- Tomáš Lanča
- ustav
- 03.11.2022
- Institute of Physics in Opava
Institute of Physics in NASA’s APOD for the 9th time
On a Czech national holiday, Friday, October 28, 2022, NASA published a photo of the day titled "Seven years of Halley dust". It captures the peak of the Orionids meteor shower, which this year took place on October 21st under very favourable conditions. But the phenomenon in the image is not just from this year: Because the frequency of the meteor shower is not very high, the author Petr Horálek has been recording it for seven years to get enough meteors in the image in order to show the meteor shower’s distribution. This is the 9th astrophotograph from the Institute of Physics in Opava that has been published as NASA’s Astronomy picture of the day.
- Tomáš Lanča
- ustav
- 03.11.2022
- Institute of Physics in Opava
Virtual tours of the world's largest observatories
The National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab), the US astronomy organization that operates some of the largest and most scientifically productive observatories in the world (Kitt Peak in Arizona, Gemini North in Hawaii, Cerro Pachón and Cerro Tololo in Chile), published exclusive virtual tours of all its sites on Tuesday, October 25, 2022. This project was created in collaboration with the Institute of Physics in Opava and is available online for free. NOIRLab uses the tours to present the technical facilities of all their observatories as well as the objects and phenomena observable above the high-altitude observatories.
- Tomáš Lanča
- ustav
- 03.08.2022
- Institute of Physics in Opava
Will supercomputers used to study black holes be our key to understanding fusion reactors?
An international team of physicists together with scientists from the Institute of Physics have published an article in the July issue of the scientific journal Monthly Notices of Royal Astronomical Society which describes the behaviour of matter in the vicinity of black holes in an entirely new way. These new models, which are based on supercomputer simulations and describe the behaviour of matter in such an extreme environment, could be already used in practice when solving problems here on earth. They show in high detail how plasma behaves in extreme conditions and could therefore be used to realise the application of fusion reactors as a permanent source of energy for mankind.
- Tomáš Lanča
- ustav
- 25.03.2022
- Institute of Physics in Opava
Total solar eclipse over the Antarctic
On December 4, 2021, the only total solar eclipse of the year occurred (next total solar eclipse will occur in april 2023). This time, the total eclipse belt passed through practically the least accessible area in the world - on the sixth continent, Antarctica. Petr Horálek from the Institute of Physics in Opava decided to go there and took several interesting photographs and recordings for the documentary work of students of the Multimedia Techniques of the Faculty of Medicine in Opava during the expedition. Now we bring you an interview with Petr Horálek, filmed shortly after his return to Europe, as well as resulting photography pictures of solar eclipse.
- Tomáš Lanča
- ustav
- 25.03.2022
- Institute of Physics in Opava
Black holes are the future giant source of energy, claims Opava astrophysicists
Maybe futuristic, but physically realistic: Supermassive black holes located in the center of galaxies might be the largest reservoirs of pure energy in the universe. As is well known, even light can't escape from the black holes themselves, but what could be extracted in the immediate vicinity of these extremely massive cosmic objects is their rotational energy. Astrophysicists from the Institute of Physics of the Silesian University in Opava - Martin Kološ, Arman Tursunov and Zdeněk Stuchlík, focused on this potential possibility of extracting energy from black holes in their scientific research.
- Tomáš Lanča
- ustav
- 01.03.2022
- Institute of Physics in Opava
The "WHOO!" Telescope located in Opava helps to solve the mysteries of stellar physics. After Loosening Anti-Epidemic Measures, it will again be open to the public.
Since 2016, the Silesian University has been operating the WHOO! (White Hole Obrervatory Opava) telescope, which has served several students since the beginning of its operation on important final theses in the field of astronomy and astrophysics. The observatory is even involved in cooperation with ESA and NASA. Besides the scientific research activities, the telescope is also usable for routine astronomical observations and is expected to offer observations of night sky objects to the general public twice a month after further stages of loosening.
- Tomáš Lanča
- ustav
- 01.03.2022
- Institute of Physics in Opava
Opava physicists study how to protect humankind from dangerous radiation of black holes and use it to our advantage
Supermassive black holes can be a good servant, but also a very evil lord for possible civilizations throughout the Galaxy. A new study by Opava physicists’ points to three types of energy production in the vicinity of black holes, ie three variants of the so-called Penrose process. Huge amounts of energy could be extracted from these processes in the future; however, the same processes can lead to the fatal escape of strong radiation and endanger the lives of any galaxy. Thus, physicists from Opava are studying not only the possibilities of using this gigantic source of energy, but also how to detect a possible energy leak and protect civilization.
- Tomáš Lanča
- ustav
- 01.03.2022
- Institute of Physics in Opava
The prestigious Astronomy Picture of the Day from August 9 has Slovak-Czech authors
On Monday, August 9, 2021, NASA published an image called "Perseus and Lost Meteors". Its authors are the Slovak astrophotographer and astronomer popularizer Tomáš Slovinský and the Czech astrophotographer Petr Horálek from the Institute of Physics in Opava. The unusual composite image, which took both authors hundreds of hours of work, draws attention to the oncoming maximum of the annual meteor shower Perseida and the problem of light pollution, which makes the meteor swarm increasingly difficult to observe.
- Tomáš Lanča
- ustav
- 15.12.2021
- Institute of Physics in Opava
The institute of Physics has two new Doctors of Science!
On the 7th of December 2021, Mgr. Kateřina Klimovičová Ph.D. and Mgr. Gabriela Urbancová Ph.D. successfully defended their doctoral dissertations, Congratulations!
- Debora Lančová
- ustav
- 05.12.2021
- Institute of Physics in Opava
