site.btaBulgarian Medalists at International Olympiad in Astronomy Attribute Success to Good Teachers and Self-preparation

Students Svetoslav Arabov and Anton Stoyanov, who returned with a gold and a bronze medal, respectively, from the third edition of the International Olympiad in Astronomy and Astrophysics in Kathmandu, attributed their success to good teachers, training at the Varna Astronomical Observatory and self-preparation. They were prepared for their participation by Dr. Eva Bozhurova from the Astronomical Observatory in Varna, Zahari Donchev from the Institute of Astronomy at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Nikola Karavasilev.

The two boys told BTA that there were nearly 100 participants from 19 countries. The twelve problems in the theoretical round were not that complicated, with some exceptions, but the challenge was that they were solved in only four hours, which gave no time for verification. Speed and accuracy were key, they said. The competition also had a practice round where they worked with a telescope and maps to find and identify objects.

All five representatives of the Bulgarian team are medalists. In terms of average score the Bulgarian team is second after the Indian team.

The two medal winners said they plan to become engineers. They want to make more sophisticated instruments to help physicists observe phenomena with fewer errors. About learning in school, they said they wish physics textbooks were written in more accessible language because they are hard to understand now.