Byurakan Observatory, Astronomical observatory in Byurakan, Armenia.
Byurakan Observatory stands on the southern slope of Mount Aragats at 1,490 m, 50 km north of Yerevan. Its two main domes appear side by side: the larger silver-grey metal dome with a vertical seam and capped apex, above a cylindrical base banded in grey stone and dark slots, and a smaller ribbed silver dome over a reddish-brown wall. The complex also includes a residential settlement, laboratories, a conference hall and a guest house.
Founded in 1946 on Viktor Ambartsumian's initiative, the observatory was built under architect Samvel Safaryan and officially opened on 19 September 1956. Its 2.64 m ZTA reflector, designed by Bagrat Hovhannisyan and made at LOMO, saw first light in October 1976. In 1971 it hosted the first Soviet-American SETI conference, and in 1998 it was named after Ambartsumian.
The observatory's journal, "Communications of the Byurakan Observatory", began in its founding year, 1946. In 1971 the site hosted the first Soviet-American SETI conference. Since 2011 the Markarian sky survey has been listed in UNESCO's Memory of the World register.
The complex lies on the southern slope of Mount Aragats at about 1,490 m, 50 km north of Yerevan on the edge of Byurakan village. It is split into a residential settlement and a working section with the telescope towers, laboratories and a guest house. The site is reached by road from Yerevan; the mountain setting makes warm layers useful outside summer.
The 102 cm Schmidt camera installed in 1960 was made in 1944 and had originally been a gift from Hitler to Mussolini for a planned observatory in Italy. In 1971 the observatory hosted the first Soviet-American SETI conference, and in 2011 the Markarian sky survey was added to UNESCO's Memory of the World register.
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