VOLUME 1, Nยบ 5
DATE: JUNE 2016
Reach the Sky Bulletin HERMAN POTOCNIK NOORDUNG - FAMOUS SLOVENIAN ROCKET ENGINEER 1913 he studied in a military technical academy in Mรถdlingu by Vienna and he became a Lieutenant engineer.
Herman Potocnik Noordung was a Slovenian engineer, pioneer of cosmonautics, space flights and technology. He was born on 22nd of December in the year 1892 in Pula in the Austro-Hungarian empire (today Croatia), he died on 27th of August in the year 1929 in Vienna in Austria. Herman was the sun of Josef Potocnik and Minka. In the year 1894, when he's father died, he's mother moved to Maribor city where Herman was attending primary school for 4 years. He had 2 brothers Adolf and Gustav and one sister Francka. In the year 1903/1904 he moved to Bad Fischau by Vienna, where he attended lower secondary school. He's administrator was his uncle Josef Kokoschingg, a lawyer in Graz. He attended military school in Hranicah on Moravian. His uncle Henrich was a general in the army and he made studying in Austrian possible. In between of 1910 and
During the First World War he served in Galicia, Serbia and Bosnia and in 1915 he was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant (Oberleutnant). He was assigned to the southwestern front of the Soca battlefield and there he experienced a breakthrough of the Austrian army to the river Piava and its retreat. In 1919 he was pensioned off from the Austrian military with the rank of Captain because of tuberculosis that he contracted during the war. He started to study electrical engineering in the mechanical engineering department of the University of Technology in Vienna, Austria, and was awarded a doctorate in engineering. From 1925 onward, he devoted himself entirely to the problems of rocket science and space technology. He spend the last 4 years of his life with his brother Adolf and devoted his time for planning about ways to get to space and live there. At the end of 1928, he published his sole book, Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums der Raketen-Motor (The Problem of Space Travel - The Rocket Motor) in Berlin. Potocnik set out a plan for a breakthrough into space and the establishment of a permanent human presence there. He conceived a detailed design for a space station, regarded by Russian and American historians of spaceflight to be the first architecture in space and was the first man to recognize the significance of the geostationary orbit, on which the station would orbit the Earth.
With his many ideas he became one of the founders of astronautics. Potocnik's book described geostationary satellites/station (see the picture). The wheel-shaped space station served as an inspiration for further development by Wernher von Braun. Von Braun saw orbiting space stations as a stepping stone to travel to other planets. In 1968, Stanley Kubrick's groundbreaking film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, depicted such a role for "Space Station V". Nowadays modern theoreticians and technology engineers uses those achieve-
ments Noordung has made in his short live. Description and a sketch of a space station in Hermann Noordung's The Problem of Space Travel (1929). Alen Petek, Slovenia
During the Slovenian meeting we visited the Museum KSEVT dedicated to Herman Potocnik Noordung who lived in that town.
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THERE IS ALWAYS MORE TO SEE Since the prehistoric times, we have always looked to the sky to determine the best time to plant our crops or to find their way in the vast oceans. We have also tried to understand our place in the Universe in order to reshape our perception of the world we live in. It was the claim of Copernicus that triggered a revolution. His claim that the Earth was not the centre of the Universe was something really difficult for people to adopt. As far as I can remember from my mythology classes at university, people also tried to identify celestial objects with the Gods. According to a myth, Milky Way was created by Heracles when he was a baby. He was a son of Zeus with a mortal woman. Zeus once brought the infant to suckle on his divine wife Hera while she was asleep, but she suddenly woke up and pushed him away. The drops of the spurting milk created the Milky Way, the galaxy that contains the
Solar System. People developed many stories about the celestial objects to help them understand how and why things happen. Although there are still many questions we are struggling to answer, thanks to many technological developments in astronomy, we have learned many things about the universe we live in and the things we have learned positively contribute to our lives. It is true that the world we live in has many problems such as hunger, poverty, global warming and a lot of people believe that the money spent on Astronomy researches must be spend to solve these issues. However, the study of astronomy can provide us with many advantages by contributing to technology, economy and society and this urges us to develop better instruments which will facilitate our lives.
tions, astronomy has another unique impact on our lives which helps us to be more creative by extending our horizons and to discover the Universe and our place in it. Teaching astronomy to the youth is, therefore, of vital importance since it will give our children the opportunity of pursuing careers in science and technology by engaging in astronomy related educational activities. We should remember that many things such as X-ray technology used in airports or wireless local area network (WLAN) that people use today were actually designed for astronomical purposes.
Besides its technological contribu-
Cemil GÜLBAHAR, Turkish Team
Thanks to our project Reach the Sky, both the students and the teachers now are more interested in Astronomy and we should keep on encouraging our students to learn more about science and pursue scientific careers.
