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 )
No. 25
(April 28, 2008)
Editor: Lilit
Hovhannisyan
The ArAS
Newsletter in the INTERNET: http://www.aras.am/arasnews.html
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CONTENTS:
1. Ambartsumian’s 100th
anniversary
2. Second Byurakan
International Summer School
3. Anniversaries
Ambartsumian’s 100th anniversary
This year we celebrate Professor V.A. Ambartsumian’s
100th anniversary. Ambartsumian was the founder of the Byurakan
Astrophysical Observatory, he is the greatest Armenian astronomer of all times
and one of the greatest astronomers of the XX century in the world.
Ambartsumian’s 100th anniversary will be celebrated worldwide and is
included in UNESCO’s official list as well.
Victor Ambartsumian, one of
the founders of modern astrophysics, had founded the first in the Soviet Union
astrophysics department at the Saint-Petersburg State University, and the Byurakan
Astrophysical Observatory in Armenia (1946). He was among the founding members
of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences (1943), having consequently served
as its President (1947-1993). He was elected the IAU President (1961-1964), as
well as twice the ISCU President (1968-1972). You can read more
about Ambartsumian's biography, his achievements, honours and awards at http://aras.am/Ambartsumian.html or http://www.bao.am/VAmbartsumian.html.
The conference "Evolution of cosmic
objects through their physical activity" will be the most
important event in Ambartsumian’s 100th anniversary celebrations. It
will take place on September,
15-19, 2008, in Byurakan (the scientific sessions) and Yerevan (the opening
session and the ceremonial
meeting on the 19th),
Armenia.
Recently the First Announcement of the conference was
distributed. You can find all
available information about this event at http://www.bao.am/VA100.html.
The registration is open and available online at http://www.bao.am/registration.html. Here
we give brief most important information.
Armenian National Academy of Sciences and the Byurakan
Astrophysical Observatory (BAO) are the organizers.
Scientific Organizing Committee (SOC):
Halton Arp (Germany)
Yuri Balega (Russia)
Geoffrey Burbidge (USA), Co-chair
Anatoly Cherepashchuk (Russia)
Michael Dopita (Australia)
Daniel Kunth (France)
Hayk Harutyunyan (Armenia), Co-chair
Jayant Narlikar (India) to be confirmed
Sadanori Okamura (Japan)
Roberto Terlevich (Mexico)
Ian Robson (UK) to be confirmed
Yervant Terzian (USA)
The Local Organizing Committee (LOC) consists of H.A. Harutyunyan & A.M. Mickaelian
(Co-Chairs), S.K. Balayan, A.L. Gyulbudaghyan, A.A. Hakobyan, T.Yu. Magakian,
V.H. Malumyan, N.D. Melikyan, A.G. Nikoghossian, E.H. Nikoghosyan, and A.R. Petrosian.
A limited number of travel grants will be available, reserved mainly for
invited speakers and young participants.
Some important deadlines:
Jun 30,
2008 Deadline for Submission of
Abstracts and Travel Grant Applications
Jul 15,
2008 Applicants to be informed on
outcome of Travel Grant Applications and Confirmation of Acceptance of
Abstracts
Jul 20,
2008 Deadline for Early Registration
and Hotel Reservation
Contacts: Hayk
Harutyunyan, Co-chair, SOC and LOC: hhayk@bao.sci.am
and
Areg Mickaelian, Co-Chair LOC: aregmick@apaven.am.
SECOND
BYURAKAN INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL
First
Announcement
The Second Byurakan International Summer
School for young astronomers "Practical Astrophysics" will take place
on September 20-30, 2008 in Byurakan
(Armenia). It is being organized jointly by the Byurakan Astrophysical
Observatory (BAO) and the Armenian Astronomical Society (ArAS). The School is
also devoted to Prof. V.A. Ambartsumian’s 100th anniversary and will
be linked to Ambartsumian's Centennial meeting, so that the students may also
participate in these events before the school.
The Byurakan
Observatory is one of the main observational centers of the former Soviet Union
and is an important observatory with modern facilities in the Middle East
region. It was founded in 1946 by V.A. Ambartsumian and is well known for its
large spectroscopic surveys: the First and Second Byurakan Surveys, undertaken
by B.E. Markarian and colleagues.
The Byurakan
Observatory hosts a number of medium-size optical telescopes, the most
important being the 2.6m classical telescope and 1m Schmidt telescope. There
are various modern astronomical instruments, including the multi-pupil
spectrograph (VAGR). The Byurakan Observatory holds the Digitized First
Byurakan Survey (DFBS, or the Markarian survey), containing low-dispersion
spectra for ~20,000,000 objects. Many qualified specialists work presently in
Byurakan, who are prepared to teach modern astrophysics to young people. In
addition, a number of well-known scientists are invited to lecture during the
school on various interesting topics.
