THE ASTROPHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION THROUGH THE SECRETS OF THE COSMOS WAS OPENED AND PROVOKED TREMENDOUS INTEREST

27 September 2023

Astrophotography exhibition Trough the Secrets of the Cosmos was presented by Varna Free University "Chernorizets Hrabar" in the Art Salon of Varna Radio. The exposition can be viewed until October 13, every weekday from 2 to 6 p.m. The photographs are the work of Tikhomir Todorov and Nikola Antonov - astrophotographers who photographed and studied giant nebulae, distant galaxies and star clusters, hidden from the human eye, but contributing to an understanding of the processes in the universe. Special guests at the opening were the rector ofVFU "Chernorizets Hrabar", Prof. Dr. Petar Hristov, Elena Kenarova - head of the Education Department in the Municipality of Varna, Svezhina Dimitrova - director of the Astronomical observatory "Nicolaus Copernicus" Varna, Natalia Cheshmedjieva - director of Varna Radio, many school and university students and admirers of space stories.

"The line between amateur astrophotographers and professional photography of space objects is thin. The new data collected with astrophotographs have changed general ideas about the universe in recent decades". This was said by astrophotographer Nikola Antonov in his interview for Varna Radio. During the opening of the exhibition, he shared with the visitors details about the process of photographing objects from the "deep sky" and presented the specific photographs.

The event was realized with the cooperation of the Municipality of Varna and with the support of the newly established Institute for Physical and Mathematical Research at VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar".

The photographs presented by Tikhomir Todorov and Nikola Antonov emphasize the secrets of the "deep sky". Deep sky in astrophotography are the objects that are located outside the solar system. They are thousands to millions and even billions of light years away from us. Some of the most impressive deep sky structures are nebulae. These are giant gas-dust complexes, clouds ranging in size from tens to hundreds of light-years in diameter, containing mainly hydrogen, helium, oxygen, sulfur and other heavier elements. These clouds very often become the birthing places of new stars and planetary systems similar to our solar system. Our star, the Sun, was also born from such a giant cloud. Different gases in space glow with different light when they hit telescopes and the sensitive photosensors of astrophotography cameras. Other interesting objects in the deep sky are galaxies, distant megastructures, cities of billions of stars, cosmic gas and dust, which have always impressed us with their unique shapes - spiral, lenticular, elliptical and irregular, often caught in a gravitational dance with their other companions in the vast universe, at the heart of which supermassive black holes usually beat. This distant world is made accessible through the astrophotography exhibition Through the Secrets of the Cosmos.

Tihomir Todorov was born in 1968 in Botevgrad. He works as a computer specialist. He is engaged in photography, and since 2015 also in astrophotography.
Nikola Antonov was born in 1976 in Sofia. Astronomy has been his passion and hobby since childhood. He works as an IT manager in a Bulgarian company, and in his spare time he teaches music and is involved in astronomy and astrophotography. He is a member of the American Association of Variable Star Observers and the Institute for Advanced Physical Research.