director Vasile Mioc who wanted this telescope only at the existing old observatory near Cluj-Napoca (in a very bad site)! I ask the Romanian Government how come they allow such people to lead research institutions and waste EU funding which Romania desperately needs?! Do they really expect us, the Diaspora home, to collaborate with such specimens?!

  18. Failures with the Astronomical Institute • 2000 – 2010: I think I had enough! Inspired probably from her many visits and association with Paris Observatory, my former Director Magda Stavinschi proposed me in 2000 to become Research Associate of the Astronomical Institute of Bucharest (no pay). I appreciated and I accepted this, so during the past decade I was research associate. 2010, probably after the failure of the 1.3m telescope project: following all the above failures of ANY possible collaboration with my former professional colleagues from Bucharest, with regret I will probably decide to resign as a research associate of the Romanian Institute. 2020: I hope that Romanian astronomy will still continue to exist, after continuous loose of jobs, very low salaries and cuts, and the very few young researchers who dared to hope to have a career there, and after the retirement of the actual astronomers from the Institute… Maybe I am too pessimistic now (tired after 3 full days of writing my 4 presentations), so I will leave each of you to draw some conclusions… Thank you!

  19. References EuRo Eclipse 99 http://www.ovidiuv.ca/EuRoEclipse99/ EURONEAR: http://euronear.imcce.fr/ Printed map of the sky by SARM: http://sarm.astroclubul.org/skymap/ Celestial Maps: http://www.ovidiuv.ca/astrosoft/maps.html Who's who Romanian Astronomical Community: http://sarm.astroclubul.org/people/ Astrosoft: http://sarm.astroclubul.org/astrosoft Biblioteca online: http://sarm.astroclubul.org/carti/ "Old" website of SARM: http://sarm.astroclubul.org/1998-2004/ My scientific publications: http://www.ovidiuv.ca/papers/ My public outreach publications: http://www.ovidiuv.ca/articles/ My new website and virtual home:http://www.ovidiuv.ca

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