School students "Catch a Star"! (Forwarded)

ESO Education and Public Relations Dept.

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For Immediate Release: 13 April 2007

ESO Organisation News 21/07

School students "Catch a Star"!

Astronomical competition winners announced

School students from across Europe and beyond have won prizes in an
astronomy competition, including the trip of a lifetime to one of the
world's most powerful astronomical observatories, on a mountaintop in
Chile. ESO, the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the
Southern Hemisphere, together with the European Association for Astronomy
Education (EAAE), has just announced the winners of the 2007 "Catch a
Star!" competition.

"Catch a Star!" is an international astronomy competition for school
students, in which students are invited to 'become astronomers' and
explore the Universe. The competition includes two categories for written
projects on astronomical themes, to ensure that every student, whatever
their level, has the chance to enter and win exciting prizes. For the
artistically minded, "Catch a Star!" also includes an astronomy-themed
artwork competition. Students from 22 countries submitted hundreds of
written projects and pieces of artwork.

"The standard of entries was most impressive, and made the jury's task of
choosing winners both enjoyable and difficult! We hope that everyone,
whether or not they won a prize, had fun taking part, and learnt some
exciting things about our Universe", said Douglas Pierce-Price, Education
Officer at ESO.

The top prize, of a week-long trip to Chile to visit the ESO Very Large
Telescope (VLT) on Paranal, was won by students Jan Mestan and Jan Kotek
from Gymnazium Pisek in the Czech Republic, together with their teacher
Marek Tyle. Their report on "Research and Observation of the Solar
Eclipse" told how they had studied solar eclipses, and involved their
fellow students in observations of an eclipse from their school in 2006.
The team will travel to Chile and visit the ESO VLT -- one of the world's
most powerful optical/infrared telescopes -- where they will meet
astronomers and be present during a night of observations on the 2600m
high Paranal mountaintop.

"It's fantastic that we will see the VLT in action. I'm also looking
forward to my first view of the southern sky!" said Jan Mestan. His fellow
student is also excited about the trip. "I am very happy that we'll visit
the Paranal observatory, because this is one of the best astronomical
observatories in the world, in the amazing scenery of the Atacama Desert",
said Jan Kotek.

"This was a very well written project, and we particularly liked the way
in which the students involved the rest of their school.", said Douglas
Pierce-Price. The team's hard work was also helped by some good fortune,
as it seemed at first that bad weather might block their view of the
eclipse.

"It was cloudy, overcast, and a strong west wind was blowing in Pisek. The
meteorological situation was nearly hopeless, and we thought we might have
to cancel the observation. But later, the sky luckily cleared up and we
could see the eclipse!", said the students.

"I am very glad that my students' work won the top prize in this great
competition. I believe that the visit to the VLT will be an important
experience in their education." said teacher Marek Tyle.

Other "Catch a Star" participants have won exciting trips to observatories
across Europe. Emilio Rojas, Angel Sanchez, Javier Ortiz and their teacher
Roberto Palmer from Spain have won a trip to Koenigsleiten Observatory in
Austria for their project "Jupiter on the radio". Bogumil Giertler, Ammar
Ahmed, and their teacher Richard Burt from Italy have won a trip to
Wendelstein Observatory in Germany for their project "Determining the
relative radiant of the Geminid meteor shower". Victor Raimbault, Remi
Takase, Thomas Salez and their teacher Michel Faye from France have won a
trip to Calar Alto Observatory in Spain, a prize kindly donated by the
Spanish Council for Scientific Research, for their project "Light on Dark
Matter".

Forty other teams won prizes, which included astronomy software and sets
of posters showcasing stunning astronomical images taken with ESO
telescopes. In the artwork competition, sixty winning pictures were chosen
with the help of a public vote. The beautiful pictures created by students
of all ages can be seen in the gallery on the "Catch a Star" website. The
full list of winners can also be found on the website.

The full list of winners can be found at
http://www.eso.org/catchastar/CAS2007/winners.php

The gallery can be found at
http://www.eso.org/catchastar/CAS2007/gallery.php

Further information about the competition can be found at
http://www.eso.org/catchastar/CAS2007/

For further information on the "Catch a Star!" competition or ESO's other
education initiatives, please contact:

Douglas Pierce-Price
Education Officer, ESO
Phone: +49 89 3200 6759

National contacts for the media:

Belgium: Dr. Rodrigo Alvarez, +32-2-474 70 50
Finland: Ms. Tiina Raivo, +358 9 7748 8369
Denmark: Dr. Michael Linden-Vørnle, +45-33-18 19 97
France: Dr. Daniel Kunth, +33-1-44 32 80 85
Germany: Dr. Jakob Staude, +49-6221-528229
Italy: Dr. Leopoldo Benacchio, +39-347-230 26 51
The Netherlands: Ms. Marieke Baan, +31-20-525 74 80
Portugal: Prof. Teresa Lago, +351-22-089 833
Sweden: Dr. Jesper Sollerman, +46-8-55 37 85 54
Switzerland: Dr. Martin Steinacher, +41-31-324 23 82
United Kingdom: Mr. Peter Barratt, +44-1793-44 20 25

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