NEW HUBBLE PORTRAIT OF MARS Mars looks like a dynamic seasonal planet. This photo of Mars was taken from the Hubble Space Telescope on May 12, 2016. The planet was 50 million miles from Earth. You can see bright, frosty polar caps, and clouds above a vivid, rust-colored landscape. The large, dark region on the ultimate right is Syrtis Major Planitia. We used this feature to measure the rotation rate of Mars. It is about 24 hours and 37 minutes. Today we know that Syrtis Major is an ancient, inactive shield volcano. We can also see a lot of clouds above the Syrtis Major. The orange area in the center of the image is Arabia Terra, a vast upland region in the northern Mars that covers about 2,800 miles. From east to west along the equator, are the long dark features known as Sinus Sabaeus (to the east) and Sinus Meridiani (to the west).
These darker regions are covered by dark and finegrained bedrock from lava flows and other volcanic features. This fine dust gives their ruddy appearance. A lot of clouds can be seen over the southern polar cap. The icy northern polar cap is very small because it is now late summer in the northern hemisphere. The bright Hellas Planitia basin is a large oval feature. It was formed about 3.5 billion years ago by an asteroid impact. It measures about 1,100 miles across and it is nearly five miles deep. Credits: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), J. Bell (ASU), and M. Wolff (Space Science Institute) Nejc Jelen, Slovenia
SLOVENIAN MEETING INTERVIEWS AN INTERVIEW WITH THE POLISH TEAM What do you think about Slovenia? It is really cool here but it is so cold. It’s pretty and interesting. It’s full of amazing things and places. I think that it’s great. You have big and amazing libraries. Yes, and all of your streets are so clean. It is not polluted and it is just great. What do you think about the people in Slovenia? They are really nice. And they are really friendly and I found out that family is
truly important for them. What is your favourite part about this project? I think that my favourite part about the project is meeting new people. I like visiting new places too and I like speaking English. Why did you apply for Erasmus+ project? I wanted to learn more English and meet new people and I just wanted to see new places. I just wanted to find out more about the astronomy and space because there are still so many things to discover.
How do you think this experience will affect you educationally? Well definitely we will learn more about the astronomy and I will learn more English. We will learn about new cultures and a few words in different languages. Did you find new friends? Yes, sure. Yes, our hosts and their families. They are great and really friendly. We cried when we were saying goodbye. It was emotional even if we know each other only for a few days. What did you see in Slovenia and what
VOLUME 1, Nº 5 did you like the most? Maybe Ljubljana and that bridge with dragons. The castle in Celje is also beautiful. All the things that are important here and the Slovenia is famous for, except the caves and I am sad about that because they told us that they are astonishing. What do you think about our school and teachers? Everything is great. Really. The place is so huge and so clean. And you have a really good equipment. I love that there are no bells because it is more relaxing atmosphere. The pople here are really friendly and they know how to be relaxed and there was a lot of laughing and we were enjoying ourselves. Would you repeat this experience if you could? Of course, because it was so great. We learnt a lot about Slovenia and people here and we visited many places. We made some new friends and until now I didn’t believe that you can get such a good friend even if you know them just for a few days. I will miss them. This experience is just something that I think we will never forget. AN INTERVIEW WITH THE TURKISH TEAM, by Katarina Zupanc Hande Tiryaki, student Why did you join Erasmus+ project? This project is amazing. First of all I met a lot of different cultures and languages. What do you expect from Erasmus+ project? I expect to have a lot of friends all around the world. What do you want to see in Slovenia? I really want to see the Lake Bled. It is so big and magnificent. How do you think this project is going to affect your knowledge? Of course it is going to affect me! I learnt simple greeting words, for example zdravo or hola. I learnt more about team job. I like helping people if they need my help. What do you think of our school? It is really big, comfortable and useful. It has got a great library, laboratories, canteen …. What do you think about the project from the p er sp ect ive of communication? Yeah, I have a lot of friends all around the world. Thanks to Erasmus+. What is the thing that you are most excited about? Actually, I’m not excited but when I heard about this project, I couldn’t believe it. It’s a big project. Do you like hosting in Slovenian families?
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meeting? Of course. What do you think about Slovenia? It’s very nice. I like the mountains and people around here. I really like the family wich is hosting me because they’re very kind and I like their dog.
