Stowarzyszenie Astronomia Nova
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Logo of The Astronomia Nova Association

Logo of The Astronomia Nova Association

Astronomia Nova logo is directly connected to the first two laws of planetary motion discovered by Kepler and described in his work Astronomia Nova.

The first law states that planets have elliptical orbits with the Sun present at one of the two foci. The shape of the logo is therefore elliptical and the Sun is situated in the focus of the ellipse.

Kepler's second law reveals the role of the Sun in directing movements of planets in accordance with the rule of constant areal velocity, which is defined as the rate at which area is swept out by a planet's radius vector as it moves along the curve. It is the Kepler's second law giving to the world the principle of conservation of angular momentum. This principle is visualized in the logo with a gradient of blue: the farther the Sun, the more slowly the planet moves and the blue color is darker. When closer to the Sun, the planet is moving

faster and the color is brighter.

Central graphic of the logo is the only symmetric drawing posted by Kepler in the Astronomia Nova. This is the Figure 56 which represents the Sun and fragments of the orbits of Earth and Mars. The figure shows two positions of the Earth when it circles the Sun faster than Mars and two positions of Mars surrounded by two close guidelines. This illustration helped Kepler to explain his laws concerning planetary motion (I and II), which where discovered by analyzing observational data of the Mars. This work cost Kepler a superhuman effort, which almost led him, as he writes, to madness. In the end however, he was very proud of what he called “winning the war with Mars”!

Today humanity goes on a new "war" with Mars. People want to colonize the Red Planet, but not only that; since number of planets around other stars are discovered every day, people dream of interstellar journeys to contact other civilizations and to spread of human civilization on the area of the entire Galaxy.

Two words: ASTRONOMY and NOVA were used by Kepler to entitle his greatest work. We hope that the same words in the name of the Association will, in the spirit of the great Kepler, motivate its members to noble activities for the development of astronomy, for it to serve the challenges of our time.