Petr Horálek

Petr Horálek
Head photo of Petr Horálek
Petr Horálek in January 2015
Born (1986-07-21) July 21, 1986
Pardubice, Czech Republic
Nationality Czech
Known for Astrophotographer
Website astronom.cz/horalek

Petr Horálek (born July 21, 1986) is a Czech astrophotographer, popularizer of astronomy and an artist.

Astronomy and Astrophotography

Early life

He worked as a volunteer of the Pardubice observatory in 1999–2010 and studied Theoretical physics and Astrophysics at the Masaryk University in Brno (2007–2011). During this period, in 2011, he started with astrophotography[1]

Astrophotography

Petr specializes in photographing "rare night-sky phenomena" and TWAN style photographs with the night sky over known foreground. His images capture unique moments and views in the sky to show the importance of the fight against the global light pollution problem.

Unique image from Aitutaki Island

However, those distant places were over his financial capacities due to medium GDP of his native country so in 2014, he bought Working holiday visa and travelled to New Zealand. Working on fruit orchards for 4 months, he was able to earn enough money for his only goal: to travel to the Cook Islands and to capture (probably) historically the first nightscape photograph with the Milky Way over the popular Aitutaki Island.[2]

ESO Photo Ambassador

In January 2015, Petr Horálek became the 22nd Photo Ambassador[3] of the European Southern Observatory. He focuses mostly on Ultra-hd fulldome and panoramatic images of the night sky over ESO observatories, which can be freely used in digital planetariums. With this work, he participates[4] on the program of ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre.

Scientific impact

Several of his images had scientific impact. Here are some examples:

zodiacal light horalek
The zodiacal light over ESO La Silla Observatory, captured by Petr Horálek in April 2016

Awards

Images of Petr Horálek were chosen several times[10] as NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day, ESO Picture of the Week[11] and Czech Astrophotography of the Month.[12] In October 2015 the International Astronomical Union named the asteroid (6822) 1986 UO after him (see Asteroid 6822 Horálek).

Asteroid 6822 Horálek

Asteroid 6822 Horálek or (6822) 1986 UO was discovered by Zdeňka Vavrová on October 28, 1986, at Kleť Observatory, the Czech Republic. It's about 5 km wide asteroid orbiting the Sun in the Main asteroid belt with perihelion at 1.943 AU and aphelion 3.235 AU from the Sun[13]

MPC Citation for 6822 Horálek

Petr Horálek (b. 1986) is a Czech astronomer, astronomy popularizer, passionate photographer, and one of the ESO Photo Ambassadors. He travels the globe to observe solar and lunar eclipses. His breathtaking photographs capture the beauty of the night sky and its harmony with the landscape. [Ref: Minor Planet Circ. 95803]

Art

Petr Horálek is also an artist. He focuses on sketches, especially female portraits and emotional sketches[14]

References

  1. ↑ "ESOblog – Photographer in the dark". www.eso.org. Retrieved 2017-05-24.
  2. ↑ "The way from the lagoon to the Universe | Petr Horálek's Photography". www.astronom.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 2017-05-24.
  3. ↑ ESO. "ESO Photo Ambassadors". www.eso.org. Retrieved 2017-05-24.
  4. ↑ ESO, ESOcast 88: Fulldome Specialists visit Chile, retrieved 2017-05-24
  5. ↑ Spurný, Pavel; Shrbený, Lukáš; Borovička, Jiří; Koten, Pavel; Vojáček, Vlastimil; Štork, Rostislav (March 1, 2014). "Bright Perseid fireball with exceptional beginning height of 170 km observed by different techniques". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 563. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201323261. ISSN 0004-6361.
  6. ↑ Druckmüller, Miloslav. "Total Solar Eclipse 2013, Uganda". www.zam.fme.vutbr.cz. Retrieved 2017-05-24.
  7. ↑ ESO. "The ESO Messenger, Vol. 164". www.eso.org (in German). Retrieved 2017-05-24.
  8. ↑ ESO. "False dawn". www.eso.org. Retrieved 2017-05-24.
  9. ↑ "From Gegenschein to False dawn | Petr Horálek's Photography". www.astronom.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 2017-05-24.
  10. ↑ "Awards | Petr Horálek's Photography". www.astronom.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 2017-05-24.
  11. ↑ ESO. "Picture of the Week". www.eso.org. Retrieved 2017-05-24.
  12. ↑ Czech Astronomical Society, Česká astronomická. "Czech Astrophotography of the Month". ČAS (in Czech). Retrieved 2017-05-24.
  13. ↑ "IAU Minor Planet Center". www.minorplanetcenter.net. Retrieved 2017-05-24.
  14. ↑ Horalek, Petr. "Petr Horalek's homepage". www.astronom.cz. Retrieved 2017-05-24.
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