IOAA 2017 Newsletter Vol.6

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Vol.6

IOAA 2017 Newsletter

18th November 2017

BOOSTING YOUTH AROUND THE WORLD TO INVOLVE MORE IN ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS ARE THE HEART OF IOAA continued on page 6

HIGHLIGHTS!!

TEAM LEADERS

WERE ON EXCURSION TO PHANG NGA BAY, WHILE CONTESTANTS WERE BUSY DOING THEIR DAYTIME OBSERVATION EXAM. READ MORE

ARTICLES

INTERVIEWS

ASTRONOMY

THE WORLD HAS RECOGNIZED

IN THAI HISTORICAL RECORDS AND INSCRIPTIONS READ MORE

THAILAND MORE READ MORE

DO OUR BEST AND GIVE FATE THE REST As the host of IOAA 2017, the event organizer team along with related staff have done their very best in planning out each step of the event agendas in order to make the event flow smoothly.

We all know that unexpected obstacles are bound to happen, so we have prepared ourselves very well to handle such issues as quickly as possible. However, some problems are still unpredictable and sometimes outside of our control such as the cloudy skies which prevented us from proceeding the observation exam. Nevertheless, there is still the day time observation exam which will allow the contestants to show their potential in a similar format to that of the night observation.

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Vol.6

IOAA 2017 Newsletter

18th November 2017

Student Program Details Date Saturday 18 November

Time 06.30 - 07.30 07.30 08.00 08:30 - 12.00 12:00 - 13:00 13:00 - 15.00 15:00 - 17:00 17:30 18:00 - 22:00 22:00

Sunday 06.30 - 09.00 19 November 10:00 12:00 - 13:00 18:00 - 22.00 22:00

Programme

Venue

Breakfast Departure to PSU (first 16 teams) Departure to PSU (the rest) PSU Team competition Lunch Departure to Duangjitt hotel Rest and cultural show preparation Marriott hotel Departure to Marriott hotel Dinner and cultural performance Departure to Duangjitt hotel

Breakfast Excusion Lunch Buffet dinner / cultural shows Departure to Duangjitt hotel

Phuket City Kan Eng Seafood restaurant Phuket Fantasea

Leader Program Details Date

Time

Saturday 06:30 - 09:00 18 November 09:00 - 18:30 12:30 - 13:30 18:00 - 22:00

18:00 20:00

Sunday 06:30 - 09:00 19 November 09:00 - 12:30 12:30 - 13:30 13:30 - 17:00 18:00 - 19:00 19:00 - 21:00

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Programme

Venue

Beach front, Breakfast Merriott hotel Free time Lunch Dinner & Cultural performance Submission of Leaders' marks Distribution of Markers's marks

Breakfast Moderation Lunch Moderation Dinner IBM. Final meeting

Beach front, Merriott hotel

TEAM LEADERS

WERE ON EXCURSION TO PHANG NGA BAY, WHILE CONTESTANTS WERE BUSY DOING THEIR DAYTIME OBSERVATION EXAM.

It

has come to day 5 (November 17, 2017) of the IOAA 2017 Phuket Thailand. Phuket has such a nice weather today which is good for laying down at beach or enjoy the natural beauty of Phuket. So, those team leaders and scoring committees have been taken on a trip to 'Phang Nga Bay', one most of the most beautiful marine tourist attraction in the world.

On the other hand, the contestants were busy doing their day time observation exam. The observation exam took place at Duangjitt Resort & Spa, Patong Phuket. Contestants were divided into two groups with 23 countries each. Each group were rotated for the morning and afternoon exam. They can meet each other again after the exam is done.

Meanwhile, team leaders, scoring committee, as well as observers have enjoyed with many activities in trip such as kayaking, visiting mangrove forest, canoeing through caves in Hong island, and experiencing the local fishermen’ way of life of in Panyee island.

