The Organisation

Astronomy in Poland

Marek Sarna1 Figure 1. Mikołaj Kazimierz Stępień2 Kopernik pictured in his Frombork observatory. From the painting by Jan Matejko (1838–89). 1 Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical ­Centre, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland 2 Warsaw University Observatory, Poland

Polish post-war astronomy was built virtually from nothing. Currently, about 250 astronomers are employed in seven academic institutes and a few smaller units across Poland. Broad areas of astrophysics are covered and the level of astronomical research in Poland is higher than the world average. Joining ESO has created an atmosphere that Gorgolewski (in radio astronomy), liant Polish scientists decided to stay for is conducive to further improvements in Stanisław Grzędzielski (interstellar and good at different western academic the quality of Polish research, and it interplanetary matter), Jan Hanasz ­institutions. Nonetheless, most of them marks an important step towards the full (radio astronomy, space research), Jerzy preserved close ties with their Polish integration of Polish astronomers into Jakimiec (in the field of Solar flares), ­colleagues, e.g., by inviting them to visit the international scientific community. Tadeusz Jarzębowski ­(photometry of vari- abroad and carrying out collaborative able stars), Andrzej Kruszewski (polarisa- research or providing support for scien- tion of starlight, variable stars and extra- tific libraries. As soon as Poland achieved Poland is a country with a long astronomi- galactic astronomy), Wojciech Krzemiński independence, the older emigrant astron- cal tradition: Mikołaj Kopernik (Nicolaus (variable stars), Jan Kubikowski (stellar omers frequently began to visit Poland Copernicus, 1473–1543) with his great atmospheres), Józef Masłowski (radio for both shorter and longer stays. Nowa- work on the heliocentric system, or Jan astronomy), Andrzej Pacholczyk (magne- days young scientists almost always Heweliusz (Johannes Hevelius, 1611– tohydrodynamics and radio galaxies), come back from abroad to their home 1687), the author of Selenographia and Bogdan Rompolt (dynamics of the Solar institutions. inventor of several constellation names atmosphere), Krzysztof Serkowski (polari- still in use, being two examples. However, sation of starlight and instrumentation), There are currently about 250 profes- starting from the end of the 18th century Grzegorz Sitarski (dynamics of comets sional astronomers (with 155 International Poland entered a dark period in its his- and asteroids), Józef Smak (stellar evolu- Astronomical Union members among tory. The Polish state disappeared from tion, cataclysmic variables and accretion them) in Poland, most of them working in the map of Europe for about 120 years discs), Jan Smoliński (luminous variable six separate university institutes and two and wars swept Polish soil during every stars), Antoni Stawikowski (stellar spectro­ institutes of the Polish Academy of Sci- generation. The last one, World War II, scopy), Jerzy Stodółkiewicz (magneto­ ences. A few individual astronomers hold left Poland ruined, with a devastated hydrodynamics and dynamics of globular positions in other institutions,­ mostly intelligentsia and no scientific resources. clusters), Wiesław Wiśniewski (stellar within institutes of physics. According to photometry, comets) and Andrzej data from Science Watch — a newsletter The very few professional astronomers ­Woszczyk (planetary systems and varia- published by the Thomson Institute — who survived the war started to build ble stars). 1777 papers on space science were scientific centres in some cities, literally ­published in the years 2009–2013 with from scratch. These were Włodzimierz In the mid-1950s, when the oppression at least one author affiliated in Poland Zonn, Stefan Piotrowski and Maciej of the communist system softened, the (2.66 % of world production). These ­Bielicki (in Warsaw); Władysław Dziewulski “old” professors renewed their pre-war papers were cited 11.83 times on aver- and Wilhelmina Iwanowska (in Toruń), contacts with foreign scientific institutions age, as compared to 9.61 for the world Tadeusz Banachiewicz, Rozalia Szafraniec and recommended their best students average, showing that the quality of and Karol Kozieł (in Cracow); Eugeniusz as candidates to visit leading astronomi- ­Polish research in astronomy is high. In Rybka, Antoni Opolski and Jan cal institutes. After returning home, the the Astronomical Data System (ADS) ­Mergentaler (in Wrocław); and Józef young astronomers continued to carry database, we found six papers cited over ­Witkowski and Hieronim Hurnik (Poznań). out world-class research and started to 1000 times and nine more papers cited A modern approach to research and train the second generation of post-war between 800 and 1000 times with Polish ­university courses meant that their first astronomers. Unfortunately, the freedom astronomers as authors/coauthors (but students rapidly reached a world-class to go abroad also has a dark side: Poland not necessarily affiliated in Poland at the level. Prominent examples are: Stanisław fell victim to a brain drain, as several bril- time of writing).

