Press Release

NAS RA V. Ambartsumian Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory (BAO)
Press release 15.08.2023

ARMENIAN-SPANISH COOPERATION PROGRAM IS IN PROGRESS

Observations in the Armenian-Spanish cooperation program between the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory (BAO) and Astronomical Observatory Ramon Maria Aller of the University of Santiago de Compostela came to an end.

The collaboration began in 2016 with spectral and polarimetric observations of binary stars, replacing the old methods with the new one, called speckle interferometry.

The method was put into practice only a few years ago thanks to the acquisition of the eMCCD device. The device makes it possible to observe stars that are suspected to be binary. Thus, many images are obtained by the speckle interferometry method, which are later combined and added together using special mathematical calculations. This allows to reduce atmospheric turbulence and remove the sky background. During each observation, as many measurements of the stars as possible are collected, and then these data are used to measure the orbits of the binary stars.

Observations were made with the 2.6 meters telescope, the largest in the BAO. Within the framework of cooperation, Spanish scientists visited the BAO every year to engage in joint research work.

G. Paronyan, BAO researcher and Alexei Grave, BAO engineer, together with J. Gomez and J. Couto from Spain participated in the program. The project from BAO was initiated by the late Norayr Melikian, Senior Researcher of BAO “Unstable Phenomena” Research Department.

Meline Asryan