IOAA 2013

Participation of Canada in IOAA

VII International Olympiad of Astronomy and Astrophysics

The 7th IOAA was held in Greece from July 27 to August 5, 2013 in the city of Volos.

The Olympics was attended by 35 countries and about 250 participants (students, team leaders, оbservers). The Olympiad consisted of four rounds. In the theoretical round participants solved the problems, covering at least four areas of astronomy in higher level of additional education and knowledge aspects of astrophysics. Observational tour was designed to test participants' knowledge of the sky. While the practical tour tested the ability to process data, which is usually based on research of the hosting center. Each team has also been proposed a research task they had to solve during the Olympics.

Team Canada for the first time participated in the International Astrophysics Olympiad. Its participation was made possible by the active participation and support of the President of the Russian-Canadian Educational and Recreational Centre Toronto Konstantin Toubis. On the base of this center was carried theoretical and practical training of the participants of the Olympiad. In the area of Newmarket, participants made observations of the sky, and preparing for observational tour.

School children lived apart from the leaders in the well-equipped hotel. The program also included interesting excursions to museums to historical sites on the hacienda, and so on. Participants had the opportunity to observe both the southern and northern sky.The awards system worked as follows: Everyone who has received more than 90 % of a perfect score was awarded a gold medal, more than 77 % - the silver, more than 67 % - a bronze medal. Those who have received the result of more than 50 % were awarded a diploma «Honorable Mention».

Our participant - Alica Nuz did not have just few points to «Honorable Mention». In this competition, participants from Canada received the first invaluable experience that they will need to participate in the next International Astronomy Olympiad.The Canadian team consisted of:

• Konstantin Toubis, team leader

• Vera Zagainova, team leader

• Alica Nuz, participant

• Angela Toubis, participant

• Daniel Pachkine, participant

• Mikhail Gindin, participant

• Nisan Shkolnikson, participant

• Larisa Toubis, observer