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Talent Certifications International Olympiads Astronomy

IOAA

International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics

International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) International Board
Olympiad stage (national/international)
Annual

Official website ↗

About This Exam

Talent Certifications International Olympiads
Conducted byInternational Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) International Board
Exam typeOlympiad stage (national/international)
FieldAstronomy
Who can applyTeam members are high-school students, or students finishing high school in the competition year, selected through a fair and representative national process.
Age / classYounger than twenty on 1 July of the competition year
How oftenAnnual
StagesFinal stage: each country may send one regular team of no more than five students who compete in theory and practical (including observation) tasks.
Talent categoryOlympiads
PathwayNSEA > INAO > OCSC (Astronomy) > IOAA
RecognitionOfficial / statutory body
LevelInternational
AchievementCertificates, gold, silver and bronze medals and honourable-mention certificates.

Syllabus

Theoretical Part29 topic groups
Basic Astrophysics Celestial Mechanics

Newton’s Laws of Gravitation, Kepler’s Laws for circular and non-circular orbits, Roche limit, barycentre, 2-body problem, Lagrange points

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Theoretical Part, 'Basic Astrophysics' table, row 'Celestial Mechanics'
Basic Astrophysics Electromagnetic Theory & Quantum Physics

Electromagnetic spectrum, Radiation Laws, Blackbody radiation

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Theoretical Part, 'Basic Astrophysics' table, row 'Electromagnetic Theory & Quantum Physics'
Basic Astrophysics Thermodynamics

Thermodynamic equilibrium, Ideal gas, Energy transfer

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Theoretical Part, 'Basic Astrophysics' table, row 'Thermodynamics'
Basic Astrophysics Spectroscopy and Atomic Physics

Absorption, Emission, Scattering, Spectra of Celestial objects, Doppler effect, Line formation, Continuum spectra, Splitting and Broadening of spectral lines, polarisation

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Theoretical Part, 'Basic Astrophysics' table, row 'Spectroscopy and Atomic Physics'
Basic Astrophysics Nuclear Physics

Basic concepts including structure of atom, Mass defect and binding energy Radioactivity, Neutrinos (Q)

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Theoretical Part, 'Basic Astrophysics' table, row 'Nuclear Physics'
Mathematical Methods and Tools Numerical Methods

Linearisation of equations and expressions, Iterative solving of functions, estimating area under a curve by graphical method and/or by integration and/or by numerical approximations, Taylor series approximations of common functions

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Theoretical Part, 'Mathematical Methods and Tools' table, row 'Numerical Methods'
Mathematical Methods and Tools Basic Calculus

Derivatives of elementary functions, their sums, products, quotients, and nested functions. Integration as the inverse procedure to differentiation. Finding definite and indefinite integrals for elementary functions, and sums of functions. Geometric interpretation of derivatives and integrals. Finding constants of integration using initial conditions.

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Theoretical Part, 'Mathematical Methods and Tools' table, row 'Basic Calculus'
Mathematical Methods and Tools Vectors

Basic properties of vector sums, dot and cross products, Geometrical interpretation of a time derivative of a vector quantity

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Theoretical Part, 'Mathematical Methods and Tools' table, row 'Vectors'
Mathematical Methods and Tools Geometric Instruments

Use of ruler, geometric compass, protractor, set-square

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Theoretical Part, 'Mathematical Methods and Tools' table, row 'Geometric Instruments'
Mathematical Methods and Tools Statistics & Error Analysis

Mean, Median, Mode, percentiles, box plots, Standard deviation, basic probabilities, relative errors, error estimation using maximum error and/or standard error

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Theoretical Part, 'Mathematical Methods and Tools' table, row 'Statistics & Error Analysis'
Coordinates and Times Celestial Sphere

Spherical trigonometry, Celestial coordinates and their applications, Equinox and Solstice, Circumpolar stars, Constellations and Zodiac (Note: azimuth is measured in the range 0° to 360° starting from N and increasing towards E unless stated otherwise.)

