For Global Astronomy Month 2020 (6)

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For Global Astronomy Month 2020 (6) - Patriotic Astronomy

Text and photos Andrei Dorian Gheorghe, design Florin Alexandru Stancu

Published: Tuesday, March 31 2020 17:20

On 25 March, 78 minutes before the official restrictions of circulation in Romania, I returned from a close pharmacy and I remarked a bus station decorated with the story of Spiru Haret (design with a stylized telescope and the planets, a portrait, his biography, a few vintage images), who lived in between 1851 and 1912, and was the first Romanian astronomer of international prestige, the best ever minister of education and official sustainer of (amateur and professional) astronomy in Romania, and a symbol for the Romanians from all over the world.

That image inspired me to think of a patriotic theme, for which, respecting the official regulations, I photographed the Sun from my balcony (25 March) and the Moon Sickle under Venus (27 March).

Thus I completed the three heavenly bodies (Sun, Moon, Evening Star) which are reproduced on the coats of arms of Romania and Republic of Moldova, and I could celebrate 102 years from their first union (March 27, 1918), an important step in the creation of Great Romania (December 1. 1918).

I have to mention that the president of the Moldavian Parliament in 1918, Ion Inculet, was a teacher of astronomy.