Shumen – an “astronomical city” in Bulgaria Shumen Prof DSci Vladimir Shkodrov and his colleague dr Violeta Ivanova gave the name Shumen to the asteroid No discovered by them in This was an admission to the educational and cultural tradition of the city during the past tense as well as to the Shumen university as a third Bulgarian center for education and research activity in astronomy. The official “document”

Shumen university The education of students of the Shumen university in astronomy began in Astronomical center The Astronomical center was established as a separate structure of the Shumen university in 1999 with 2 goals: education in astronomy of the students of the Shumen University; popularization of the astronomy. Shumen University has the following specific characteristics: It is founded in a kind of town, that has a significant contributions in the education developing in Bulgaria; Shumen University is an University of Tolerance because students of different ethnical groups study here; Shumen University is a member of the European Association of Universities; Shumen University is being certified for the qualification education under the international system ISO 2000.

Prof. Shkodrov poured water according to the tradition The ceremony is noted in the Shumen newspaper Opening ceremony: the team of the Astronomical center with the rectors of the Shumen university

Team of the Astronomical center Prof DSci Vladimir Shkodrov Prof DSci Diana Kjurkchieva Assoc. prof. Dr Dragomir Marchev Assist. prof. Borislav Borisov PhD student Donka Petkova PhD student Valentin Ivanov

Research areas of the team Eclipsing binaries Stars with surface inhomogeneities of the types RS CVn and BY Dra Contact binaries of the W UMa type Cataclysmic stars Celestial mechanics Extrasolar planets

Our activity

Scientific results of the team Published more than 90 scientific papers in astronomy Published more than 20 didactical papers in astronomy Published more than 15 popular papers in astronomy More than 100 citations of these papers Participations at 8 International astronomical meetings with 10 reports Published 11 books for students in astronomy

Project activity of the team until 2008 Participation in 4 international projects Participation in 6 national projects Participation in 11 regional projects

Research and educational relations Jagellonian University in Krakow, Poland Pedagogical University in Krakow, Poland University in Bratislava, Slovakia University in Skopje, Macedonia

Equipment of the Astronomical center 15-cm telescope Meniskas with astrocamera 56/250 plus 6.5-cm telescope Alkor 6 sextants Schnell photometer Gll Three 6-cm refractors Binocular Auditorium with 10 computers Rich library

Speciality Astronomy (bachelor degree) at Shumen University since 2003 High interest to this speciality due to: Equipment for practical exercises Possibility for astronomical investigations Qualified lecturers Available student books in astronomy Normal and distant forms of education

Educational activity

Moon craters Jupiter and Galileo’ moons

Popularization

12:47 14:50 15:01

Our students participated in the system change of the 2-m telescope On the meteo- rological platform Diary of the observations of the meteor shower Perseids Educational activity

Project activity

Theoretical lectures before the real observations

We were lucky to see the removal of the 2-m mirror

Our students in astronomy on the terrace of the 30-m astronomical dome of the 2-m telescope

The 60-сm telescope “produces” light curves of the variable stars

Instructions how to drive the Schmidt telescope

Observations with the 18-сm Меniscas telescope Images of Jupiter obtained by 18-сm telescope and digital camera

Observations with the small telescopes and sextants

Observations of the partial solar eclipse on August with our small telescopes nearly Jagodina cave

The last night was full by g-astronomical surprises Discussion around the fire about the origin and future of the Universe

COSMOS eContenetPlus An Advanced Scientific Repository for Science Teaching and Learning COSMOS project is funded under the eContentplus programme, a multiannual Community programme to make digital content in Europe more accessible, usable and exploitable. Shumen university is a partner of the educational project COSMOS, Shumen university is a partner of the educational project COSMOS, No ECP-2006-EDU Partners Project activity

The team of the Astronomical center organized the opening ceremony of the International Year of Astronomy in Shumen with exposition of equipment, attractive images and books Shumen

Our project “A Network of remote-controlled and robotic small astronomical telescopes in Bulgaria (SMARTNET)” won financial support of the Bulgarian Scientific foundation in the framework of the program “Ideas 2008”. Soon the following equipment will be provided three 14" telescopes “Celestron” three 14" telescopes “Celestron” three CCD cameras SBIG ST-10 XME three CCD cameras SBIG ST-10 XME Partners Partners Institute of Astronomy of BAS Institute of Astronomy of BAS Sofia university Sofia university Popular observatory with Planetarium – Varna Popular observatory with Planetarium – Varna Project activity

The project The Night of researches 2009 Amusing initiatives (shows, feasts, concerts) of the astronomers in Sofia, Shumen, Smoljan, Varna, etc. around September Partner - Bulgarian astronomical society

The project for the building and development of an infrastructure for research and education Our goals: Spectral observations of W UMa type stars Spectral observations of cataclysmic stars Training and education activities Establishment of School observatory Popularization of astronomy Unification of the education in astronomy.

…with hope to realize these plans and goals