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Foreign Relations


Astronomy is an international science and the Astronomical Institute is fully integrated in the international cooperation. Virtually every scientist at the Institute has partners abroad, which is evident from the list of authors of the published papers. Medium and long-term stays abroad are common and foreign scientists are being hosted at the Institute. More formalized collaborations with foreign institutions and organizations are listed below.
The solar department is in continuous collaboration with the Observatoire de Paris (Section de Meudon), which includes observations using the French-Italian telescope THEMIS on Tenerife. It also collaborates with the Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam, Kiepenheuer-Institut für Sonnenphysik, and Universität-Sternwarte Göttingen on the project GREGOR, a development and construction of a large solar telescope with diameter 1.5 m, currently being assembled on Tenerife, Canary Islands. Since 2002, the Solar Department has been included in the European Solar Magnetism Network, financed by the European Commission, in the framework of the program "Improving the Human Research Potential and the Socio-economic Knowledge Base" and coordinated by Utrecht University. A very close collaboration also continues with the Space Environment Center in Boulder, Colorado, USA, on the evaluation of data received from the joint space project HXRS. Also, a close relationship exists between our Institute and the Institute for Space and Astronautical Sciences (JAXA/ISAS) in Tokyo, Japan, under the joint project 'Study of the Physical Processes in Solar Corona'. As a result, at the end of 2004 a Letter of Agreement was signed between our Institute and the Solar Departments of ISAS and the National Astronomical Observatory Japan, which will enable to deepen our close collaboration with the Japanese scientists in the solar physics field.
The international cooperation of the stellar department pertains both experimental and theoretical fields. The echelle spectrograph HEROS was installed at the Cassegrain focus of the Ondřejov 2m telescope under the framework of the bilateral agreement of cooperation in astrophysics with Landessternwarte Heidelberg. It was used for observations at Ondřejov from August 2000 till March 2003. Cooperation with the Royal Observatory Brussels on improving the echelle spectra processing techniques was established. The Astronomical Institute is a member of the European Interferometry Initiative (EII), an FP 6 program trying to bring optical interferometry into mainstream astronomy and astrophysics. EII is part of the OPTICON activity. A bilateral agreement of cooperation with the Hvar Observatory (University of Zagreb, Croatia) enables our astronomers to make observations and solve problems in stellar photometry and studies of solar phenomena. An agreement of cooperation between the Academy of Sciences of Czech Republic and the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences was established. The agreement will foster joint programs in astrophysics.
The group of high-energy astrophysics has, besides the space projects mentioned later, an extended collaboration with the Instituto de Astrofisica de Anlalucia (IAA) in Granada, Spain, on investigation of gamma ray bursts and optical transients, including the operation of two BOOTES experiment robotic telescopes stations in southern Spain. A new collaboration has been established with the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) in Villigen, Switzerland, on scientific analyses of gamma ray burst data from the RHESSI satellite. Gamma ray bursts are also the main topic of collaboration with the Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica (IASF) in Bologna within the framework of the common project of Italian CNR and Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. Blazars are investigated in close collaboration with the Tuorla Observatory in Finland.
The close cooperation with the Observatoire de Paris includes topics from dynamical astronomy, in particular the Earth's rotation. In cooperation with the Open University, London, a network for observations of bright fireballs and meteorite falls in the Australian desert is being built. Scientists from the department of interplanetary matter are also members of the international team organized by the International Space Science Institute in Bern to study the interaction of large meteoroids with the atmosphere. A large number of observatories all over the world participate in our program of asteroid photometry. The closest collaborator is the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado.
Our Institute also collaborates with a number of organizations in space research. The collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) includes the high-energy astrophysics satellite INTEGRAL, in particular our participation on the onboard experiment Optical Monitoring Camera (OMC), and on the work of the INTEGRAL Science and Data Centre (ISDC) in Versoix, Switzerland. The further ESA astrophysical projects where the high energy astrophysics group is involved in are XEUS and LOBSTER. Within the LOBSTER project, collaboration with the Space Research Centre of the University of Leicester has been established. The solar department participates in the analysis of data from the SOHO satellite. Two PECS projects were approved by ESA for the Astronomical Institute (SOHO and INTEGRAL participation). The group of dynamics of satellite motion cooperates with ESA on the projects Solid Earth and SWARM. Other agreements of cooperation have been signed with the Astronomical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and with the EUROCKOT (Germany, Russia). These last two enabled the launch of the Czech MIMOSA satellite. Cooperation also exists with NOAA, Silver Spring, USA, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, USA and GeoForschung Zentrum, Potsdam, Germany.
A special occasion for 2004 was the international project Venus Transit 2004. The project was organized by the European Southern Observatory and funded by the European Commission. The main goal was the education of young people and popularization of astronomy in connection with the transit of Venus in front of the solar disk on June 8, 2004. Two scientists from our Institute were members of the international stearing committee. Live images of the event from the Ondřejov telescopes were broadcasted over internet. A conference on this topic was organized in Brandýs nad Labem on May 7-9, 2004. Another international conference co-organized by the Institute was "Zdeněk Kopal's Binary Star Legacy", held in Litomyšl on March 31 to April 3, 2004.
The XXVIth General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union will be held in Prague on August 14-25, 2006. The preparation of this top astronomical conference already started and our Institute is heavily involved in the organizational work.