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Theoretical Part, 'Coordinates and Times' table, row 'Celestial Sphere'
Coordinates and Times Concept of Time

Solar time, Sidereal time, Julian date, Heliocentric Julian date, Time zone, Universal Time, Local Mean Time, Different definitions of “year”, Equation of time

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Theoretical Part, 'Coordinates and Times' table, row 'Concept of Time'
Solar System The Sun

Solar structure, Solar surface activities, Solar rotation, Solar radiation and Solar constant, Solar neutrinos (Q), Sun-Earth relations, Role of magnetic fields (Q), Solar wind and radiation pressure, Heliosphere (Q), Magnetosphere (Q)

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Theoretical Part, 'Solar System' table, row 'The Sun'
Solar System The Solar System

Earth-Moon System, precession, nutation, libration, Formation and evolution of the Solar System (Q), Structure and components of the Solar System (Q), Structure and orbits of the Solar System objects, Sidereal and Synodic periods, Retrograde motion, Outer reaches of the solar system (Q)

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Theoretical Part, 'Solar System' table, row 'The Solar System'
Solar System Space Exploration

Satellite trajectories and transfers, Human exploration of the Solar System (Q), planetary missions (Q), Sling-shot effect of gravity, Space-based instruments (Q)

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Theoretical Part, 'Solar System' table, row 'Space Exploration'
Solar System Phenomena

Tides, Seasons, Factors influencing climate (Q), Eclipses, Aurorae and space weather (Q), Meteor Showers

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Theoretical Part, 'Solar System' table, row 'Phenomena'
Stars Stellar Properties

Methods of Distance determination, Radiation, Luminosity and magnitude, Color indices and temperature, Determination of radii and masses, Stellar motion, Irregular and regular stellar variabilities – broad classification & properties, Cepheids and period-luminosity relation, Physics of pulsation (Q)

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Theoretical Part, 'Stars' table, row 'Stellar Properties'
Stars Stellar Interior and Atmospheres

Stellar equilibrium, Stellar nucleosynthesis, Energy transportation (Q), Boundary conditions, Stellar atmospheres and atmospheric spectra

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Theoretical Part, 'Stars' table, row 'Stellar Interior and Atmospheres'
Stars Stellar Evolution

Stellar formation, Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, Pre-Main Sequence, Main Sequence, Post-Main Sequence stars, supernovae, planetary nebulae, End states of stars

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Theoretical Part, 'Stars' table, row 'Stellar Evolution'
Stellar Systems Binary Star Systems

Different types of binary stars, Mass determination in binary star systems, Light and radial velocity curves of eclipsing binary systems, Doppler shifts in binary systems, interacting binaries, peculiar binary systems

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Theoretical Part, 'Stellar Systems' table, row 'Binary Star Systems'
Stellar Systems Exoplanets

Techniques used to detect exoplanets, Habitable zone, Classes of exoplanets (Q), Spectral signatures of possible life (Q)

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Theoretical Part, 'Stellar Systems' table, row 'Exoplanets'
Stellar Systems Star Clusters

Classification and Structure, Mass, age, luminosity and distance determination

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Theoretical Part, 'Stellar Systems' table, row 'Star Clusters'
Stellar Systems Milky Way Galaxy

Structure and composition, Rotation, Satellites of Milky Way (Q)

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Theoretical Part, 'Stellar Systems' table, row 'Milky Way Galaxy'
Stellar Systems Interstellar Medium

Gas (Q), dust (Q), HII regions, 21cm radiation, nebulae (Q), interstellar absorption, dispersion measure, Faraday rotation

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Theoretical Part, 'Stellar Systems' table, row 'Interstellar Medium'
Stellar Systems Galaxies

Classifications based on structure, composition and activity, Mass, luminosity and distance determination, Rotation curves

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Theoretical Part, 'Stellar Systems' table, row 'Galaxies'
Stellar Systems Accretion Processes

