International Olympiad Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) 2019 is a competition for high schools held internationally in the lines of other International science olympiads which covers the fields of Astronomy and Astrophysics. It is an annual astrophysics and astronomy competition for students of high school. It is one of the international science olympiads.
The Olympiad was founded from a dissidence inside the International Astronomy Olympiad in order to increase the scope of the organization.

IOAA 2019 – International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics

The students participating in the science olympiad has to undergo and crack 4 stages in order to be eligible to participate in the 5th stage of International Science Olympiad.The National Olympiad programme follows a five-stage process which starts with an examination held at about 1400 schools across the country and reaches a pinnacle with the international Olympiads at different corners of the world. Below provided are the stages of science olympiad:

Participation In International Olympiad

Students who have cleared all the stages from 1-4 can only participate in stage 5 of International Olympiad of Astrophysics and Astronomy. Below are the tentative dates for the occurrence of Olympiad:

Rules for Participating Countries

• One regular team needs to be sent consisting of High School students by participating countries.
• The age of such students must be less than 20 years from 30th July of the year of competition.
• The maximum number of students in a team should not be more than 5.
• With the participating team of students, only 2 accompanying persons can be invited consisting of one as Delegation Head (responsible for the whole delegation) and the other as the Pedagogical Leader (responsible for the students).
• The accompanying persons become members of the International Board, as they have equal rights.
• International Board Members are treated as contact persons for the participating countries in concern of the affairs of International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics until the following competition.
• The delegation head and pedagogical leader should be selected from scientists or teachers, who are capable of solving the problems of the competition competently. Also, each of them should be able to speak English.
• On the arrival of each participating team, Delegation Head should hand over the organizers a list of contestants with their personal data which should include their first name, family name, date of birth, home address and address of the school attended and certificates (in English) from the schools confirming the contestants attendance or graduation in the year of the competition.

Competition Details

There are two parts of the competition:

• Theoretical Competition – It includes short and long questions consisting of 15 short questions and 2 or 3 long questions.
• Practical Competition – The organizer may provide a set of task comprising of

1) observation, 2) paper-based practical problem, 3) computer-based problem, 4) planetarium simulation or combination of the four which is expected to be solved in a duration of 5 hours. The problems provided should involve at least 4 areas as mentioned in the syllabus.

The competition days sequence is to be decided by the organizer of the competition. There must be 1 free day within the two parts of the competition. The time allotted for the solution of problems should normally be 5 hours for theoretical and 5 hours for practical part. The Olympiad duration should normally be of 10 days including arrival and departure days.

While solving the problems, contestants can use non-programmable pocket calculators without graphics and drawing materials, as brought by contestants themselves. Formulae collections from chemistry, mathematics, physics, etc., are restricted.

Marking Scheme

The theoretical part makes 50 % of the total mark and the practical part 50 % (25% data analysis and 25% observation) of the total mark. The practical solutions should consist of theoretical analysis (plan and discussion) and practical execution. The solution to each problem should contain an answer and its complete justification.

Rewards Calculation

The contestants will receive diplomas and medals or honorable mentions in accordance with the number of points accumulated as follows:

• The mean number of points accumulated by the three best contestants is considered 100%.
• The contestants who accumulated at least 90% of points will receive the first prize (diplomas and gold medals).
• The contestants who accumulate 78% or more but less than 90% will receive the second prize (diplomas and silver medals).
• The contestants who accumulate 50% or more but less than 65% will receive an honorable mention (diplomas).
• The contestants who accumulate less than 50% of points receive certificates of participation in the competition.
• In each of the categories above, through majority vote, the international board can adjust the position of cut-off up to two positions. i.e. include or exclude two students at the boundary of the respective category.
• The participant who obtains the highest score (Absolute Winner) will receive a special prize and diploma.
• Other special prizes may be awarded.

Olympiads