Thailand hosted the 11th International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA 2017) on November 12-21, 2017 in Phuket, with Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn graciously presiding at the opening ceremony.
The event was jointly organized by The Promotion of Academic Olympiad and Development of Science Education Foundation under the patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana Krom Luang Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra (POSN), the Faculty of Science and Technology at Pattani Campus (PSU), the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand, and the Ministry of Education.
The competition featured astronomy and astrophysics at both the theoretical level (data analysis) and at the observational level (using a telescope and a planetary dome). The 45 participating countries were represented by one team each, consisting of up to five high school students accompanied by two team leaders (scientists or teachers). This year, a total of 500 participants joined the event from Armenia, Bangladesh, Belarus, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mali, Mexico, Nepal, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States and Vietnam.
Top award winners:
Overall winner: Mr. Aleksej Jurca (Slovenia)
Best in Theory: Mr. Mulinti Shaik Wajid (India)
Best in Data Analysis: Mr. Yinquan Liao (China)
Best in Observation: Mr. Panupong Phoompuang (Thailand)
Team award winners:
Teams consisted of 6-7 members from different countries.
- Winner: Team Delphinus (China, Estonia, Poland, United Kingdom, Hungary, Laos, United Arab Emirates)
- 1st Runner Up: Team Hercules (Indonesia, Czech, Serbia, United Kingdom, Hungary, Laos, Qatar)
- 2nd Runner Up: Team Columba (Canada, Estonia, Malaysia , Romania, Bulgaria, Bangladesh, Brazil)