2 The Messenger 161 – September 2015 Figure 2. Two (of four) automatic telescopes from Figure 3. The Warsaw Observatory’s 1.3-metre tele- the Solaris telescope located at the South African scope in Las Campanas, equipped with the 32-chip Astronomical Observatory (SAAO), South Africa. CCD camera built in Warsaw, one of the largest in the world, and used for the OGLE survey.

We describe the six astronomy institutes, in astrophysics. Currently these include: and high energy astrophysics (Paweł their staff complements and areas of observational and theoretical aspects of Haensel and Andrzej Zdziarski). expertise in the following sections. stellar astrophysics (e.g., astroseismology), stellar systems (globular clusters, dwarf The researchers are involved in a number galaxies), nuclear matter, physical pro- of large international projects and collab- Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Centre cesses around compact objects (accre- orations. of the Polish Academy of Sciences tion discs, jets and outflows), circum­ stellar matter, structure and evolution of Projects involving international cooper­ The Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical active galaxies, cosmology and extraso- ation are concentrated around the Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences lar planetary systems. ­Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) and (NCAC PAS1) is the largest astronomical the High Energy Stereoscopic System institute in Poland. It is located in Poland’s NCAC PAS employs more than 40 full- (H.E.S.S.) working in the high-energy capital Warsaw, with a branch in the city time scientific staff (including postdocs), gamma-ray domain, and the South Afri- of Nicolaus Copernicus’s birth, Toruń. and runs a postgraduate programme for can Large Telescope (SALT), with a about 25 students. Each year there are ­diameter of ten metres. NCAC astrono- The history of NCAC PAS started in the openings (on a competitive basis) for mers are also members of teams involved 1950s, when the idea of building a three- and five-year positions at NCAC. in cosmic experiments, such as INTE- national astronomical observatory was The positions for three years are open to GRAL, Herschel or BRITE-PL (a project first formulated. The failure of the first young researchers who have just com- for the observation of stellar pulsations idea led ­Bohdan Paczyński and J. Smak pleted their PhDs. Positions for five years with six photometric nano-satellites). to suggest that a theoretical astrophysical may lead to a permanent position. The centre operates the ground commu- research institute should be established nication ­station for the constellation of instead. This idea gained important The most important contributions of astroseismology satellites BRITE — a ­support from the American National NCAC scientists to modern astronomy joint project involving Austria, Canada Academy of Sciences, as a result of and astrophysics include papers on and Poland and headed by Aleksander preparations for the celebrations of the ­stellar evolution and accretion disc Schwarzenberg-Czerny. The new pro- Nicolaus Copernicus Quincentennial theory by B. Paczyński and J. Smak. gramme Solaris (involving Maciej Konacki), (1973). The USA provided financial sup- The other important topics are helio- aimed at accurate spectroscopic port for the creation of the institute. The and astro­seismology (led by Wojciech ob­servations of binaries with four small Centre was finally opened in 1978 and Dziembowski), variable stars (Janusz (50-centimetre) automated telescopes immediately started vigorous research Kałużny, Joanna Mikołajewska and distributed around the world, is also activity across a broad range of subjects Romuald Tylenda), nuclear matter physics worth mentioning (see Figure 2). This

The Messenger 161 – September 2015 3 The Organisation Sarna M. & Stępień K., Astronomy in Poland