Topics:
Ground-based Telescopes and Modern Observational
Techniques;
Space Telescopes and Space Missions;
2D spectroscopy;
Computers for Astronomy: Astronomical Data Reduction;
Archives, Databases and Virtual Observatories;
Studies of Planets, Stars, Nebulae, and Galaxies by various
methods;
Astronomical Surveys and Future Giant Projects;
Events:
Most of the time will be devoted to lectures (2-3
lectures daily) and practical courses (observations and data reduction). The
following events will take place during the School:
Lectures on different aspects of observational
astrophysics;
Observations with 2.6m telescope;
Data reduction with MIDAS and IRAF packages;
Observations with small telescopes;
Practical courses of astronomy with computers;
Acquaintance with the Byurakan Observatory and its
research;
Excursions to famous Armenian sightseeing.
Tentative list of Lecturers and Lectures:
Dr. Don BARRY (Cornell University, USA)
Dr. Michel DENNEFELD (Institut d'Astrophysique de
Paris, France)
Dr. Dieter ENGELS (Hamburger Sternwarte, Germany)
Dr. Haik HARUTYUNIAN (Byurakan Astrophysical
Observatory, Armenia)
Dr. Daniel KUNTH (Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris,
France)
Dr. Tigran MAGAKIAN (Byurakan Astrophysical
Observatory, Armenia)
Dr. Areg MICKAELIAN (Byurakan Astrophysical
Observatory, Armenia)
Dr. Tigran MOVSESSIAN (Byurakan Astrophysical
Observatory, Armenia)
Dr. Artashes PETROSIAN (Byurakan Astrophysical
Observatory, Armenia)
Dr. Avetis SADOYAN (Yerevan State University, Armenia)
Ms. Lusine SARGSYAN (Byurakan Astrophysical
Observatory, Armenia)
Participation and Accommodation:
Upper-level
University students and post-graduate students are eligible to apply for
participation. Please send the completed registration form (see below) by
e-mail to Areg Mickaelian (aregmick@apaven.am) before August 10, 2008. Online
registration will be also available soon at the BAO and ArAS web pages.
The students must
have a working knowledge of English which will be the official language of the
school, as well as sufficient level in physics and mathematics. A maximum of 30
students will be selected. The participants will stay in the Byurakan Observatory
hotel and hostel. Meals will be offered in Byurakan, too.
There is no
participation fee. All lecturers and students may stay in Byurakan for free and
the meals will be also offered for free. Those participants who wish to stay in
Yerevan hotels should take care for the payments by themselves.
The organizers will
also take care for the transportation of all participants from the airport to
Byurakan and back.
Sponsors and Financial
Support
The school is
supported by the Armenian Government, the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory
(BAO), and the Armenian Astronomical Society (ArAS).
A small number of
travel grants will be distributed for a partial support of students
exceptionally from countries with limited resources. An application for a financial
support with a brief justification should be sent by e-mail before June 30,
2008 to Areg Mickaelian (aregmick@apaven.am).
International Organizing Committee (IOC)
Don Barry (USA)
Michel Dennefeld (France)
Dieter Engels (Co-chair, Germany)
Haik Harutyunian (Armenia)
Daniel Kunth (France)
Areg Mickaelian (Co-chair, Armenia)
Local Organizing Committee (LOC)
A.M. Mickaelian (Chair), K.S. Gigoyan, L.R. Hovhannisyan,
N.D. Melikyan, E.H. Nikoghosyan,
L.A. Sargsyan, P.K. Sinamyan.
Deadlines
April 28, 2008 First
(this) Announcement
June 30, 2008
Deadline for
applications for support
July 10, 2008
Notification on
distribution of travel grants
July 20, 2008
Second Announcement
with tentative program
August 10, 2008
Deadline
for registration
August 20, 2008
Final Announcement
with detailed program
September 20-30, 2008
Second Byurakan
International Summer School
Contact Addresses
Address: Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory, Byurakan 0213,
Aragatzotn Province, Armenia.
Phone:
+374-10 58-06-56 (Areg
Mickaelian)
Fax: +374-10 51-92-05
E-mail:
aregmick@apaven.am (Areg
Mickaelian)
Web page: Will be set up soon at BAO (www.bao.am) and
ArAS (www.aras.am) pages
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REGISTRATION FORM
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name:
First name:
Age:
Sex:
University, department:
Year and stage of Academic studies:
Country:
Your reasons for wishing to attend the school:
Name and address of your supervisor or a person who
will give recommendation:
Postal Address:
Phone: Fax:
E-mail: Web page:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
DEADLINE FOR REGISTRATION: August 10, 2008.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANNIVERSARIES
The first half of 2008 is rich in anniversaries of
ArAS members (Richard Belian, 70, Lidia Erastova, 70, and Rafik Kandalian, 60),
as well as the famous Armenian astronomer, one of the founders of the Byurakan
Observatory, late Ludwik Mirzoyan, 85.
