This past Saturday was an exciting day for our campers. We all packed inside of a van to transport us south to admire Armenia's only observatory. On the way down, our youth sung songs to keep the entire bus entertained. The atmosphere inside was filled with energy and anticipation. That energy was carried all the way to the observatory, where we played a couple of group games before starting out tour of Byurakan.
Byurakan Observatory is located south of Talin on the slopes of Mount Aragats. It was originally founded in 1946, and was put to good use by famous astrophysicist and Armenian, Victor Ambartsumian. During the time of the Soviet Union, the Byurakan Observatory was used as one of the main astronomy centers, wherein Ambartsumian made a number of significant discoveries in his field of science.
Our tour started first with the beautiful stone buildings near the entrance, and a brief discussion about Hambartsumyan. We were then led to his office. No pictures were allowed inside, but it was a sizable building with the same tan stone exterior. On display inside was a library of books on physics, astronomy, astrophysics, and so on, a number of awards from various scientific communities, and pictures of Hambartsumyan with dignitaries from around the world. Hambartsumyan was not only a leading mind for Armenia and the Soviet Union, but the entire world. One of those discoveries was that stars are currently being formed within our universe, and that they're being formed in groups.
Byurakan Observatory is located south of Talin on the slopes of Mount Aragats. It was originally founded in 1946, and was put to good use by famous astrophysicist and Armenian, Victor Ambartsumian. During the time of the Soviet Union, the Byurakan Observatory was used as one of the main astronomy centers, wherein Ambartsumian made a number of significant discoveries in his field of science.
Our tour started first with the beautiful stone buildings near the entrance, and a brief discussion about Hambartsumyan. We were then led to his office. No pictures were allowed inside, but it was a sizable building with the same tan stone exterior. On display inside was a library of books on physics, astronomy, astrophysics, and so on, a number of awards from various scientific communities, and pictures of Hambartsumyan with dignitaries from around the world. Hambartsumyan was not only a leading mind for Armenia and the Soviet Union, but the entire world. One of those discoveries was that stars are currently being formed within our universe, and that they're being formed in groups.
The trip inside the telescope was maybe the most exciting part of visiting the observatory. We climbed three flights of stairs to reach the main telescope, a 2.6m cassegrain reflector. The awe of our campers was ignited, and they couldn't ask enough questions to satisfy their curiosity. "Do you believe in aliens? How expensive was it to build technology like this? How far away can you look with this telescope?" The onslaught of questions continued like this for twenty minutes before we had to start making our way out of the building to make room for the next group. This observatory proved to be a beautiful monument to science and discovery.
For lunch, we hopped back into the busses and headed up the road to have a khorovats at an organic farm. This farm in particular produces 3 tonnes of strawberries a year, dried fruit, and souvenirs for travelers on top of the wonderful facilities provided to cook and eat.
The kids were able to kick back and relax for a bit, watch the world cup, and play a few rounds of "Mafia". After we were done eating and drinking coffee, the owners were even nice enough to take us on a tour of the greenhouse and the facility where they dry and produce fruit products.
Even after an extremely long day of adventure and discovery, the campers insisted that we have a dance party after dinner that night. It was a great way to end a fun filled day.
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