Beijing Planetarium

The IPS2014 conference kicked off today at the Beijing Planetarium.  Over 370 delegates from43 countries are attending. Dr Jin Zhu, director of the Beijing Planetarium, officially opened the conference.  It was a lovely ceremony, the highlight for me, was the group of young children who sang two songs, the first in English and the second in Chinese. They were delightful.

Dr Jin Zhu at the opening of IPS2014

The first keynote speaker for the conference was Mr Ouyang Ziyuan, the Senior Advisor to China’s Lnar Expedition Program.  He gave a fascinating account of what the program has achieved and it’s plans for the future, including a permanent moon base.

The conference is now in full swing, with the Vendors Exhibition Hall open and the paper sessions started.  In the evening there was the first of two Vendor Demonstration sessions.  The IPS delegates have been split into two groups, and this meant one group started in the Dome3D theatre and then after the dinner break moving into the 8K Cosomos Theatre (and vise versa, for the other group).

Dr. Tanya Hill, was invited to participate in the Sky Skan presentation, introducing some of the new data sets that she has been working on to put onto the Digital Sky system with the assistance of Martin Radcliffe.