International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics

The International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) is an annual astronomy

Astronomy

Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...

competition for high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

students. It is one of the international science olympiads.
The olympiad was founded as a dissidence inside International Astronomy Olympiad

International Astronomy Olympiad

The International Astronomy Olympiad is an internationally recognized annual astronomy scientific-educating event for high school students , which includes an intellectual competition between these students...

, specially due to its less open organization. The first IOAA site says that "IOAA is designed to be a truly international organization on Astronomy and Astrophysics competitions. The organization is run by an international committee, whose members are elected from international members of the organization."

The first IOAA was held in Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai sometimes written as "Chiengmai" or "Chiangmai", is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand. It is the capital of Chiang Mai Province , a former capital of the Kingdom of Lanna and was the tributary Kingdom of Chiang Mai from 1774 until 1939. It is...

, Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

in November, 2007. The second one was held on Bandung

Bandung

Bandung is the capital of West Java province in Indonesia, and the country's third largest city, and 2nd largest metropolitan area in Indonesia, with a population of 7.4 million in 2007. Located 768 metres above sea level, approximately 140 km southeast of Jakarta, Bandung has cooler...

, Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

in August, 2008. The third one was held on Tehran

Tehran

Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...

, Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

in October, 2009. The fourth one was held on Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

, China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

in September, 2010. The fifth was held in Chorzow

Chorzów

Chorzów is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. Chorzów is one of the central districts of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union - a metropolis with a population of 2 million...

, Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

in September 2011. The next IOAA will be held in the state of Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

, Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

in August 2012.

Host Countries

!Number
!Year
!Host Country
!Host City
!Absolute Winner
|- valign="top"
|1
|2007
|

Thailand
|Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai

Thailand Suwun Suwunnarat
|- valign="top"
|2
|2008
|

Indonesia
|Bandung

Bandung

India Nitin Jain
|- valign="top"
|3
|2009
|

Iran
|Tehran

Tehran

India Nitin Jain
|- valign="top"
|4
|2010
|

Mainland China
|Beijing

Beijing

Poland Przemysław Mróz
|- valign="top"
|5
|2011
|

Poland
|Chorzów

Chorzów

Chorzów is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. Chorzów is one of the central districts of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union - a metropolis with a population of 2 million...

/ Katowice

Katowice

Katowice is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, on the Kłodnica and Rawa rivers . Katowice is located in the Silesian Highlands, about north of the Silesian Beskids and about southeast of the Sudetes Mountains.It is the central district of the Upper Silesian Metropolis, with a population of 2...

/ Krakow

Kraków

Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...

Czech Republic Stanislav Fort
|- valign="top"
|6
|2012
|

Brazil
|Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro

| TBD
|- valign="top"
|7
|2013
|

Greece
|Volos

Volos

Volos is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about 326 km north of Athens and 215 km south of Thessaloniki...

| TBD
|- valign="top"
|8
|2014
|

Kingdom of Romania
|TBD
| TBD
|- valign="top"
|9
|2015
|

Slovakia /

Bangladesh
|TBD
| TBD
|- valign="top"
|10
|2016
|

Colombia /

Bolivia
|TBD
| TBD
|- valign="top"
|11
|2017
|

India
|Mumbai

Mumbai

Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

/ Pune

Pune

Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...

| TBD
|- valign="top"
|12
|2018
|

Lithuania
|TBD
| TBD
|- valign="top"
|13
|2019
|

Sri Lanka
|TBD
| TBD
|- valign="top"
|14
|2020
|

Serbia
|TBD
| TBD
|- valign="top">

Note: Hosts from 2014 onwards were decided on tentative basis (subject to availability of funding) during the fourth IOAA.

Important Statues

Important statues from IOAA constitution are reproduced below. For a complete document on statues of IOAA, consult webpage of latest IOAA.

Statue 1 (Objective and Schedule)
- The International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics should be organized during the within of August – December.
Statue 2 (Hosting Rights)
- The competition is organized by the Ministry of Education or other appropriate institution of one of the participating countries on whose territory the competition is to be conducted.
- The organizing country is obliged to invite all the participants of any of the latest three competitions. Additionally, it has the right to invite other countries.
- No country may have its team excluded from participation on any political ground resulting from political tension, lack of diplomatic relation, lack of recognition of some countries by the government of the organizing country, imposed embargo and similar reasons.
- Within five years of its entry in the competition a country should declare its intention to be the host for a future Olympiad. A country that refuses to organize the competition may be barred from participation, even if delegations from that country have taken part in previous competitions.
Statue 4 (Composition of Team)
- Each participating country sends one regular team consisting of up to 5 high school students. Also students who finish their high school in the year of the competition can be members of a team.
- The age of the contestants must not exceed twenty on December 31st of the year of the competition. Each team should normally have 5 students.
- In addition, each country also sends one delegation leader (responsible for the whole delegation), and one pedagogical leader (responsible for the students).
- The leaders become members of the International Board, where in they have equal rights. Members of the International Board are treated as contact persons for the participating countries concerning the affairs of the IOAA until the following competition.
- The leaders must be selected from scientists or teachers, capable of solving the problems of the competition competently. Normally each of them should be able to speak English.
Statue 5 (Guest Team)
- The organizing country has the right to invite guest teams in addition to the regular teams (no more than one guest team per country). Normally the guest team consists also of five students and two leaders.
- The leaders of the guest teams are not members of the International Board. Except for that, their duties are the same as those of the leaders of the regular teams.
- The country sending a guest team pays all the expenses arising from its participation.
- Countries present with guest teams only are not obliged to organize the IOAA in the future.
- Contestants from guest teams and guest teams are classified in the same way as regular teams. They may receive diplomas and prizes, their names should be identified with the letter “G” (“Guest”) in all official documents.
Statue 6 (Language)
- The working language of the International Olympiad in Astronomy and Astrophysics is English.

Participating Teams

Following teams are regular participants in IOAA: Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

, Belarus

Belarus

Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...

, Brazil

Brazil

, Bolivia

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

, Cambodia

Cambodia

Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...

, China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, Indonesia

Indonesia

, Iran

Iran

, Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

, Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

, Poland

Poland

, Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

, Slovakia

Slovakia

The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

, Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

, Thailand

Thailand

and Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

.

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

, Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

, Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

, Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

, Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

, Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

and Croatia

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

joined IOAA in recent years.

Teams from Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...

, Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, Myanmar

Myanmar

Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....

, Laos

Laos

Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...

, Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, and observers from Malaysia have participated in IOAA in the past. However, there is no regular participation.

External links

1st IOAA, 2007
2nd IOAA, 2008
3rd IOAA, 2009
4th IOAA, 2010
5th IOAA, 2011
News Item about the 5th IOAA, 2011
6th IOAA, 2012

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Host Countries

Important Statues

Participating Teams

See also

External links