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Chat s astronomkou (Chat with an astronomer)
Did you know that Annie Cannon (1863-1941) was the creator of the current stellar classification, OBAFGKM, based on the stellar spectra? Or that Jocelyn Bell (1943- ) discovered a strange radio signal -which she called "Little Green Men"- that turned out to be rapidly rotating compact stars that emit very regular pulses of radiation, or pulsars? During past times there were exceptional and lucky women that could follow their passion and study Astronomy. Yet, quite often their work was kept behind the scenes. Lucky us, times change!
We would like to celebrate with all of you the International Day of Women and Girls in Science!
And what better way to celebrate this special day than to bring together female professional Astronomers working in the Czech Republic and to put their knowledge and experiences within reach of everyone? That is Chat s Astronomkou, a series of activities organised between the 11 February (International Day of Women and Girls in Science) and 8 March (International Women's Day).
What activities will be organised?
- Live Streaming. On Monday, 27 February 2022 at 19:30h we will broadcast a live discussion about astronomical observations between solar, stellar and galactic astronomers, Astronomky u dalekohledů. You can follow it at the Astronomical Institute of the CAS Youtube channel, where you will be able to pose questions that will be answered on the spot
- Chat s Astronomkou -classical edition. On Thursday, 2 March from 18 to 21h a chat box will be available on this website, where you will be able to chat with one of our Astronomers. The topic of the chat is entirely up to you. It can be a follow-up of the Live Streaming, or more specific questions. Below you can find a brief description of the participants so you can get to know them before the chat and think about your inquiries. If you are interested in talking to a specific Astronomer, mention it at the beginning. Please, be aware that, as international as science is, there will be Czech and non-Czech astronomers online. This activity was inspired by Chatea con una Astrónoma, organised by the Spanish Astronomical Society.
- Chat s Astronomkou -school edition. From 11 February to 8 March teachers can contact us to organise a private written chat with their classroom. Children will join the chat in small groups and the selected Astronomers will be ready to answer their questions. We invite Science and Foreign languages teachers to get in touch with us. Moreover, if the chat piques their interest, we can also agree on a face-to-face talk at your school! For more details, please contact rivas@asu.cas.cz.
We are looking forward to chatting with you!!
Her research interests include interstellar matter, star formation and galaxies (her favourite galaxy is our Milky Way and her favourite phase of the interstellar medium is the neutral hydrogen). Soňa likes to popularize astronomy and science (by giving talks, participating in Science Fairs, organizing hands-on activities during the open door days at the Institute), she also helps to organize IAU - International Astronomical Union - outreach activities in the Czech Republic (e.g. the Name Exoplanet event). In her spare time she enjoys role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons!
Her work focuses on the Sun. She analyses magnetic fields on the surface of the Sun and tries to understand how the magnetic fields affect inner convection to form dark structures as pores or sunspots. Datasets from satellites are always available but she also likes to go to observe to Canary islands to run her studies. She likes to do outreach activities, like giving popular talks or participating in events like the Spanish version of 'Chat s Astronomkou' or Famelab CZ. In her free time she enjoys hiking, running with her dog, doing jigsaws and, she especially enjoys struggling to learn Czech and getting to know Czech Republic!
Romana Grossova is a Slovak astronomer working at the Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences (Spořilov, Prague) and at Masaryk University (Brno). You can chat with her in Slovak and English.
Romana studies the activity of supermassive black holes in giant elliptical galaxies but she is also interested in galaxies, whose gas is being stripped away as they move to the center of a galaxy cluster at high relative velocities creating large tails behind the galaxy. Due to this shape, these galaxies are often called jellyfish galaxies. In her free time, she enjoys climbing, cycling, running, skiing.
Anežka Kabátová is a Czech astronomer working at the Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences (Spořilov, Prague) and at ČTUV (Prague). You can chat with her in Czech and English.
Since the beginning of her astronomical journey, she has been studying molecular gas in galaxies - first to see if supermassive black holes are destroying its reservoirs, and now to see if hot intergalactic matter is ripping it out of galaxy disks. Her favourite observatory is ALMA in Chile. In her spare time, she enjoys lifting weights, singing, hiking, and cooking. She also loves to talk about astronomy, which is why you can find her at open door days, science fairs, or on Chat s Astronomkou!
Her research focuses on data analysis and modelling of solar flare emission. She talks about astronomy and astrophysics with her friends and sometimes popularizes science participating in the Open Days organized at the Institute. Outside of work, she likes the outdoors, spending time with her family, reading and the music!
Her research interests are massive, hot stars, stellar winds and atmospheric modelling. She participates in the Open Days organized at the Institute, as well as in the Researchers' Night. During her spare time she spends time with her daughter, does housework, practices yoga or meets with her friends!
Her research focuses on nebulae: she wants to know why they look the way they look and how they evolve. Back in Estonia she used to -and sometimes still does- give interviews to explain her science, as well as to write popular articles. She was also part of an amateur astronomers club, where different activities were organized. In her free time she enjoys travelling, reading books, sports, gardening work and playing with Lego!
Her main work consists in observing the Sun, collecting images from different cameras, drawing what she can see with the telescope -like sunspots, faculae...- and forecasting solar events. She also participates in popular activities such as tour guiding at the Institute, giving public talks or writing popular articles in magazines. In her spare time she likes to go tramping, reading books and doing bobbin lace work!
Klaudia Protušová is a Slovak master's student in Astrophysics at Masaryk University in Brno. You can chat with her in Slovak or in English.
Her research focuses on the study of first galaxies in the early universe, their formation and evolution in these times. Moreover, she is researching what role the first galaxies had in the reionisation of neutral hydrogen within and around first structures of the universe. In addition to that, she is interested in how the activity of supermassive black holes affect their surroundings. In her free time she likes to draw and crochet and spend time with her cat!
Tahereh Ramezani is an Iranian astronomer working at Masaryk University (Brno). You can chat with her in English or Persian.
She studies open clusters using the Gaia space observatory. She observes open clusters, which are a type of stellar clusters, and analyses the data to find out more about their properties. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, reading, writing, watching science fiction and comedy movies, and sport.
Her research interests lie on the pulsational behaviour that some stars show. The main topic of her research is to link the oscillations of variable stars with their internal structure and their evolutionary status. This field, named asteroseismology, allows her to study a wide variety of astrophysical topics: the changes in the internal structure that stars experience during their evolution, the effect of stellar rotation during their evolution, the processes that trigger mass loss on massive stars, even the internal structure of exoplanets and more. She used to participate in outreach activities back in Argentina. Outside of work she is currently learning how to play the ukelele, studying Czech and trying to do yoga everyday. She likes to paint with watercolours, she loves reading about philosophy, psychology, history and politics and she finds board games as the best way to spend time with friends!
In her research she studies the behaviour of matter in the vicinity of black holes. She is interested in the chaotic behaviour of test particles in spacetimes, where a black hole is surrounded by another source of gravitational field - a disc or a ring. She also runs magnetohydrodynamic simulations that describe how the matter falls into a black hole. These simulations help to investigate the origin and behaviour of shock waves in a gas with low angular momentum. The motion and oscillations of these shock waves could partly explain quasiperiodic oscillations that are observed in the light curves of some X-ray binary stars. By using numerical simulations she also studies the passage of a star through an accretion flow around supermassive black holes in the center of galaxies. She has participated in activities such as 'S vědátory na pivo'. She has given several popular lectures -including at 'Science to go' and she has written articles for the Astropis magazine. In her spare time she used to sing at the Sebranka choir or to draw and paint but after the birth of her son she devotes all of her free time to him!