2014

Stars with Romanian names

Round: Theory
Points: Not given
Level: Silver
Taught in: Section 1.6

Adapted from IOAA 2014 (Suceava), theory problem 13. We have restated it in our own words and kept the original data. The solution was last checked on 15 October 2026.

In September 2013 the Romanian astronomers Ovidiu Tercu and Alex Dumitriu, working at the observatory of the Museum Complex of Natural Sciences in Galați, discovered two variable stars, now named Galati V1 and Galati V2. Both are circumpolar as seen from Romania, one in Cassiopeia and the other in Andromeda. Their galactic coordinates are $l = 114.371 °$ , $b = - 11.35 °$ for Galati V1 and $l = 113.266 °$ , $b = - 16.177 °$ for Galati V2. Another star with a Romanian name, Sanduleak −69°202, which exploded as the supernova SN 1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud, is at $α = 5 h 35 m 28.03 s$ , $δ = - 69 ° 16^{'} {11.79}^{″}$ , $l = 279.7 °$ , $b = - 31.9 °$ . Estimate the angular distance between Galati V1 and Galati V2.

I solved it without the solution

AnswerGalati V1 and Galati V2 are about 4.94° apart in the sky.

This problem also appears among the olympiad problems of Section 1.6, Ecliptic and galactic coordinates, which teaches the ideas it uses. Equation and figure numbers refer to the course.