­programme aims to determine accurate variable stars were detected by OGLE. and radio astronomy (led by Marek parameters of binary stars, and to search Fifty exoplanets have been discovered Urbanik, Michał Ostrowski and collabo­ for planets around them. so far using transit and microlensing rators). The observatory is involved in techniques and several new Kuiper Belt exploiting the large facilities H.E.S.S., the Astronomers from NCAC are active in objects have been identified. The pro- CTA, the LOw Freqeuncy ARray (LOFAR) collaborations with scientists at several gramme continues and we hope for many and SALT. institutes and universities around the exciting new discoveries. world, such as: Stanford University, There is another small group of astrono- ­Harvard University, the University of Dur- The other survey, ASAS, uses four small mers in Cracow, employed in the group ham, the Institute d’astrophysique (Paris), telescopes placed in two stations: in associated with the Chair of Astronomy the Institute of Space and Astronautical the north in Hawaii, and for the south at within the Institute of Physics at the Science (Japan) and the Ioffe Institute ­ the LCO. ASAS is led by Grzegorz ­Pedagogical University, and led by Jerzy (St. Petersburg). NCAC is an active par- Pojmański. Over 20 million stars over the Kreiner. They have a small observing ticipant in The European Laboratory range 8–14 magnitudes are being moni- ­station with a 60-centimetre optical tele- “Astronomie Pologne–France”, a collabo- tored. Several hundred observations per scope located in the Western Carpathian rative programme formed by the Centre star have already been collected. More Mountains, 1000 metres above sea level. national de la recherche scientifique than 40 000 new variable stars have The main research activities concentrate (CNRS) in France and the Ministry of Sci- been detected (in addition to the ~10 000 on observing variable stars (pulsating and ence and Higher Education in Poland. already known). All data from both the eclipsing binaries). OGLE and ASAS programmes are pub- licly available and are continuously used Warsaw University Observatory by astronomers from all over the world. Centre for Astronomy of the Nicolaus Copernicus University The Warsaw University Observatory2 is Several astronomers led by Grzegorz a part of the Faculty of Physics. It offers Pietrzyński are involved in the large inter- The Centre for Astronomy of the Nicolaus astronomical study programmes at national observational programme Copernicus University4 is a part of the undergraduate and graduate levels and ­Araucaria. Its principal aim is to provide Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Infor- has the right to award PhD degrees an improved calibration of the local extra- matics. It is located in Piwnice village, in astronomy and the degree of doctor galactic distance scale. So far, the dis- 15 kilometres north of Toruń. The site habilitatus. tance modulus to the Large Magellanic contains a 32-metre radio telescope, and Cloud (LMC) of 18.493 magnitudes has a few optical instruments, among them Recent research in observational astron- been determined with an unprecedented a 90-centimetre Schmidt–Cassegrain omy concentrates on two large photo- accuracy of less than 2 %. Warsaw tele­scope and 60-centimetre photometric metric surveys: the Optical Gravitational ­University astronomers are involved in a telescope. The optical telescopes are Lensing Experiment (OGLE) and the number of other international projects: used mainly for student training and All Sky Automated Survey (ASAS). Both H.E.S.S., the CTA, the Laser Interfer­ modest research projects. The centre is were initiated by B. Paczyński, who ometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory involved in international collaborations was the first to point out the importance (LIGO) and the VIRGO interferometer, such as the Very Long Baseline Interfer- of microlensing as a new tool for stellar Planck and Gaia. ometry (VLBI) network, H.E.S.S. and astronomy investigations. OGLE has SALT. been in operation since 1992 and is cur- Theoretical research is also conducted rently led by Andrzej Udalski. First obser- and is concentrated on Solar and stellar The major research activities are con­ vations were obtained with the Swope oscillations, and evolutionary models of centrated on radio astronomy (led by 1-metre telescope at the Las Campanas binary stars. Andrzej Kus), interstellar matter (Jacek Observatory (LCO). Since 1996, the Krełowski), stellar astrophysics, exo­ OGLE survey has used dedicated 1.3- planets and celestial mechanics. Among metre telescope, owned by the Warsaw Astronomical Observatory of the the most significant achievements of Uni­versity Observatory, and located at ­Jagiellonian University recent years are the spectroscopic the LCO (Figure 3). Presently, it is observations of red giants conducted by equipped with a large CCD camera con- The Astronomical Observatory of the Andrzej Niedzielski and Aleksander taining 32 chips with 268 million pixels. Jagiellonian University3 is a part of Wolszczan with the Hobby–Eberly Tele- The total sky coverage of OGLE is about the Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and scope in Texas, within the Pennsylvania– 3000 square degrees and 1.3 billion Applied Computer Science. A number Toruń Planet Search, which has led sources are monitored every night. OGLE of small radio and optical telescopes are to the detection of 20 exoplanets. Theo- has been, and remains, a real mine located at the Fort Skała Observatory retical investigations by Krzysztof of important dis­coveries. The first micro- on the outskirts of Cracow. The main sci- Goździewski and his collaborators have lensing event was observed in 1993. entific programmes include high-energy enabled the determination of the orbital Since then, over 15 000 of these events astrophysics, the investigation of active parameters and masses of several exo- have been recorded. About 500 000 new galactic nuclei, galactic magnetic fields planets.