Scientific visits

The long-term stays of Institute's scientists and PhD students in foreign institutions in 2003-2004 include the following:

  • P. Jáchym, Paris, France, September 2003 - August 2004. Marie Curie Fellowship, EU Visiting Fellowship for Postgraduate Students
  • B. Jungwiert, Lyon, France, April 2003 - March 2005. EU Research Training Network "Euro3D-Promoting 3D Spectroscopy in Europe"
  • A. Růžička, University of Massachusetts, USA. April 2004 - August 2005. Fulbright Fellowship
  • I. Stoklasová, Lyon, France, September 2004 - May 2005. Doctorat en Cotutelle
  • R. Wünsch, Warsaw, Poland, October 2003 - February 2005. EU Research Training Network "Protoplanetary Disks "
  • D. Odstrčil, Boulder, Colorado, USA, 2002 - 2004, University of Colorado, CIRES and NOAA/SEC (CIRES = Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, SEC = Space Environment Center)
  • S. Štefl, ESO Chile, November 2004 - November 2007, resident astronomer at Paranal Observatory
  • J. Soldán, Versoix, Switzerland, long-term stay at INTEGRAL Scientific and Data Centre. ESA/ISDC
  • F. Hroch, Versoix, Switzerland, February 2003 - January 2004, stay at INTEGRAL Scientific and Data Centre. ESA PRODEX project
  • F. Münz, Versoix, Switzerland, February 2004 - December 2004, stay at INTEGRAL Scientific and Data Centre. ESA PRODEX project

The long-term stays of foreign scientists in the Institute include the following:

  • A. Sillanpaa, Finland, group of high energy astrophysics, July 2002 - July 2003. He was supported by the collaboration agreement between Academies of Sciences of Finland and the Czech Republic.
  • A. Hill, UK, stellar department, October 2002 - September 2003. He was supported by the Socrates/Erasmus Scholarship Fund.
  • S. Saad, Egypt, stellar department, October 2002 - September 2004. She was supported by a grant from Grant Agency of the Czech Republic.
  • S. Abe, Japan, department of interplanetary matter, October 2003 - September 2005. He is supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
The statistics of short-term visits abroad (which include visits to collaborating institutions, participation on conferences and meetings, observational runs etc.) in the recent years is shown in the figure. A generally increasing trend is visible.


Number of scientific visits to foreign countries.

The list of short-term visitors to the Institute from foreign countries is given below.

2003

Ak H. (Turkey), Anastesidis T. (Greece), Anzer U. (Germany 2x), Berlicki A. (France), Betlem H. (The Netherlands), Biancale R. (France), Božič H. (Croatia), Brčeková K. (Slovakia 2x), Combes F. (France), Dzifčáková E. (Slovakia 2x), Föesk Ch. (Germany), Ghambe G. (France), Gunar S. (Slovakia 4x), Hamedirafa H. (Iran), Henaux J.C. (France), Chapanov J. (Bulgaria), Kosugi T. (Japan), Kouba J. (Kanada 2x), Kschioneck K. (Germany 2x), Kulčár L. (Slovakia), Kulinová A. (Slovakia 3x), Kuprjakov J. A. (Russia 2x), Nouh M. (Egypt), Osarczuk J. (Poland), Penorčík M. (Slovakia), Porubčan V. (Slovakia 2x), Richter Ch. (Germany), Rivinius T. (Germany), Romašec J. (Russia 2x), Rudawy P. (Poland), Sillanpaa A. (Finland), Stangl S. (Austria), Schmieder B. (France), Schwarz P. (Slovakia 3x), Schwintzer P. (Germany), Teichert B. (Germany), Toth J. (Slovakia), Tsiropoula G. (Greece), Tziotziou K. (The Netherlands), Volkmer R. (Germany 2x), Watanabe T. (Japan), Werner N. (Slovakia).

2004

Anzer U. (Germany), Beckers J. (USA), Beckwith K. (UK), Berlicki A. (France 2x), Brus Ch. (Germany), Brus C. (Germany), Capitaine N. (France),Celotti A. (Italy), Dammasch I. (Germany), Dzifčáková E. (Slovakia), Fabian A. (UK), Ferrero P. (Italy), Garcia A. (Portugal), Gerlach E. (Germany 2x), Guanazzi M. (Spain), Gunar S. (Slovakia 6x), Henaux J. C. (France), Hirzberger J. (Austria), Hric L. (Slovakia), Chambe G. (France), Chapanov Y. (Bulgaria), Chin A. (Brazil), Iliev L. (Bulgaria), Kasalová L. K. (Russia), Kawka A. (Australia 2x), Kuprjakov J. A. (Russia 2x), Krivtsovová N. (Russia), Kschioneck K. (Germany), Liakhov N. N. (Russia), Lipunov V. (Russia), Maintz M. (Germany), Martocchia A. (France), Nogami N. (Japan), Nouh M. (Egypt), Pavlovski K. (Croatia), Pizzichini G. (Italy), Porubčan V. (Slovakia 2x), Puschmann K. (Germany), Pustylnik I. (Estonia 2x), Rebusco P. (Germany), Rivinius T. (Germany 2x), Romašec J. (Russia 3x), Sawant H. (Brazil), Schmieder B. (France 2x), Silich S. (Ukraine), Stahl O. (Germany 2x), Theis Ch. (Austria), Thomas M. (Germany), Toth J. (Slovakia), Uytterhoeven K. (Belgium), Vennes S. (USA), Walter C. (Germany), Yasnov L. (Russia).