A r A S   N e w s

 

 

N E W S L E T T E R   OF THE

ARMENIAN ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY   ( A r A S )

 

Editor: Lilit Hovhannisyan

 

The ArAS Newsletter in the INTERNET: http://www.aras.am/arasnews.html

 

 

 

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CONTENTS:

 

 

1. JENAM-2007 News

2. Anniversaries

3. Participation of Armenian Astronomers in International Scientific Events

4. ArVO Group

5. Call for ArAS Prize 

6. Byurakanian News

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JENAM 2007 news

 

As was announced Joint European and National Astronomy Meeting (JENAM) will be organized on Aug. 20-25, in Yerevan.  Eight EAS symposia and six special sessions will cover various aspects of modern astronomy. So far we have registered 242 participants and there are 290 contributions in total.

 

Dear ArAS members we would like to remind you about JENAM-2007 deadlines:

 

Jun 30, 2007            Final Submission of Abstracts of accepted papers for the Abstracts book

July 15, 2007           Final Announcement with the detailed Program

Aug 20-25, 2007     JENAM-2007 in Yerevan

Oct 31, 2007             deadline for submission of papers for publication in the  Proceedings

 

Programs of individual symposia and special sessions will be ready by June 30.

 

So far we have registered 230 participants and there are 275 contributions in total.

 

Contact addresses:

Postal Address: JENAM-2007, Armenian Astronomical Society (ArAS), Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory (BAO), Byurakan 378433, Aragatzotn province, Republic of Armenia.

Telephone: +374-10-580656 (Areg Mickaelian); Fax: +374-10-519205

E-mail: jenam2007@aras.am

World Wide Web URL: http://www.aras.am/JENAM-2007/index.htm (this site); http://www2.iap.fr/eas/Jenam07/index.htm (mirror site at EAS)

SOC Co-Chairmen: Joachim Krautter (Germany), Areg Mickaelian (Armenia)

LOC: jenam2007@aras.am, LOC Chairman: Areg Mickaelian (Armenia)

For an inquiry and discussion of the details of the individual EAS symposia and JENAM special sessions, please contact the SOC Chairs and the Conveners of the corresponding sessions:

EAS S1: Michel Mayor (Switzerland), EAS S2: Georges Alecian (France), EAS S3: Tigran Magakian (Armenia), EAS S4: Thierry Courvoisier (Switzerland), EAS S5: Ian Robson (UK), EAS S6: Rainer Spurzem (Germany), EAS S7: Hayk Harutyunyan (Armenia), EAS S8: Areg Mickaelian (Armenia), JENAM SPS1: Michel Dennefeld (France), JENAM SPS2: Sadoyan Avetis (Armenia), JENAM SPS3: Sadoyan Avetis (Armenia), JENAM SPS4: Vincent Coudé du Foresto (France), JENAM SPS5: Magda Stavinschi (Romania), JENAM SPS6: Areg Mickaelian (Armenia).

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Congratulations

 

85th anniversary of Dr. Nina IVANOVA

 

This May Byurakan astronomers celebrated 85^th anniversary of Dr. Nina L. Ivanova, who presently is one of the oldest staff members of the observatory, where she works from 1950.

 

Dr. Ivanova was born in May 1, 1922 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), and graduated from the Leningrad State University (YSU). Even in her student years she was visiting Armenia to conduct the observations. Her PhD thesis was devoted to spectrophotometry of B type stars in Pleiades and Orion; the observations were carried out during the special expedition on the Mt. Aragatz at 3200 meters latitude. After that N.L. Ivanova decided to become resident and associate of Byurakan Observatory.

 

Dr. Ivanova is the author of about 60 papers, mainly concerning the spectroscopic studies of various unstable and variable stars (Be and shell stars, P Cyg stars, symbiotic stars, T Tauri stars). She obtained more than 3000 spectrograms, observing on various telescopes, starting from the 25 cm ASI-5 and up to the 6m BTA telescope of Special Astrophysical Obs. (Russia). She participated in several General Meetings of IAU, many symposia and colloqia, was member of various coordinating commissions.

 

Dr. Ivanova always held a great authority and respect among her colleagues in Byurakan and abroad. She is the member of IAU, ArAS (since 2001). The Armenian Astronomical Society wishes to her strong health and new scientific successes.

 

Nersisyan Sergei is 60 now. Sergei was born in 1947, January 6. He has graduated from the Yerevan State University in 1970 and the same year he started working at the Byurakan Observatory as a laboratory assistant. From 1971-1973 he had served in the USSR army. After he came back he started working at BAO as an assistant astronomer. Sergei defended his PhD in 1987. Sergei’s research interests include investigations of carbon stars, star clusters, etc. Since 2002 he works at the Yerevan State Pedagogical University after Kh. Abovian as a lecturer of physics and astrophysics. Beside his scientific activity he is interested in writing popular books on astronomical subjects.

