The meeting "Venus Transit 2004", organized by the ESO (European Southern Observatory), took place in the charming Castle of Brandys Nad Labem (Brandys Nad Labem is a town located at about 30 km from Prague), where the famous astronomer Tycho lived for a while.

About 60 delegates, professional and amateur astronomers, took part to it. Delegates were from 20 different European countries: from Portugal to Estonia.

The event was one of a major importance for all European amateur astronomers: it gave birth to a network between the worldwide known ESO and the huge world of amateur astronomers. This happening represented a public acknowledgement from professional astronomers to the role that amateur astronomers can have in several astronomy-related fields: from contributions to the public understanding of science, to the spreading of scientific news when major celestial phenomena occur.

Dr. Richard West, a Danish astronomer from ESO, responsible for the "Venus Transit 2004" project explained the reasons behind the creation of this network involving professional and amateur astronomers: all over Europe, science is in a difficult situation, only a minority of young people think of it as a possible career, the majority being influenced by vain short cuts proposed by a certain type of press and TV programmes.

The possible risk is a future where technical & intellectual skills for conceiving and creating important research projects are present but not people with appropriate education, able to work on those projects. Research might, thus, find itself without its generational change.
Astronomy, with its unique charme and stunning phenomena, is able to attract a large number of people, and as there is a need for Europe to re-discover science, a possible way to bring fresh energy to the European scientific world could come from the amateur astronomer's constant work in promoting science to the general public, and from the professional astronomer's constant commitment.

This meeting had also a special acknowledgment from political and institutional representatives. On 1st May, the Czech Republik entered the European Community, and this symposium was attended by the Senator Joseph Zielenicz, Helena Ilnerova - President of the National Academy of Sciences, Ian Talir - representative of the Ministry of Education, Ian Paloš - Director of the Astronomical Institute at the Academy of Sciences. The state TV station broadcasted an exhaustive report on the event. This represents an important acknowledgment for what has been one of the very first cultural events in the Czech Republik , after its entering in the EU.

During the meeting, thirty talks were presented, subjects being several of the many astronomy-related matters: observational techniques, educational programmes and programmes for the public understanding of science, ESO presented some current and future research programmes (from the ALMA project to the advanced OWL, the super 100meter-diameter telescope), there has been talks on interplanetary space missions ("Venus Express" in particular), and also on the Eso Planet search. In this case, the Venus transit phenomenon acted as starting point for introducing the search on extrasolar planets, possible through phenomena similar to the Venus transit (when a planet transits in front of a star, it causes the star's brightness to slightly diminish), so the Eso Planet search item was thoroughly discussed.

Presentations from amateur astronomers gave a global view of the situation of their associations, which put in evidence a various and very active movement. From the large observatories, which are dedicated to the public understanding of science, to the emerging realities coming from the countries which have just joined the EU. Thousands of amateur astronomers are currently involved in public initiatives, educational programmes for schools, and research and observational programmes.
Mr Paolo Volpini (author of this summary) was there as UAI representative: in his presentation, he talked about some UAI initiatives, which aim at involving the public at a national level, and also distributed to the attendees copies of UAI magazine and Almanac. Those publications were greatly appreciated, especially for their high quality. In particular, people were quite impressed as they learned UAI products are the result of a work done on voluntary basis, not a commercial one.

Very often, the event went beyond the official programme and those three days of intense work were filled with nice and enjoyable hours of socializing. News, anectodes, thoughts were exchanged in a friendly atmosphere, with a special concern on the current situation in each of the present countries.
Many lamented a heavy astrology invasion, supported by media and press. The circulation of "formats", which are bought by the various European TV stations, are bringing an entertainment homologation, which is very often poor in quality.
While it is certainly not the case to say "A trouble shared, is a trouble halved", all of us agreed on the fact that a certain type of culture does not really attract media, hence making its visibility very difficult.

The meeting ended with a very interesting visit to Ondrejnov Observatory (south-east from Prague): an impressive collection of historical instruments and a good number of instruments at the present managed by the Academy of Sciences: solar telescopes, radio-telescopes, cameras for the automatic recording of meteors and bolides and the stunning 2-metres-diameter telescope, with a 9-metre focal length: the largest in Central Europe.

Conclusions:
The meeting, organized in occasion of the Venus Transit, has been an attempt to exchange ideas and information among different European amateur astronomer associations. Our hope is that this will not be an isolated event. We look forward to other similar meetings and an increasing cooperation between the several amateur astronomer associations and the professional institutions for scientific research.
Meanwhile, let us wish you our usual "clear skies", especially for 8 June morning!

Thanks:
Special thanks go to the following people, for taking care of meeting organization:

Dr. Stanislav Stefl (Czech Republik ) Responsible for the Organizational Committee for the Czech Republik
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· Dr. Richard West (Denmark) ESO, Chairman VT2004 International Steering Committee

· Researchers from Ondrejov Observatory, among them the Director of the Solar Physics Group, Dr. Petr Heinzel
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· Alice Chytrová - Organization - secretarial duties

· The Major of Brandys and the local authorities, the organizational staff, the staff working at the Castle and the other people who gave a contribution to the meeting organization.

… Our apologizes to people who gave their contribution and we forgot to list.

PHOTO GALLERY
BRANDYS NAD LABEM MEETING