Yuri Gagarin personally agreed that the first National Astronomical Observatory in Bulgaria, the one in Stara Zagora, should bear his name. This is what Nadia Kiskinova, the astronomer at the Yuri Gagarin Observatory, said. She was a guest at the National Press Club of BTA in Stara Zagora, from where she took part via video link in the presentation of the new issue of LIK magazine – “Bulgarian Footprint in Space”. The event is dedicated to The 45th anniversary of the flight into orbit of the first Bulgarian cosmonaut Georgi Ivanov and the contribution of Bulgarian science to space research. The other BTA press clubs from the country and abroad also participated officially a few months before Yuri Gagarin’s space flight, he himself visited Stara Zagora almost immediately after his flight. the first observatory – unfortunately, due to other commitments, he was unable to visit it,” Kiskinova said. She added that later Yuri Gagarin was asked in writing to be the observatory’s patron. “We still keep the letter from him in which he agreed to the observatory bearing his name.”
“The official opening of the first National Observatory in Bulgaria, the one in Stara Zagora, was opened on February 26, 1961. But in fact, the organization of the creation of the observatory took place more than a year before that in those structures that were in the organization for young people at the time , the so-called Voluntary Organization for Defense Cooperation (DOSO). The “Astronautics” section was formed to it, and self-propelled rockets were launched from the territory of the then airport,” the astronomer revealed. She explained that “the classes that started then with high school students over the age of 8 were in general astronomy so that they could do independent research and observations. These are the amateur astronomers who are still in our observatory to this day.”
In the beginning, when there was a joint program with the then Soviet Union, observations were made of artificial satellites of the Earth. “Now we can hardly imagine the enthusiasm of the people, not only students from the last classes of the high school, but also those working in the enterprises. At that time there was an organization Bulgarian Astronautical Society, which was founded in Sofia by Academician Nikola Bonev, who is from Stara Zagora, and since there was great interest from the radio amateur Boncho Bonev, who conducted the classes for this section “Astronautics” at DOSO, the first branch of this astronautical society outside Sofia was formed here to be of a folk type or a public observatory, originated with the two men – academician Nikola Bonev and Boncho Bonev, who became the founder. A large group of students from all collectives in Stara Zagora, as well as the mayor of the Stara Zagora municipality, were attracted to the idea this time – Yordan Kapsamunov”, added Nadia Kiskinova.
It was “this broad public support that led to the first National Astronomical Observatory, of which our city should rightly be proud, and it has continued to develop until now. Unfortunately, we still do not have an independent building, but we are housed where classes were temporarily held during the first years – the top floor of the current “Romain Rolland” High School for Foreign Languages, she also commented.
And he recalled that last year the planetarium, which burned down in a fire in 1994, was rebuilt. “Today it is already digital, of a new generation. The planetarium is the tool that is like a theater of stars, planets and everything happening in the sky. It is the visit to the planetarium that inspires both students, parents, teachers and guests of the city”.
During all these years, hundreds of students have passed through the observatory. “In sorting through the archive, piles of lists of children from many generations that have passed have emerged. Some of them continue to engage in astronomy professionally, and others have moved on to other fields. But still, the experiences of youth contributing to scientific observations and research is what unites them’.
One of these students, who for years visited the observatory in Stara Zagora, now the Yuri Gagarin National Astronomical Observatory, is Gabriela Georgieva, a twelfth grader from Geo Milev Profiled High School for Natural Sciences and Mathematics, who was also a guest at the presentation of LIK magazine today.
“I was still in the fourth grade when I was drawn to the vastness of the universe and the fact that there are still undiscovered things in it,” Gabriela recalls. And he reveals that in the observatory circles they study “various things about the planets, the solar system, galaxies, nebulae, etc.”
She emphasized that young children have an increased interest in discovering new opportunities in space.
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