IVS Analysis Center at Main Astronomical Observatory of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

This report summarizes the activities of the VLBI Analysis Center at the Main Astronomical Observatory of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in 2012

On the eve of the 100th anniversary of IAU Commission 19/A2 “Rotation of the Earth”

Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.IAU Commission 19 began in 1919 with the birth of the IAU at the Brussels Conference, where Standing Committee 19 on Latitude Variations was established as one of 32 standing committees. At the first IAU General Assembly in 1922, Standing Committee 19 became Commission 19 “Variation of Latitude”. In the beginning, the main topic of the Commission was the investigation of polar motion. Later, its activities included observations and theory of Earth rotation and connections between Earth orientation variations and geophysical phenomena. As a result, in 1964 at the XII IAU General Assembly, the Commission was renamed “Rotation of the Earth”. The investigation of Earth orientation variations is primarily based on observations of natural and artificial celestial objects. Therefore, maintenance of the international terrestrial and celestial reference frames, as well as the coordinate transformation between the frames and the improvement of the model of precession/nutation, have always been among the primary Commission topics. In 1987, the IAU through Commissions 19 and 31 “Time” established, jointly with the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, what is now known as the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service. Commission 19 continued to work to develop methods to improve the accuracy and understanding of Earth orientation variations and related reference systems and frames as well as theoretical studies of Earth rotation. In 2015, Commission 19 was renewed as Commission A2 “Rotation of the Earth” continuing Commission 19’s functions and linking the astronomical community to other scientific organizations such as the International Association of Geodesy, International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry, International GNSS Service, International Laser Ranging Service and International DORIS Service. During its entire history, IAU Commission 19/A2 has always worked in close cooperation with these and other related services to improve the accuracy and consistency of the Earth orientation parameters and celestial and terrestrial reference frames

Astronomy education and scientific schools in Ukraine

We describe briefly the current state of astronomical education in Ukraine, namely the secondary, higher, and post-graduating education systems. A special attention is paid to so called “scientific schools”, non-formal groups of scientists formed by recognised astronomers, which have played and continue to play an important role in development of the astronomy education system. Among the founders of scientific schools were the well-known professors Alexander Ya. Orlov (Odessa University), Nikolai P. Barabashov (Kharkiv University), Sergei K. Vsekhsvyatsky (Kyiv University), Semen Ya. Braude (Kharkiv Polytechnical Institute), and Vladimir P. Tsesevich (Odessa University). We also give a general review on the history of astronomy education during the 16th-18th centuries. In 2000 astronomy was reinstated into the current 12-year secondary education curriculum of Ukraine. At present, some elements of astronomical knowledge are included in the lessons of “Natural Sciences” for pupils in the 5th – 10th grades. Astronomy is included as a basic course both in general (non-specialised) schools (17 academic hours in the last 11th or 12th grade) and in lyceums of the natural sciences (34 academic hours in the 12th grade). It is included also as an optional course in the educational program of gymnasiums in humanities. Every year about 75 young persons enter the Ukrainian universities to become astronomers. Results of our monitoring of the efficiency of astronomical higher educational system indicate that about 80% of the entered university students finish their education in 5 years; 50% of those who finished the cursus were working in astronomy. Since 1992 more than 100 astronomers defend Theses of Cand. Sci. (similar to Ph.D) and about 40 astronomers defend Theses of Dr. Sci. (topmost scientific degree, similar to Dr. Hab.). One of our present day problems is a brain drain of young scientists. About 50% of those who obtained Cand. Sci. degree work outside Ukraine. At the same time in Ukraine we have a lack of experienced persons to work in astronomical instrumentation and observations

Ivan Dziuba as a figure: opinions of present-day intellectuals

In this article, Ivan Dziuba is seen as a public influencer, literary critic, co-chairman of the main editorial board of the Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine. On his 90th anniversary, a combination of short communications by famous representatives in sphere of Ukrainian science and culture is presented here.Стаття об’єднує короткі нотатки відомих представників української науки й культури про громадського діяча, літературознавця, співголову головної редакційної колегії “Енциклопедії Сучасної України” Івана Дзюбу з нагоди його 90-річчя

The IVS data input to ITRF2014

2015ivs..data....1N - GFZ Data Services, Helmoltz Centre, Potsdam, GermanyVery Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) is a primary space-geodetic technique for determining precise coordinates on the Earth, for monitoring the variable Earth rotation and orientation with highest precision, and for deriving many other parameters of the Earth system. The International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry (IVS, http://ivscc.gsfc.nasa.gov/) is a service of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG) and the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The datasets published here are the results of individual Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) sessions in the form of normal equations in SINEX 2.0 format (http://www.iers.org/IERS/EN/Organization/AnalysisCoordinator/SinexFormat/sinex.html, the SINEX 2.0 description is attached as pdf) provided by IVS as the input for the next release of the International Terrestrial Reference System (ITRF): ITRF2014. This is a new version of the ITRF2008 release (Bockmann et al., 2009). For each session/ file, the normal equation systems contain elements for the coordinate components of all stations having participated in the respective session as well as for the Earth orientation parameters (x-pole, y-pole, UT1 and its time derivatives plus offset to the IAU2006 precession-nutation components dX, dY (https://www.iau.org/static/resolutions/IAU2006_Resol1.pdf). The terrestrial part is free of datum. The data sets are the result of a weighted combination of the input of several IVS Analysis Centers. The IVS contribution for ITRF2014 is described in Bachmann et al (2015), Schuh and Behrend (2012) provide a general overview on the VLBI method, details on the internal data handling can be found at Behrend (2013)