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ASTRONOMY

IN THAI HISTORICAL RECORDS AND INSCRIPTIONS Umnart SATHANON Department of Physics, Chulalongkorn University Patumwan, Bangkok, Thailand

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stronomy has also influenced Thailand as well as many ancient civilizations in other parts of the world. Moreover, there are enormous evidences of the knowledge transfered from one to another, especially in the field of astronomy. Astronomy was common knowledge among scholars in Southeast Asia for over a millennium along when there was The dissemination and periodical modifications of the holy scriptures of Buddhism and Brahmanism. Although we have very little knowledge about how they observed the celestial events, there are still many historical records and inscriptions, which are the concrete evidences of the applications of astronomy.

There are two aspects of the applications of astronomy found in many sources of literatures and also inscriptions found in Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asia mainland. Calendar and planet positions have been calculated by the formulas based on the treatises inherited from the Vedic astronomy called Jyotish . Also, there are other related textbooks such as Surya Siddhanta or Varahamihira’s Panca Siddhantika.

Reference The Inscriptions in Thailand Database, The Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhon Anthropology Centre. (2006).

Retrieved November 7, 2017, from http://www.sac. or.th/databases/inscriptions/inscribe_image_detail. php?id=2234 Eade, J. C. (2000). Rules for interpolation in the Thai calendar: Suriyayatra versus the Susna. Journal of the Siam Society, 88.1 & 2, 195-203.

Even though, the lunisolar calendar was applied only about 700 years, the rules for intercalation does not appear in fixed principle but rather depended on the regions (Eade, 2000), The calendrical records are very useful for historians and archaeologists to figure out the events in the past. To reconcile the uncertainty in the calendric system, the ancient wisdom usually referred to various accounts for rechecking the exact time of each particular event. For example, we usually found the records composing of the weekday, lunar day and order of lunar month, The lunar mansion (Nakshatra), Chulasakarat together with the Buddhist era and additional technical values for calculation (e.g.,horakhun, masaken, kammacubala and so on) combined with the horoscope chart indicate the calculated positions of the Sun, Moon and planets.

Wat Tham Suwan Kooha inscription found in Nong Bua Lamphu Province (The Inscriptions in Thailand Database, The Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhon Anthropology Centre, 2006).

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hai ARCHEOASTRONOMY : CITY – TEMPLE – ART Farung Surina Bunthit, Chiang Rai Rajabhat University

FIFTEEN

thousand years ago, Thailand was considered to be the center of a long-forgotten race established the first agricultural civilization in the south-east Asia region, called “Suvannaphum” where the agriculture and the plan of city and temples were designated by their lunar calendar (Yodintra et al.

2007). The “Suvannaphum rectangle”, shown in figure 1, is somewhat a simple alignment used to observe the positions of sunrises and/ or sunsets at horizon making angle of 23°.5 to the North and South.

They were found in some historical cities such as Chiangmai’s city war (figure 2) and temples such as the Vihara Nam Taem of Wat Pra That Lampang Luang, Lampang, Thailand (figure 3)

FIGURE 1 :

The Suvannaphum rectangle (left) compared to the typical square (right).

Vihara Nam Taem of Wat Pra That Lampang Luang, Lampang, Thailand.

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IGURE 3 : Vihara Nam Taem of

Wat Pra That Lampang Luang, Lampang, Thailand.

References: Yodintra, S., 2007, Chiang Mai J. Sci., 34 (2), 143-149

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IGURE 2 :Chiangmai’s city war (left) compared to that of Angor Wat (right).

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BOOSTING YOUTH AROUND THE WORLD TO I N V O LV E M O R E I N A S T R O N O M Y A N D ASTROPHYSICS ARE THE HEART OF IOAA

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or the IOAA 2017, we have spent was organized in 2007 in Chiang Mai nearly 2 years in preparation. becoming the first competition in The reason we chose Prince of Thailand to combine both physics and Songkla University as the host of the astronomy. Looking at the increased IOAA 2017 is not only because of it’s participation in the IOAA from the first Astronomy Research Center (POSN) year’s 21 joining countries to this but also because it is in the name of year’s 44 joining countries, we can see the father of His Majesty King that Astronomy is clearly growing in Bhumibol Adulyadej Therefore, the popularity all over the world.

