Report on the trip of Dr. Marina Romanova and Prof. Richard Lovelace (Cornell University, USA) to Almaty, Kazakstan in frames of the IAU TAD program 9-15 August, 2008
We visited several institutions in Almaty, gave lectures, talked to scientists. Historically, Kazakhstan has strong scientific base due to strong ties with Russia and with the fact that many scientists studied atMoscow and other RussianUniversities. The main Astronomy Institute named after Prof. Fesenkov was founded by academician V.G.Fesenkov in 1941 and is well known in the world. In recent years a new generation of astronomers were trained by the earlier generation of scientists. In addition, some young scientists go abroad for study and work and return back thus creating an additional strength to astronomy in Kazakhstan. Recently, an Astronomy Department has been created at the Al-FarabiKazakhNationalUniversity, so that Kazakh young people can study astronomy right in Almaty. Recently, the government of the Kazakhstan decided to unite three major astronomical institutions (Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute, Ionospheric Institute and Space Research Institute) to one "National Centrum of Space Researches and Technologies"(NCSRT), which is expected to enhance Kazakhstan’s Space exploration program, though the process is not easy and demands special attention to support astronomical scientific researchers. There are several small observatories around Almaty which are used for observations of different astronomical objects, for training young scholars and also to show astronomy for the public.
The Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute is the lead astronomical institution of the Kazakhstan. It has several directions of research, including young stars and nebulae, active galactic nuclei, stellar dynamics, planetary research and Solar studies. It is located close to Almaty, 1400 meters above the sea level. There are several small (1-meter and less) telescopes on the grounds of the Institute which are used for observations of bright objects, and for training of young astronomers. Two of the telescopes are used to show astronomical objects for public on a regular basis.
Prof. Lovelace and Dr. Romanova – lecturers of the IAU TAD program at the entrance of the Fesenkov Institute. They gave several lectures at the Fesenkov Institute and at the Al-FarabiKazakhNationalUniversity. Lovelace gave lectures on “Modern American Telescopes”, while Romanova gave lectures on “Numerical Modeling in Astrophysics” and “Modeling of Young Stars”. Scientists and students were interested in both topics. Some of them were impressed with stereoscopic visualization presented by Dr. Romanova and planned to incorporate them in their research
Richard Lovelace gives an overview of the projected state-of-the-art US telescopes in his lecture “Modern American Telescopes” at the Al-FarabiKazakhNationalUniversity.
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Marina Romanova shows results of modern numerical simulations in astrophysics in her lecture: “Numerical Modeling in Astrophysics”.
Auditorium at the Al-FarabiKazakhNationalUniversity. Scientists were interested in both, modern telescopes and in modern numerical modeling in astrophysics.
Auditorium at the Al-FarabiKazakhNationalUniversity.
Near the main entrance to the Departments of Physics and Mathematics of the Al-FarabiKazakhNationalUniversity. Dr. Vladimir Oskomov stands at the right.
Emmanuil Vilkoviskiy and Richard Lovelace (left) with scientists from the Al-FarabiKazakhNationalUniversity: Dr. Vladimir Oskomov and Dr. Natalia Burkova in the center.
With scientists from the Fesenkov Institute.Dr. AnatoliyKurchakov (left) is the leader of the group investigating young stars, Dr. Larisa Pavlova (next to him) investigates young Ae/Be type stars.
Richard (left) with scientists from the Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute: Dr. Lubov Shestakova next to him (Solar studies), Dr. Ludmila Kondratyeva (observer of young stars and planetary nebulae), Dr. EdwardDenissyuk (observer of AGNs)(right).
Director of the Fesenkov Institute, Prof. LeonidChechin (left), is a positive and
very active. He is specialist in general relativity and cosmology.
Among the theoretical investigations, the group of Prof. E.Vilkoviskyi should be noted, which performs numerical simulations of the matter outflow from AGN and the evolution
of AGN in the compact stellar cluster (with Dr. Chingis Omarov and Prof. Rainer Spurzem, Heidelberg).
Emmanuil Vilkoviskyi and Richard Lovelace standing at the territory of the Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute. The telescope at the background is used for both, scientific observations and also for Public Outreach.
The 1.0-meter operating (left) and 1.5-meter (not operating) telescopes at the Assy-Tourgen observatory (2700m above the sea level), ~100km East from Almaty.
There are two main observatories in Kazakhstan(now belonging to NCSRT): Assy-Tourgen observatory and Tien-Shan Observatory. We visited the Tien-Shan Observatory which is about 2 hours drive from Almaty. It is located at the beautiful place, 2800 meters above the sea level. It belonged to the MoscowUniversity in the past, but belongs to the Kazakh government after collapse of the Soviet Union at 1990. The main telescope represents interferometer consisting of two 1-meter telescopes. There are also many rooms for astronomers in the adjoining buildings. Interferometer stopped working while ago, but now it is at the stage of repair. The infrastructure has been saved during the past 15 years due to tourist business. Director of the observatory Dr. Kines Kuratov hopes that the instrument is very close to be working. They do have financial problems which slows the process down.
An interferometer consists of two 1-meter telescopes. One of telescopesis expected to work soon.
View to the Tien-Shan observatory and adjoining buildings from the nearby hill.
Director of the Tien-Shan Observatory Dr. Kines Kuratov and us on the way to the Observatory. The place is beautiful. This is part of the Tien-Shan mountains which is called Zailiysky Alatau. We discussed possible international collaboration in investigation of young stars with frequent monitoring of young stars from different points of the globe and comparisons of observations with theory/models. This project is ideal for small telescopes, such as 1.0-meter telescopes of Assy-Tourgen observatory and Tien-Shan Observatory.
CONCLUSIONS: My impression is that our visit has been useful for Kazakh scientists, both in sense of bringing of new information about modern astronomy through lectures and through discussions with individual scientists, and in the sense of discussion of possibilities to start new international collaborations with Kazakh scientists. We learned that life of astronomers is hard, but the salaries seem to grow gradually. A number of small telescopes and the 1.0-meter telescope at the Assy-Tourgen observatory are working, while the telescope at the Tien-Shan Observatory is expected to start working soon. Of course any money given to astronomers may accelerate this process of repair. Unification of major astronomical institutes to the NationalCosmicCenter may lead to enhancing of the space program in Kazakhstan, thoughsome special efforts have to be made to support the main astronomy directions of research, where Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute is strong. Another conclusion is that Almaty may be a good place for organizing small astronomical meeting or schools of young scientists.
Recommendations for future actions:
(1) Future similar visits with lectures on modern astrophysics are strongly recommended.
(2) Organization of medium size scientific meetings and schools for young scientists will be also refreshing for further developing and modernization of astronomy in Kazakhstan.
(3) Exchange program for scientists between Kazakh astronomical institutes and universities of other countries might be useful.
(4) It would be helpful if IAU could provide some support for small telescopes of Kazakhstan. Evenhelp of few thousand dollars would make a difference. In particular they need a CCD matrix for one telescope which costs $2,000.
This Report has been prepared by Marina Romanova for the IAU TAD Program.
Dr. Marina Romanova
410 Space Sciences Building
CornellUniversity
IthacaNY14853
USA
1-(607)-255-6915 or
1-(607)-351-2722
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