From August 2 to 11, a Chinese team led by Li Xin and Dai Yan of the Beijing Planetarium and composed of five outstanding high school students selected by the China National Astronomy Olympiad went to Keszthely, Hungary, to participate in the 13th International Olympiad of Astronomy and Astrophysics. 257 athletes from 46 countries took part in the four rounds of competition: theory, data analysis, night observation and astronomical observation. The scale of the competition reached a new record.

As the only authorized unit in China, the Beijing Planetarium is not only responsible for the selection and organization of the national team’s participation of competitions, but also hosted the 4th and 12th competitions on behalf of China in 2010 and 2018. In this years’ competition, the host country Hungary completed the organization of the activity with high quality through the strength of national astronomical research and popular science.

The two team leaders sent by the Beijing Planetarium are all experienced astronomy professionals, which not only ensure the Chinese team to give full play to its level, but also have in-depth discussions with their counterparts in participating countries to fully display the brand science popularization activities of the Beijing Academy of Science and Technology and the Beijing Planetarium on the international science popularization exchange platform.

The five contestants of the Chinese team performed well and finally won 2 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medals and the first place in night observation.