Astrophysics in the snow

• Autores: Simon Ings
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 3161, 2018, págs. 26-27
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • A forgotten jewel in the crown of Soviet astronomy, the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory is located on the picturesque southern slope of Mount Aragats, a four-peaked volcano massif in Armenia. Much of the mountain once lay in the permanent grip of ice. Glaciers inside its crater weren't discovered until after the second world war. Since then, the snow line has risen and sheep herders have abandoned the mountain's waterlogged environs. Photographer Toby Smith, on assignment for Project Pressure, a charity documenting the world's vanishing glaciers, also recorded the lives of those who remain on the mountain. After the Soviet Union's break-up in 1991, the observatory fell on hard times, but Ambartsumian went on living near the facility and continued conducting experiments there until his death in 1996