Sure, I love them like my own family. What do you know about Slovenia so far? My country Turkey is far away from Slovenia and I’m scared of planes so it was difficult for me. But when I saw Slovenia I was surprised. It is such a beautiful countryJ. I actually don’t know a lot about it but I would love to. What is your opinion about the participants that are involved in this project? I learnt a lot about other countries, I met amazing people and I love them. Ata Since, student Why did you join Erasmus+ project? Actually I wanted to see other countries and learn about other cultures. What do you expect from Erasmus+ project? I hope that this project will help me to develop my English language. What would you like to see in Slovenia? I really want to see Ljubljana and some famous castles. How do you think this project is going to affect your knowledge? I think it will have a positive effect on me, because I’ve learnt so many things here (foreign language, culture). What do you think of our school? Actually it’s very very very big school, but I like it. What do you think about the project from the perspective of communication? Actually nothing. Do you like hosting in Slovenian families? Yes, of course I do. They are very helpful and friendly, like my family. What do you know about Slovenia so far? I love basketball so I know the Dragić brothers. That’s all. AN INTERVIEW WITH STUDENTS AND TEACHERS, by Maja Kovačić Valentin Purtan, Romanian students What do you think of your English? Is it very good or bad? I don’t know. Do you feel welcomed here? Yes. Are you looking foward to our next
Camelia Kallos, Romanian teacher What are the subjects you teach? I teach math. What do you think about the universe? Do you look it in a scientifical way or in imaginary way? (She didn’t understand the question) What do you think about Slovenia? It is a nice place, with nice people(more people). What do you expect from us as hosts? I expect like everybody expect, to be normal, to be friendly with us (like us). Do you think you will change your opinion about Slovenia after the visit? No, because I met Slovenian before and I knew what I’ll find here. Do you feel welcomed here? Of course. Ylenia Herrera Acosta, Spain teacher What are the subjects you teach? I’m a French teacher as well as English. What do you think about the Universe? Do you look at it in a scientifical way or in imaginary way? I’m not a science teacher so I think I look at the Universe in a imaginary way, almost. What do you think about Slovenia? I think it is a very beautiful country with lovely people, they’re really kind and very warm, so I really like it. What do you expect from us a s hosts? I think, you have been very nice with us and with all our students so, we’re all very happy. Do you think you will change your opinion about Slovenia after the visit? Yea, I mean, I didn’t have a prevous opinion so for me it’s was a very nice trip, a very nice experience. Do you feel welcomed here? Yes, a lot. Has your school ever participated in other projects like this? No, I don’t think so. I think it’s the first time we’re taking part in European project. What is your opinion on Slovenian school system? I really like it. Students are very calm and something is very diffrent to our country so I really like it. What is your opinion on this project? Do you think we shoul participate in
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other projects as well? I think it’s a good project for students to be in touch with students from other countries and to exchange cultural issues and even languange issues, I think it’s very good for you and for us. Weronika Pyzic, Polish student Why did you decide to take part in Erasmus+ project? I wanted to learn some more English and astronomy, I kind of like it. I don’t know much about it but it’s cool for me. What do you think abour scool and Šentjur? It’s really big and it looks great. It’s complitly diffrent than our school, you’ve got many students and many great classes not like we. Does the cold weather make a problem for you? No, in Poland we have all the time so cold weather so it’s not the problem. Would you repeat this experience if you could?
Yes sure. What do you think that this experience will bring to you? For sure, I know more English, I met new people wich I really like here and I saw so many places here. What do you think about Slovenia now and what do you know about it?
Now, for sure I know more than I knew before. Did you know where Slovenia is before we started working together? Yes, sure I knew. Do you like it here? Yea, I really like. I would love to come here when the weather will be better. What do you think about the project form the p er s p e c t i v e of communications? It’s great! People here were just awesome and I really loved everyone. Do you like hosting in Slovenian families? Yes, I love it! What is your opinion about participants involved in the project? They were really cool, I didn’t like only the some people weren’t interested in lections and they were some kind of disturbing but they were really cool. Ana Slomšek , Slovenia
SÂNZIENE—MIDSUMMER CELEBRATION IN ROMANIA
Each year, on the 24th of June, Romanians celebrate the pagan holiday of Sânziene (also known as Drăgaica), a pagan tradition which coincides with the Orthodox holiday of the birth of St. John the Baptist . Along with the Fates, Sânziene are part of the big and charming family of iele – gracious fairies with magical powers. Sânzienele were considered to be some beautiful women living in the woods or fields unexplored by man. Unlike the most of iele, Sânziene are always good and kind with humans. On the on the night of June 23rd to June 24th, they turn into fair-haired beauties and dance under the moon. The heavens are open on this magical night and miracles can happen. It is said that on the night before their day, they use to fly over meadows, smelling and touching the wild flowers, enriching them with special healing properties. Sânziene is also the Romanian name of a wild yellow flower, commonly known as the Lady’s bedstraw (latin—Galium verum), frequently used in ancient healing potions. So, the 24th of June is the perfect day for collecting this flower, along with other local medicinal plants. Moreover, on Sânziene’s Eve, it is said that they bless the animals and the fountains, strengthen the marriages,
