IV Regional Astronomical Summer School (4RASS) will take place at Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory on September 8-12, 2025. During the school the students will have observations on 1 or 2.6 m telescopes, practical tutorial sessions on data reduction and analysis, statistics, as well as will get knowledge about the Astronomical Surveys, Databases, Archives and Virtual Observatory tools. The Regional Schools are related to the IAU South West and Central Asian Regional Office of Astronomy for Development (SWCA ROAD) hosted by Armenia since 2015.

The Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory (BAO) is one of the main observational centers of the former Soviet Union and is an important observatory with modern facilities in the region. It was founded in 1946 by one of the greatest astrophysicists of the 20th century V. A. Ambartsumian and is well known for its large spectroscopic surveys: First and Second Byurakan Surveys (FBS and SBS), undertaken by B. E. Markarian and his colleagues. BAO hosts a number of medium-size optical telescopes, the most important being the 2.6m classical telescope and 1m Schmidt telescope. BAO holds the Digitized First Byurakan Survey (DFBS, or the Digitized Markarian survey), containing low-dispersion spectra of ~20,000,000 objects, largest number in the world, which is the basis of the Armenian Virtual Observatory (ArVO), a member of the International Virtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA).

All local expenses for the school will be covered by the organizers. We can offer a limited number of travel grants for students from South West and Central Asia Regional Office of Astronomy for Development (SWCA ROAD) member countries and few more grants to other nationality students.

The school is mainly meant for MSc and PhD students in astronomy, also BSc students in the later stages.

Note that the school can accommodate 20 students.
English is the working language of the school.

The next week after the 4RASS the international symposium “Astronomical Surveys and Big Data 3” dedicated to 60th anniversary of Markarian Survey and the 20th anniversary of the Armenian Virtual Observatory (ArVO) is being organized. If you would like to take part also in the conference, please, follow the link to register.