ASSOC.PROF. BOONRUCKSAR SOONTHORNTHUM CHAIRPERSON OF ACADEMIC COMMITTEE OF THE IOAA 2017

event was originally planned to The goal of this event is to boost th honor and celebrate the 9 reigning an interest in astronomy among the monarch’s 90th birthday. youth in Southern Thailand by His Majesty King Bhumibol presenting an exciting platform for Adulyadej loved astronomy very contestants to compete on an much. He once said “If I wasn’t king, international level. We believed that I would be an astronomer.” He event not so far in the future Prince of built an observatory in Chiang Mai. Sonkla University will have an increased number of astronomy Hosting the IOAA in Thailand was classes available since it’s facilities are originally the desire of Her Royal already well prepared with astronomy Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana equipments.

Krom Luang Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra. The competition

THE WORLD HAS RECOGNIZED

THAILAND MORE I

am the head of the team who are responsible for preparing and making the exam questions. Our duty is to ensure that the level of exam questions reach the world Olympaid standard.

ASST.PROF.DR.PHICHET KITTARA ACADEMIC COMMITTEE OF THE IOAA 2017

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IOAA 2017 ์ Newsletter

questions we made. There were only a few changes. The first IBM discussion took quite a long time, but later for the following discussions, it took shorter and shorter time.

Therefore, Thailand has received more recognition from the international stage by hosting the exam this time both for the facilities and human resources factors. However, meantime Thailand still has limited experts in astronomy sector, which is the reason why we are trying to This year, the observers from encourage our youth to involve across the globe joining the contest more in astronomy for the bright agreed with and appreciated exam future of Thailand.

There are 9 members in team.

Each of them have prepared the questions in the field that they are expert in and have plenty of experiences from previous exams.

This aims to make the exam questions variable and highly effective.

Christos Kakogiannis

Adylkan Murynbaev

Sze Quek

Contestant from

Contestant from

Contestant from

Greece

I

have earned a lot of experiences from joining the contest this time.

I've heard many good things about Thailand. After arriving, I am very impressed with everything here such as food and all of those tourist attractions. For me, I really love the food. The taste is different, but it is a perfectly combined. By the way, the exam this year is very challenging as it was different from all the previous ones. We believe that our team did our best. Every time we face problem, even though it was hard to solve, but finally we always can solve it.

F

Kyrgyzstan

or the first exams they were quite short, so I felt very confident because they gave a lot of time to answer all the questions. Last year in India, it was not like this, I felt I had before I always had to hurry through the questions. Also, I’m glad I had this opportunity to meet people who come from all over the world. The accommodation here has been very good, very convenient with a variety of different foods that taste very good and not too spicy.

T

Singapore

he exam this morning was so tough, but I have done my best and hope I can get any of the medals back. Besides, I really love Phuket. The people, weather, food, and many others are all nice. I made a lot new friends. By the way, the dolphin show was amazing. I've never seen something like this before in Singapore. For botanic garden, what I like the most is the rice farm zone, I’ve learned how to grow the rice that we eat every day.

Alejandro Estrada Contestant from

Peter Dimitrov Contestant from

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Bulgaria

think I have done well in the exam so far. I'm not really worried about it and hope to get any of medals back home. By the way, I'm really impressed with Thailand. I really enjoy being here and I can earn a lot of new experiences.

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Colombia

his is my third time joining IOAA and I think this time is one of the hardest IOAA I have ever been through. The exam was very difficult, but I have done my best in every section. This is also my first time in Thailand. I am very excited about being here.

I have learned a lot of new experiences especially on what the differences between this year IOAA with the previous one.

Ahmade Coulibaly Contestant from Mali

T

his is my first doing this kind of exam. I think the organizer have done their good job in planning and preparing this contest such as the exam papers, exam room, and many others.

Anyway, I am very confident even though it is my first time.

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T O H OT S

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