A biographical
review about Prof. Ludwik Mirzoyan (1923-1999) is available at the ArAS webpage
under “Famous Armenian astronomers”.
Richard (Dick) BELIAN was born on February 23, 1938,
in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. He received his Masters Degree in physics from the
University of New Mexico in the spring of 1967. Following two summers as a Los
Alamos GRA in J.G., he joined the full time staff at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, New Mexico, in 1967 where he has been
ever since. Initially, Belian worked on a new instrument for the Vela
satellites, the XAVIER or cosmic X-ray detector. This instrument was
responsible for the discovery of short, intense, high energy astrophysical
events. Since then Richard has worked as on a large number of energetic
particle detectors for earth orbit. In 1982, he became the PI for the Advanced
Particle Outboard or APO detectors, which is the follow-through energetic
particle detector for the Advanced RADEC II (AR II) program. In addition,
Richard has hardware responsibilities for the Imaging Electron Spectrometer or
IES instruments for NASA and ESA/NASA International Solar-Terrestrial Physics
(ISTP) program. In all, Richard is or has been PI on 45 instruments now in
space, and 5 more awaiting launch and co-I on several others. Recently, Richard
has been associated with the highly successful NASA Lunar Prospector project,
where he was responsible for one of the three LANL detectors, the APS, on that
lunar satellite. Also, Richard is PI on a new programmatic instrument the PEM
(Proton Electron Monitor) that will be flown as part of new nuclear detection
instrumentation for geosynchronous orbit. He is the Los Alamos Cluster team leader of the Space and Remote
Sensing Sciences group. Although Richard's major efforts have been in the
areas of conceiving, designing, building, calibrating and testing flight
instruments, he has been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to do
basic research, both in the area of energetic particles in the earth's
magnetosphere and in X-ray astronomy during the early days of that area of high
energy astrophysics - first author on 12, coauthor on more than 100 refereed
papers. Dr. Belian is an AAS and
ArAS (since March 2002) member.
Lidia K. ERASTOVA was born on February 6, 1938, in Ush-Tode (Alma-Ata,
Kazakhstan). In 1960, she has graduated from the Yerevan State University
(YSU), Department of Physics (Chair of Astrophysics), and began working at the
Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory (BAO). Since then, she almost all the time
(with a short absence to the Russian Special Astrophysical Observatory, SAO at
the beginning of 1990s) lives in Byurakan and is one of the most experienced
scientists of BAO. In 1982, she defended her Ph.D. thesis under Prof. V.A.
Ambartsumian’s supervision. Erastova’s participated in two very important
projects carried out in Byurakan: search for flare stars in star clusters and
associations (under Prof. L.V. Mirzoyan’s supervision) and the Second Byurakan
Survey (SBS), one of the most important projects of BAO (under Prof. B.E.
Markarian’s supervision). Her main scientific fields are the non-stable stars,
surveys, AGN, starburst galaxies. She has published some 100 scientific papers
on various topics of astronomy. Dr. Erastova is a founding member
of ArAS (since July 2001). At present she continues to work on active galaxies,
SBS galaxies, as well as the Digitized First Byurakan Survey (DFBS).
Rafik A. KANDALIAN
was born on March 12, 1948, in Yerevan. In 1973, he has graduated
from the Leningrad (St. Petersburg) State University, Department of Physics
(Chair of Radiophysics), and began working at the Byurakan Astrophysical
Observatory (BAO). He took his post-graduate studies in 1977-1980 and defended
his Ph.D. thesis in Astrophysics in 1984 under Prof. V.A. Sanamian’s
supervision. He served as the Scientific Secretary of BAO for international
affairs for a few years. He has participated in several important
radio-astronomical projects in Byurakan. Kandalian’s main scientific fields are
radiogalaxies, IR galaxies, and megamasers. He has conducted a number of collaborations
with foreign astrophysical centres, including Australia, Russia, and France,
and has carried out observations with a number of important radio and
millimeter telescopes, both in Armenia and abroad. Kandalian an author of more
than 100 scientific papers. He works during the last years at the Al-Albayt
University of Jordan, where he teaches a number of astronomy and physics
courses for the students. He is a member of IAU (since 1994), EAS, and ArAS (February
2002).
We congratulate Richard Belian, Lidia Erastova, and
Rafik Kandalian and wish them good health, further success, and
prosperity.