4 The Messenger 161 – September 2015 Astronomical Observatory of the Adam Research is concentrated on the magneto­­ Acknowledgements Mickiewicz University spheres of pulsars, neutron stars, high- We thank Jeremy Walsh for language editing of our energy astrophysics and celestial article. The Astronomical Observatory of the mechanics. The physical parameters of Adam Mickiewicz University5 is a part of neutron stars, their magnetic fields and the Faculty of Physics of the university. internal structure are modelled, based on Links The main areas of work include the the analysis of radio emission of pulsars 1 Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Centre of the dynamics of artificial satellites and small (started by the late founder of the insti- Polish Academy of Sciences: http://www.camk. bodies in the Solar System, including tute, Janusz Gil, and continued by Giorgi edu.pl 2 non-gravitational effects (work of Sławomir Melikidze). The properties of binary Warsaw University Observatory: http://www. astrouw.edu.pl Breiter and Agnieszka Kryszczyńska), as ­compact objects and the dynamics of 3 Astronomical Observatory of the Jagiellonian well as the investigation of the physical planetary systems are also investigated. ­University: http://www.oa.uj.edu.pl properties of asteroids (under Tadeusz 4 Centre for Astronomy of the Nicolaus Copernicus Michałowski). University: http://www.ca.umk.pl 5 Astronomical Observatory of the Adam Mickiewicz Space Research Centre of the Polish University: http://www.astro.amu.edu.pl Not long ago, observational astrophysical Academy of Sciences 6 Astronomical Institute of Wrocław University: research was started at the Observatory. http://www.astro.uni.wroc.pl 7 Recently, a new, small robotic telescope The main body of the Space Research Institute of Astronomy of the Zielona Góra University: http://astro.ia.uz.zgora.pl went into operation at the University of Centre (SRC) of the Polish Academy 8 Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of 8 Arizona. It is equipped with a spectro- of Sciences is located in Warsaw and its Sciences: http://www.cbk.waw.pl graph and it supplements a small double two divisions in Poznań and Wrocław. telescope located near Poznań. Together Some of the research areas cover astro- they make up the Global Astrophysical nomical targets: the dynamics and phys- Telescope System project. ics of planets and the small bodies of the Solar System (Marek Banaszkiewicz and Hans Rickman with their collabo­ Astronomical Institute of Wrocław rators), interplanetary space and the ­University ­heliosphere (S. Grzędzielski and his col- leagues) and Solar physics (Janusz The Astronomical Institute of Wrocław Sylwester and his group). All the Polish University6 is a part of the Faculty of instruments that have flown on a variety Physics and Astronomy. Research is con- of space missions, e.g., Cassini, Herschel, centrated on two main subjects: inves­ Integral, Rosetta and Solar Orbiter, were tigation of Solar activity (by J. Jakimiec built at the SRC and Polish scientists and his group) and of pulsating stars (led coauthored the papers describing the by Mikołaj Jerzykiewicz and Andrzej achieved results. The first two Polish ­Pigulski). Heliophysicists carry out obser- ­scientific satellites, Lem and Hevelius, vations of dynamical phenomena in the which are part of the international pro- Solar atmosphere using a coronagraph gramme BRITE, have also been built located near Wrocław, but they also there. The SRC will face important new extensively use satellite observations. tasks in instrumentation resulting from Observations and pulsation modelling of Poland’s recent entry into the European β Cephei-type variables (among them Space Agency (ESA). DD Lac, which has been investigated in Wrocław for the last 50 years) and δ As Poland joins ESO we are very opti­ Scuti-type variables have resulted in an mistic about the future of Polish astron- accurate determination of the basic omy. The talents and competence of the parameters of several of these stars. young generation of astronomers, sup- plemented by access to modern instru- mentation and the wide range of possibil- Institute of Astronomy of the Zielona Góra ities that have opened up for international University collaboration, will certainly soon result in numerous exciting discoveries, deep- The Institute of Astronomy of the Zielona ening our understanding of nature. Góra University7 is a young institute, founded in the year 2000, and is part of the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy.

The Messenger 161 – September 2015 5