Nachrichten

  The observation of the Great Alignment of Mars and the Earth with the 15-cm telescope in the planetarium in Smolyan town will start from today on. The doors of the biggest planetarium in this country will be opened for visitors at 9:30 p.m. for two weeks, except for August 30 and 31. Teams of physicists and astronomers on duty will serve the telescope and will explain the peculiarities of the curious phenomenon. The entrance will be free of charge for all visitors. Many bookings for the night observations have been made in the National Astronomical Observatory on the Rozhen Peak. The observatory is the biggest in the South-Eastern Europe. If the weather is not cloudy, every person keen on astronomy will be given the chance to observe the phenomenon for an hour, after 10 p.m. against a ticket of 5 levs. The climax of the phenomenon falls on August 27 and 28. The smaller telescope has already been fixed under the dome of the observatory. The biggest telescope available in the observatory is 2 meters in diameter. It has a magnification of 250 times, but only professional astronomers will be allowed to use it. The picture of the phenomenon will be the same till September 20, because the two planets will drift away from each other very slowly.