The Czech Astronomy Olympiad (abbreviated as AO) is a competition in astronomy and related fields, intended for students of elementary and high schools. AO aims to help find talented pupils and systematically support and develop their professional growth.
In this collection, we archive selected problem sets, published by the Board of AO, which were used in the competition in the previous years.
The Czech Astronomy Olympiad (abbreviated as AO; available at https://olympiada.astro.cz) is a competition in astronomy and related fields, intended for students of elementary and high schools. AO aims to help find talented pupils and systematically support and develop their professional growth.
AO is divided into rounds and age categories as follows.
Age categories:
GH - The youngest age category for pupils in grades 6 and 7 of primary schools and grades 1 and 2 of eight-year high schools.
EF - The age category for pupils in grades 8 and 9 of primary schools, grades 3 and 4 of eight-year high schools, and grades 1 and 2 of six-year high schools.
CD - The age category for pupils in grades 5 and 6 of eight-year high schools, grades 3 and 4 of six-year high schools, and grades 1 and 2 of four-year high schools.
AB - The oldest age category for pupils in the last two grades of high school.
AO is conducted in three main rounds each year:
1) school round - Students independently solve given problems at school. The problems are scored and verified by a teacher authorized by the school principal or an employee authorized by the statutory representative of the organization. The Board of AO prepares the solution and scoring sheets.
2) correspondence regional round - Pupils independently solve the assigned problems at home. The solutions are sent to the Board of AO who reviews them.
3) national final round - The top students from each category of the regional round are invited to participate in the national finals. They solve more difficult problems in person and have to show their knowledge of the night sky in a planetarium.
Successful finalists may be selected for a few-days-long training workshop and later nominated to represent the Czech Republic in one of the International Astronomy Olympiads.
The Czech Astronomical Society is the main organiser of AO. Since 2006, AO has also been included by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic in the type A competitions that the Ministry regularly announces for a given school year.