Basic concepts (spherical and disc accretion) (Q), Eddington luminosity

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Theoretical Part, 'Stellar Systems' table, row 'Accretion Processes'
Cosmology Elementary Cosmology

Expanding Universe and Hubble’s Law, Cluster of galaxies, Dark matter, Dark energy (Q), Gravitational lensing, Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation, Big Bang (Q), Alternative models of the Universe (Q), Large scale structure (Q), Distance measurement at cosmological scale, cosmological redshift

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Theoretical Part, 'Cosmology' table, row 'Elementary Cosmology'
Instrumentation and Space Technologies Multi-wavelength Astronomy

Observations in radio, microwave, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelength bands, Earth’s atmospheric effects, Artificial light and EM pollution

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Theoretical Part, 'Instrumentation and Space Technologies' table, row 'Multi-wavelength Astronomy'
Instrumentation and Space Technologies Instrumentation

Telescopes and detectors (e.g. charge-coupled devices, photometers, spectrographs), Magnification, Focal length, Focal ratio, resolving and light-gathering powers of telescopes, Geometric model of two element interferometer, Aperture synthesis, Adaptive optics, photometry, astrometry

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Theoretical Part, 'Instrumentation and Space Technologies' table, row 'Instrumentation'
Practical Part2 topic groups
Practical Part Observations section

Naked-eye observations; Usage of sky maps and catalogues (note: any stars referred to by name rather than Bayer designation or catalogue number must be on the list of IAU-approved star names; knowledge of the whole list should not be required); Application of coordinate systems in the sky, magnitude estimation, estimation of angular separation; Usage of basic astronomical instruments-telescopes and various detectors for observations but enough instructions must be provided to the contestants. Observational objects may be from real sources in the sky or imitated sources in the laboratory. Computer simulations may be used in the problems but sufficient instructions must be provided to the contestants; Observational objects may be from real sources in the sky or imitated sources in the laboratory. Computer simulations may be used in the problems but sufficient instructions must be provided to the contestants

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Practical Part, observations section (focuses on contestant's experience in)
Practical Part Data analysis section

Proper identification of error sources; Proper use of graph papers with different scales, e.g., polar and logarithmic papers. Finding “Best Fit” line approximately; Familiarity with the use of basic geometrical instruments (ruler, compass, protractor, set-square); Knowledge of the most common experimental techniques for measuring physical quantities mentioned in Part A

Read from: IOAA Syllabus, Practical Part, data analysis section (additional requirements)

Official links and how they were checked

  • International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics - home page Verified against the document
    Official website · International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) · 2026 · checked 5 Oct 2026
    Opened https://ioaastrophysics.org/ on 2026-10-05; it is the IOAA's own website (footer '© 2026 IOAA') and its Resources menu links 'IOAA Syllabus' to the syllabus page used here, and 'Junior IOAA Syllabus' to a separate page not used.
  • IOAA Syllabus Verified against the document
    Syllabus · International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) · 2026 · checked 5 Oct 2026
    Opened https://ioaastrophysics.org/resources/ioaa-syllabus on 2026-10-05 (WebFetch, then downloaded the HTML with curl and extracted its text). The page is titled 'IOAA Syllabus' and carries no edition year; the site footer reads '2026 IOAA'. It has General Notes, a Theoretical Part (8 groups of Contents/Topics tables, 29 rows) and a Practical Part (observations and data analysis lists). Chapters and topic lists were cut mechanically from the extracted text (soft hyphens removed, wrapped lines joined with a space, nothing typed from memory). Compared after writing against a second, fresh download of the page, normalised to lowercase letters and digits: all 29 row titles and topic lists and both Practical Part lists occur in the page text in the same order, and the only page text not in this file is the group headings (used as unit), the 'Contents'/'Topics' column heads, the introductory sentences and General Notes (deliberately not copied). Not compared: the rendered page as an image.
OCSC Astronomy→ IOAA

Official website ↗

Details checked against official sources on 25 Sep 2026. Always confirm against the current official notification before applying. [1] [2]

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