heal people of different diseases and then like to dance and sing until dawn. According to the Romanian tradition, in the morning of Sânziene, people were gathering bouquets of the flowers with the same name, make wreaths, and threw them on the roof. It was believed that the person would have a long life if the wreath remained on the roof. People were also making wreaths with the flowers picked on this day, or they were linking them in the form of a cross, and were taking them to church where they were sanctified. Then, they were bringing them back home and keep them for various magical practices, including treating illness and scaring the evil. The night of Sânziene is one of peace and tranquility. The dew that falls is drenched in enchantment and if you bathe your face in it you will be (even more) beautiful. If you take it from the flowers at dawn, it will cure rheumatism, arthritis and other aches and pains of the bones, rejuvenating and energising. Any object left outside during the night touched by this magical dew may be considered an amulet. And in addition to all this sparkling, glistening alchemy, storms never happen and, says legend, even the wind is silent. But this holiday also focuses on celebrating the Sun. This is way, on Sânziene’s Eve, people still use to make huge campfires on top of the hills and to dance around it. The most brave men even try to jump over the fire as it is believed that the fire will purify them and all their sorrows will disappear in the flames. In some villages, the young boys are trying to impress the girls by playing with fire, literally. They take burning
torches and start to rotate them, creating circles symbolizing the Sun, in a dangerous but captivating sparkling show. Then, the unmarried girls go to gather some Lady’s bedstraw’s flowers to put under their pillow asking Sânziene to help them dreaming their true soul mate. Sânziene’s Day has its own specific rituals, mainly focused on love spells. In some regions, especially in the country-side, it is common that the young girls to play the role of Sânziene. One of the girls is chosen to represent Drăgaica, the most powerful of Sânziene fairies. After she is dressed in white and embellished with golden wheat spikes – the symbol of Sun and Summer – she must gather all the other girls into a big circle and dance. This holiday has deep astronomical meaning that arises from the ancient Sun worship. Solstice of June 21st is celebrating in an obscure and encoded way in the people's life, three days after its astronomical time. This traditional celebration reliefs ancient astronomical knowledge. At the solstice, the day begins to shrink and the Sun fall early in the heavens ! The yellow golden fragrant flower crown (Galium verum) and the traditional round Romanian dance hora, and the fire show of young man are just the reflection of Zodiac crossed by life-giving star, the Sun. This day also marks the middle of summer and celebrates nature and fecundity. So, Sânziene is a feast of love and happiness, quite similar to the famous Midsummer Night, when the skies are opening and miracles happen on the entire world who becomes a magical realm. Oana Jurj, Romania
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ST JHON´S EVE IN TENERIFE BONFIRES AND FIREWORKS St John’s Eve is known in Tenerife and the other Canary Islands as Noche de San Juan. It is a very important time for festivities, for bonfires, fireworks and beach parties. The night of 23 June is one of the biggest fiesta times of the year and in many places it is as big if not bigger than the New Year’s Eve celebrations. It is in keeping too with the Summer Solstice of the Pagan calendar.
The beach is covered in people, including family groups. Candles are lit and there is usually a disco too with dance music blaring out over the sea. Many people, especially the countless teenagers, go in the water. At midnight it is a tradition for people to go in the sea because it is believed that bathing at such a time is purifying and cleansing.
There is the idea that all of Noche de San Juan is about getting It is a Fire Festival that marks the time of the shortest day rid of anything bad. In religious terms the fires can be thought to and the most daylight. There is a very magical and almost surreal ward away demons and evil spirits. In some places mainly young feeling to the event as it is celebrated. The festival combines ele- men will jump three times over smaller fires. ments of both Pagan and Christian traditions and imagery. Fireworks are set off, mainly large Catherine wheels, Roman La Noche de San Juan is prepared for well in advance in Tecandles and rockets. By the morning after the island is shrouded in nerife. People of the villages and towns all around the island smoke and the smell of burnt wood and ash. make bonfires in readiness for lighting them on the night of St Daniela González Jiménez, Spain John.
THE PALE BLUE DOT to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.” Carl Sagan
Dear participants,
“Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless
cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Our posturings, our imagined selfimportance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. The Earth is the only world known so far
this number of Reach the Sky Bulletin will be the last in this scholar year. I write this words to congratulate you all on a work well done, I hope that together with the Astronomy knowledge you have learned that, even though we have different appearances or we dress in a different way, talk different languages or we have different costumes, the differences are superficial, because we understand by meeting us that deep inside we are all equal, capable of sharing the same dreams and hopes in an always better future. Happy summer holidays to all!!! The Editor
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