 

We congratulate ArAS member Ms. Greta Ohanyan's 60-th anniversary  and wish her all the best. Greta was born in 1947, April 28. She has graduated from the Yerevan State University in 1970 and the same year she started working at the Byurakan Observatory as an assistant astronomer. In 1972, she became an assistant astronomer. Greta’s research interests include investigations of flare stars, clusters, etc. A number of flare stars were discovered thanks to Greta. Recent years she was the chief of the Byurakan Observatory photographic plate library. Greta is a member of ArAS since 2001.  She is also a member of Euro-Asian Astronomical Society (EAAS).  

 

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Participation of Armenian astronomers in international scientific events

 

IAU Symposium 243, Star-disk interaction in young stars

 

This year from 21-25 May our colleagues Elena Nikogosian and Tigran Magakian participated in the IAU Symposium 243, «Star-disk interaction in young stars» symposium, which was held in Grenoble, France. They had three presentations: «The nebula IRAS 20658+5217» and «The unusual spectrum of FS Tau B reflection nebula: an influence of the accretion disk» by Tigran Magakian and Elena has presented a talk «New Herbig-Haro objects related to cometary nebulae».  

 

ONTHEFRINGE, VLTI Summer School 2007

 

For the second time the VLTI summer school was organized and this time in Porto, Portugal. The school was sponsored by Marie Curie program. The goal of the school is to present an overview of disk and planetary astrophysics emphasizing both the physical mechanisms, and the high angular resolution observational techniques (such as adaptive optics, mm and optical interferometry). Emphasis is given to interferometry given the importance of the Very Large Telescope Interferometer and the ALMA array for disk and planetary studies. Practical sessions will center on proposal preparation for the Very Large Telescope Interferometer. Finally, complementary skills useful for young astronomers will be addressed in a series of lectures.  Around 50 PhD students and Young PostDocs from Europe and America have participated in the school. And one of the participants from Armenia was Elena Hovhannisyan. She has presented a poster on three D spectroscopy of HH588 region. She came back with a lot of new skills  and happy memories. For details, lectures, posters and other info please visit the website: www.vlti.org 

 

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ArVO Group

 

Last year, an Armenian Virtual Observatory Group (ArVO) was formed in the Byurakan Observatory. ArVO project is based on the DFBS, which was made in frame of collaboration between three institutions: BAO, University of La Sapienza (Rome), and Cornell University (Ithaca, New York). All the ArVO scientific projects are being carried out using the low dispersion spectra from DFBS. 

 

Our group consist of 6 members: Areg Mickaelian (PI), Tigran Magakian (project scientist), and four group members Lida Erastova, Parandzem Sinamyan, Lusine Sargsyan, and Lilit Hovhannisyan. Here are some of the actual topics of ArVO group:

 

1.Search and Study of Blue Stellar Objects (Parandzem Sinamyan),

2.Search and Study of Extremely Red Objects (Kamo Gigoyan)

3.Search and Study of Variable Objects (Lilit Hovhannisyan).

 

Two Spitzer projects:

1.Study of Stellar Objects Among Bootes Spitzer Objects (Lilit Hovhannisyan)

2.Spitzer Sources with Extremely High IR/opt Flux Ratio (Lusine Sargsyan).

 

Another project is:

Variability study of ON 231 blazar (Lida Erastova, Lusine Sargsyan).  

 

This project was awarded ANSEF 2007, CRDF 2007-2008 and ISTC 2007-2008 grants. In addition, in frame of collaboration of Rome University our group members visited Rome, for discussions and joint research. A workshop was organized devoted to DFBS and other

surveys, where a number of talks were presented on various projects and possibilities. ArVO is a member of IVOA and the main organizer of the VO session at JENAM.

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Call for ArAS Annual Prize for Young Astronomers

 

ArAS is pleased to announce its fourth Annual Prize for Young Scientists. As in previous years, the prize will be awarded to a young scientist under 35 working in astronomy or related field and showing significant results in research and/or other scientific activities connected anyhow with the Armenian astronomy. Nominations may be made by members or any research organization from or elsewhere and should be sent to one of the ArAS Co-Presidents. They should include personal data for the nominee and a brief description

of his/her achievements during the year, including important scientific results, all published papers, participation in meetings, given talks, etc., whatever is considered to be important. The deadline for applications is December 1. The selection will be made by a special committee and the results will be announced in the last issue of ArAS Newsletter at the end of each year. A diploma and sum of $100 will be awarded to the winner. As in the previous years, the ArAS Co-President Prof. Yervant Terzian is sponsoring the annual Prize for Young Scientists in 2006, too.

 

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Byurakanian news

 

A month ago Byurakan Observatory announced competition for research positions. There are five types of research positions: principal research associate, leading research associate, senior research associate, research associate, and junior research associate. So far, there are 55 applications for 42 positions. By the end of June, Byurakan astronomers will take their new positions, according to their scientific activity.