As part of the social program of the conference, we invite participants to take a part in evening tourist attractions, scheduled for Thursday, September 21, 2023. Participation in them is included in the conference fee. You can choose between visiting the beautiful old town of Toruń and visiting the university astronomical observatory near Toruń. Each tour starts at 20.00, and access to the observatory is provided by the conference organizers (departure by buses from the conference venue). Soon it will be possible to sign up for one of the proposed tour groups: the old town or the observatory, and with a Polish or English-speaking guide. Each group has a limited number of participants! Book this evening today to discover the charms of Toruń`s old town or the scientific secrets of the astronomical observatory!
In the registration form you can choose a tour group (old town or observatory) and the guide language (Polish or English). See you in Toruń!
Here is a link with a tour description of visiting Toruń’s old town in English: Toruń's old town
Toruń's old town
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What will you see?
• Medieval city walls, city gates (Convent gate, Bridge gate), famous Leaning Tower, granaries
• Nicolaus Copernicus House
• Old Town Market, City Hall and beautiful, baroque Under the Star
tenement house, Artus Court, Raftsmen Inn, Nicolaus Copernicus
monument, legendary raftsman monument, the donkey - pillory
• Medieval churches – Saint’s Mary church, Saint Johns’s Cathedral –place of Copernicus baptism
• Picturesque, gothic streets Via Regia – Royal Way – Zeglarska street, Copernicus street, Holy Ghost’ street, Baker’s street, Broad street, Shoemaker’s street, etc.
Here is a link with a tour description of Nicolaus Copernicus University astronomical observatory in English: Astronomical Observatory at Piwnice
Astronomical Observatory in Piwnice
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The Astronomical Observatory at Piwnice near Toruń is a part of NCU Institute of Astronomy. It is located about 14 km from the center of Toruń and available for tourist visits. While visiting our Observatory you meet true astronomer who will take you for an extraordinary walk sharing a huge portion of knowledge about astronomy and history of this place. The tour is divided into two parts - the optical and the radio astronomy. We start the tour by visiting cupola of the smallest, but at the same time the most important instrument - the Draper's astrograph. This oldest instrument in the observatory was built in 1891 at the Harvard Observatory and had been used to obtain spectra of almost all bright stars, resulting in publication of as the Draper's Catalog of Stellar Spectra. The astrograph was loaned to the NCU observatory in 1947 for 100 years. It was involved in regular observations until the 1990s. In 2018 the instrument was restored at the Department Of Conservation And Restoration Of Architecture And Sculpture of NCU, with a great effort from students, becoming an extraordinary museum object of the observatory. The next stop is cupola of the Zeiss refractor, commonly known as "the comet finder". Currently it is being used for observing Sun by projecting the solar disk. Outside this building you will find model of our Solar System, where Sun and planets are located across the observatory. The size and distances are proportional to the real Solar System. The last stop of the optical part of our tour is the cupola of Poland's biggest optical telescope –Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope with a mirror`s diameter of 90 cm. This telescope is a multi-purpose instrument which is still in use, e.g. in the search for black holes. After that we will walk along our Solar System model throughout the observatory which will take you to the radio astronomy part of the tour. Besides unique telescopes and astronomy lesson, during this tour you will also enjoy the nature`s beauty of the observatory's park which is extremally breathtaking during spring and summer. First instrument at the radio part of the tour is 15 m wide RT-3 telescope. If you were impressed by the size of RT-3 then a bit further away lies the gigantic attraction of this observatory - majestic 32 m wide RT-4 telescope Copernicus. It is the largest radio telescope in Central and Eastern Europe. This huge telescope is working almost 24/7, making observations not only for local scientific projects, but most importantly for international projects, such as the European VLBI Network, including studying of quasars, radio galaxies, interstellar masers, solar and extra-solar planetary systems. The guided tour is a journey through the history of Toruń`s astronomy, amazing astronomical instruments, and extraordinary world of planets and stars.Meeting place of your choice, preferably your hotel or by Copernicus monument (Old Town market)