The Digitized First Byurakan Survey (DFBS) is the digitized version of the famous Markarian survey, called also the First Byurakan Survey (FBS). It is the largest spectroscopic database in the world, providing low-dispersion spectra for 20,000,000 objects. DFBS is a joint project of the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory (BAO), Cornell University (USA) and Universita di Roma “La Sapienza” (Italy). The whole Northern sky and part of the Southern sky at high galactic latitudes have been observed in FBS, altogether more than 17,000 deg². It is especially valuable for extragalactic research. 1500 UV-excess galaxies (Markarian galaxies), 1100 blue stellar objects and 900 late-type stars have been discovered on the basis of FBS, as well as 1600 infrared (IRAS) sources have been optically identified.

A piece of a DFBS plate # 1254 and a typical spectrum of an F-type star

The DFBS has been created in 2002-2004 as a result of digitization and reduction of some 2000 FBS plates. High-accuracy (1² rms) astrometric solution has been made for each plate. Dedicated software allows quick access to any field by given position and extraction of the needed spectra, their calibration, classification and study. The DFBS is free for the astronomical community. It occupies 360 GB space (85 DVDs). The DFBS catalog and database are being maintained in Armenia and will be also available at CDS, Cornell and Rome. DFBS is the largest Armenian astronomical database and one of the largest in the world.

Some projects based on the DFBS have been already put forward, including search for new QSOs and other AGN, continuation of the FBS Second Part, identifications of IR and X-ray sources, etc. The DFBS is the basis for the Armenian Virtual Observatory (ArVO), which is being created at present and will unify all available astronomical data in Armenia, including all Byurakan archive and data from the Byurakan telescopes. ArVO will be a part of the International Virtual Observatories Alliance (IVOA).