*
Act 1: October 1985
Close to the border between Romania and Hungaria,
in the small town of Salonta
(the native town of the great Magyar astronomer Gyorgy Kullin,
who had named an asteroid after it),
Kosa-Kiss Attila becomes the first in the Romanian territory
who sees the return of Comet Halley.
“Halley!”- shouts Attila,
feeling for a moment
the whole wonderful burden
of the fabulous comet.
Act 2: May 1986
Leading an astronomical expedition in the Bucegi Mountains,
Dr. Harald Alexandrescu (coordinator of
“Admiral Vasile Urseanu” Bucharest Municipal Observatory)
becomes the first in that group who sees Comet Halley
through the telescope.
“Halley!”- shouts Harald,
jumping like a child
happy as for an
extraterrestrial toy.
Act 3: May 1986
In the same mountain expedition,
the teen-ager Valentin Grigore (future founder
of the Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy-SARM)
becomes the first in that group who sees Comet Halley
with the naked eye.
“Halley!”- shouts Valentin,
proud for this major success of his vigilant eyes,
before thousands of other celestial phenomena
and thousands of meteors.
Post-Scriptum
Till its next return
(when I’ll be over 100 years old),
I shall always remember Comet Halley
as a miracle
giving powerful health,
inoculating enthusiastic youth,
and stimulating a noble future…
to those who know to observe it.
-Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
***
Andrei Dorian Gheorghe’s Notes:
-Kosa-Kiss Attila (born in 1954) is considered
the greatest sky observer in Romania in the XXth century;
he received prestigious distinctions from the
International Halley Watch,
American Association of Variable Star Observers
and British Astronomical Association - Comet Section.
-Dr. Harald Alexandrescu (1945-2005) was the coordinator of
“Admiral Vasile Urseanu” Municipal Observatory in Bucharest
between 1984 and 2005;
his May 1986 expedition for observing Comet Halley
was considered one of the most significant in East Europe.
-Valentin Grigore (born in 1968) founded in 1993
the Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy-SARM,
the second national astronomical organization
in Romania’s history,
after in 1908 Victor Anestin had founded
the “Flammarion” Romanian Astronomical Society.
***
© 2008 SARM
(Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy)
